(Headline USA) The White House suggested this week that children can consent to irreversible sex-change procedures, saying “a child and their parents” have the right to make that decision.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked specifically about President Joe Biden’s position on state laws restricting so-called “gender-affirming care,” which includes chemical puberty blockers and physical reconstruction surgeries, like double mastectomies.
“Today Indiana just banned puberty blockers, hormone therapies, and gender transition surgeries for minors. I’m wondering what the president’s reaction is to the Indiana governor signing that bill into law. And does the president have a position on at what age these kinds of therapies and surgeries are appropriate?” RealClearPolitics reporter Phil Wegmann asked.
Jean-Pierre responded by blasting conservative state laws.
“That’s something for a child and their parents to decide, it’s not something we believe should be decided by legislators. So I’ll leave it there,” she said.
Jean-Pierre continued: “In the past couple of months, we have seen a record number of LGBTQI bills — anti-LGBTQI bills, more than 600 of them have been filed in statehouses and a significant number of them have been anti-trans bills targeted at youth. And this is a president that has said these are some of the bravest people he knows. But no one should have to be brave just to be themselves.”
A backlash followed from legal analysts and leading conservatives, who pointed out that children cannot smoke until they are 18-years-old or drink alcohol until they are 21-years-old.
“The official position of the White House is that if a 5-year-old boy decides he wants his penis removed, and the parent agrees, then it’s none of our business and should be perfectly legal,” conservative columnist David Marcus tweeted.
Pure evil. Child sex changes. This is madness. https://t.co/SGxsqw8qS3
— Dennis Noel Kavanagh (@Jebadoo2) April 5, 2023
Others noted the irony of the White House’s new-found respect for parental rights.
“Suddenly parents matter,” wrote the Independent Women Forum’s Julie Gunlock.
