Font Size In congressional hearings Thursday, Sen. Rand Paul grilled Biden health nominee Rachel Levine, a transgender woman, on the idea of using hormones known as puberty blockers on minors suffering from so-called gender dysphoria, which the Mayo Clinic defines as “the feeling of discomfort or distress that might occur in people whose gender identity differs from their sex assigned at birth or sex-related physical characteristics.” Reporters were outraged, none more so than the New York Times’ Sheryl Gay Stolberg, who characterized Rand’s calm, precise questioning as an anti-trans “tirade” on a hearings showdown between he and Levine, Biden’s nominee for assistant secretary of health.