Five Republican U.S. senators penned a stern letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, warning him not to criminalize critics of radical gender treatment for minors like the DOJ did parents who complained about their local school boards.
The letter followed one sent to the Department of Justice by medical associations calling on the feds to investigate organizations and people they claim are “coordinating, provoking, and carrying out” threats and violence against doctors and hospitals that treat trans-identifying minors with gender-related chemicals and surgeries. That letter was widely viewed as an attempt to get the DOJ to silence opponents of the treatments.
“This request by advocacy organizations to have the federal government stifle critical speech on their behalf would have been unthinkable before your tenure as Attorney General,” wrote the senators, Ted Cruz, of Texas; Mike Lee, of Utah; Ron Johnson, of Wisconsin; Roger Marshall, of Kansas; and Marsha Blackburn, of Tennessee.
“It is important to note that violence and threats are not protected speech and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” the letter continued. “However, parents who voice their concerns about the health and safety of their children, or express opinions on matters of public policy more generally, are engaged in core First Amendment activity.”
In a letter sent by Cruz to A.G. Garland, Cruz accused the Justice Department of a 'continued pattern of abusing its investigative authority to police the speech of Americans and stifle ongoing policy debates.'
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The lawmakers noted that Garland’s DOJ had previously coordinated with the Biden administration and the National School Boards Association in an effort to paint parents critical of local school boards as “domestic terrorists.” They asked for any communications the DOJ may have had with the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Medical Association, and/or Children’s Hospital Association about the trans treatment for minors issue.
“The issue of how best to treat minors struggling with their gender dysphoria is the subject of ongoing and emotional debate, which Americans have a protected First Amendment right to fully engage in,” the letter stated. “Your actions in regard to the NSBA letter sent an inappropriate message that federal law enforcement can and will be used to aid one side of a political debate, and to either silence or chill the speech of the other.”
The issue of chemical and surgical treatment of gender-dysphoric minors has made headlines in recent months. Although hospitals long insisted they don’t perform radical surgeries on minors, a shocking report from Reuters last week using data analyzed by health technology company Komodo Health revealed that thousands of children have been put on puberty blockers and hormones, hundreds of gender-dysmorphic girls have undergone mastectomies, and as many as 56 children ages 13-17 underwent genital surgeries from 2019 to 2021.
The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh, who exposed Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s transgender treatment on minors, will hold a “Rally to End Child Mutilation” October 21 at the Tennessee state capitol. Under pressure from Walsh and Republican state lawmakers, Vanderbilt announced last week a moratorium on gender “affirming” surgeries for minors.