President Joe Biden on Monday once again waded into the ever-contentious transgender issue, calling restrictions surrounding children who identify as trans “cruel” and “close to sinful.”
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“Now, transgender kids is a really harder thing. What’s going on in Florida is, as my mother would say, close to sinful,” Biden told “The Daily Show,” referring to the Sunshine State’s restrictions on transgender interventions for kids. “It’s just terrible what they’re doing.”
The president continued, “It’s not like a kid wakes up one morning and says, you know, ‘I want to become a man, or I want to become a woman.”
Biden, who didn’t get specific on which policies he was referencing, pondered what people are thinking on the issue and said he believes there needs to be federal legislation to protect transgender children.
“It just, to me, is, I don’t know, it’s cruel,” he said. “We make sure we pass legislation like we passed on same-sex marriage. You mess with that, you’re breaking the law and you’re going to be held accountable.”
Watch Biden’s comments:
Biden’s comments come as conservative and Republican-led states continue to place restrictions on gender-related medical interventions for kids.
As CBN News reported in November, the Florida Board of Medicine and the state Board of Osteopathic Medicine approved a ban on puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries.
“I appreciate the integrity of the Boards for ruling in the best interests of children in Florida despite facing tremendous pressure to permit these unproven and risky treatments,” Dr. Joseph Ladapo, Florida’s surgeon general, said after the decision.
Biden’s comments intensify the percolating battle between the White House and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who has been targeting “woke” policies in schools and culture and who is believed to be a potential 2024 presidential challenger.
“When they say gender-affirming care, what they mean a lot of times is… you’re castrating a young boy, you’re sterilizing a young girl, you’re doing mastectomies for these very young girls,” DeSantis recently said. “And here’s the thing, what our guidance pointed to, and the Surgeon General did a great job, for these young kids, 80% of the cases resolve themselves as they grow up.”
He continued, “And so you’re doing things that are permanently altering them, and then they’re not going to be able to reverse that.”
Secretary Jason Weida of the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration specifically targeted Biden’s “Daily Show” claim about it being “close to sinful” to restrict child transitions, noting the long-term and even irreversible impact such medicalization can have on young people.
“What is ‘sinful’ is the establishment pushing harmful surgeries and treatment with long-term effects on minors with no accountability or transparency,” Weida told Fox News.
No Malarkey: The “gender-affirming” model pushed by the Biden Administration is decades behind other developed countries, including Sweden and most recently Norway. https://t.co/XB5ivwiJ6o
— Jason Weida (@weida_jason) March 14, 2023
Meanwhile, a newly released poll from Summit.org and McLaughlin and Associates found 71% of voters who have an opinion on the issue are “concerned” by efforts to expose kids to the transgender movement, with 41% saying they are “very concerned and angry.”
Plus, the majority believe there should be accountability for negative side effects following the transgender medicalization of children in America.
“71% of voters with an opinion on the issue believe that pharmaceutical companies and doctors who promote puberty blockers and cross-sex hormone treatments for underage children seeking gender transition should be legally liable for any harmful side effects that arise,” the results read.
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