A tough stretch for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., got worse Tuesday when she watched members of her party vote for a bill she attacked at the expense of widespread mockery.

Ocasio-Cortez's viral rant against the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act wasn't enough to convince Democratic allies Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez, both of Texas, to vote against the bill. Cuellar and Gonzalez joined 218 House Republicans who voted for the bill that seeks to prevent federally funded educational institutions from allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls and women's sports. 

For Ocasio-Cortez, the notion of Democratic congressmen voting for a Republican-backed bill before President-elect Trump even returns to office suggests her party is "not in good shape."

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"We can't be ninnies about this," Ocasio-Cortez told The Independent Tuesday. "These are just the early days. Trump hasn't even been sworn in yet, and if a little bitty sports bill was gonna make Dems defect, we're not in good shape."

Ocasio-Cortez advised Democrats not to be "ninnies" the same day she delivered a widely-mocked tirade that contained multiple unsubstantiated claims and unfinished sentences. Her rant prompted multiple viral social media responses that labeled her "the dumbest person in congress." 

For Ocasio-Cortez, it marks a poor start to 2025 after a rough 2024. Despite winning re-election to her House seat in New York, Ocasio-Cortez watched members of her coalition, "the Squad," lose their seats, including Jamaal Bowman in New York and Cori Bush in Missouri. 

Ocasio-Cortez also lost in her bid to become the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, getting passed over by Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va.

What's more, Ocasio-Cortez was frequently the subject of viral social media mockery, often for her unchanging stance on transgender inclusion in women's and girls sports.

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In November, Ocasio-Cortez reshared a video of Green Party vice presidential candidate Butch Ware speaking out against transgender inclusion in women's sports with a caption that said, "This ticket is predatory and people deserve better." The post prompted heated backlash on social media. 

"AOC says it’s predatory behavior to not want men competing in women’s sports. To AOC, acknowledging biological reality is ‘predatory.’ You know what’s actually predatory? Sexualizing children and normalizing pedophilia," conservative influencer and former NCAA swimmer Riley Gaines wrote on X while posting a Fox News Digital article about Ocasio-Cortez’s comments.

The mockery of Ocasio-Cortez picked up weeks after the election when X users discovered she no longer includes her pronouns "she/her" in her bio. 

Ocasio-Cortez is one of many prominent Democrats who remain firmly supportive of transgender inclusion in women's sports, even as the issue proved to be a vulnerability for Democrats in November's election. 

Many Democrats who spoke out against the bill Tuesday did not argue on the premise that transgender athletes should be allowed in women's and girls sports. Instead, they argued the measures preventing transgender inclusion will subject girls to genital examinations and sexual predators despite no language in the bill that would suggest genital examinations for girls in sports. 

Ocasio-Cortez included that unsubstantiated claim in her rant Tuesday but gave a shout-out to transgender athletes when she yelled "Trans girls are girls!" on the House of Representatives floor. 

Ocasio-Cortez has previously co-sponsored the Equality Act, which was proposed in 2019 and has had revisions that "would force public schools to allow biologically male athletes who identify as transgender on girls sports teams." In March 2023, Democrats, including Ocasio-Cortez, proposed a resolution "recognizing that it is the duty of the Federal Government to develop and implement a Transgender Bill of Rights." 

Unlike Ocasio-Cortez, other Democratic House representatives have publicly pulled back on their support for transgender inclusion, including Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass.; Rep. Colin Allred, D-Texas; and Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y. Still, each of those Democrats voted against the bill Tuesday. 

A national exit poll conducted by the Concerned Women for America legislative action committee found that 70% of moderate voters viewed "Donald Trump’s opposition to transgender boys and men playing girls' and women’s sports and of transgender boys and men using girls' and women’s bathrooms" as important to them. And 6% said it was the most important issue of all, while 44% said it was "very important."

In June, a survey conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago asked respondents to weigh in on whether transgender athletes of both sexes should be permitted to participate in sports leagues that correspond to their preferred gender identity instead of their biological sex. 

In that survey, 65% answered that it should either be never or rarely allowed. When those polled were asked specifically about adult transgender female athletes competing on women’s sports teams, 69% opposed it.

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Three former members of the Indiana men's basketball team have accused former team doctor Bradford Bomba Sr., 88, of sexually abusing them during their playing days.

Haris Mujezinovic and Charlie Miller originally filed a lawsuit against Bomba in October, and John Flowers joined the suit this week.

Flowers, who played for the Hoosiers in 1981 and 1982, said he was subject to at least two unnecessary prostate exams.

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Longtime trainer Tim Garl is now listed as a defendant, as Flowers said Garl was aware of Bomba's "invasive, harassing, and demeaning digital rectal examinations."

"After his first physical, Flowers's teammates told him he had 'passed' Dr. Bomba, Sr.'s 'test,' and that he would not have to undergo a digital rectal examination again," the lawsuit states, via CBS Sports. "Garl laughed at Flowers and his freshman teammates and made jokes at their expense regarding the digital rectal examinations they endured."

The university officially declined comment but sent a statement from September that said the school was conducting its own independent review on the matter.

The players' attorney, Kathleen Delaney, said Bomba may have sexually abused at least 100 male athletes during his time at the school. Neither Garl nor Bomba's attorney responded to a request for comment.

Bomba pleaded the fifth during a deposition last month.

Mujezinovic and Miller, who played under coach Bobby Knight in the 1990s, also alleged that Bomba conducted prostate exams that were not necessary.

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"Dr. Bomba, Sr.’s routine sexual assaults were openly discussed by the Hoosier men’s basketball players in the locker room in the presence of IU employees, including assistant coaches, athletic trainers, and other Hoosier men’s basketball staff," the lawsuit said, via NBC News.

"I’m standing up for all student-athletes who have suffered abuse," Mujezinovic said in a statement. "I hope that more of our former teammates will speak out and share their stories publicly."

"I will never understand why IU leadership did nothing to protect us from what I now understand was sexual abuse," Miller said.

Added Flowers, "I am proud to stand up on behalf of my former teammates and other IU basketball players to seek justice for the sexual abuse we endured as members of the Hoosiers."

Bomba was employed by the university from 1962 to 1970, and again from 1979 until the late '90s.

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