Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday rolled out a sweeping proposal to protect children from what he called “left-wing gender insanity” by barring chemical and surgical procedures meant to change the sex of confused minors.
In declaring war on radical gender theory, Trump blasted the Biden administration’s “cruel policies” on so-called gender-affirming care, and vowed to stop federal agencies from promoting such policies. Conservatives broadly oppose chemical and surgical treatments for children suffering from gender dysphoria, and several red states have in recent months outlawed such procedures on minors
“Left-wing gender insanity being pushed on our children is an act of child abuse,” said Trump, who launched his third bid for the nation’s highest office last November and is so far the only major Republican to have declared his candidacy for 2024. “Very simple.”
The announcement comes as radical gender ideology has become a hot-button issue, with The Daily Wire at the forefront of the conversation. Much of the debate revolves around the distinction between biological sex and the social and cultural differences between the sexes — masculinity and femininity — with some on the Left insisting that gender is not tied to biological sex.
Biden’s Department of Justice issued a letter last year to state attorney generals “reminding them” that laws and policies that prevent individuals from receiving gender-affirming medical care may infringe on federal constitutional protections, which includes youth seeking so-called gender-affirming care.
“The Department of Justice is committed to ensuring that all children are able to live free from discrimination, abuse and harassment,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a news release. “Today’s letter reaffirms state and local officials’ obligation to ensure that their laws and policies do not undermine or harm the health and safety of children, regardless of a child’s gender identity.”
Trump pledged that if elected president again, his administration would revoke Biden’s policies, which include giving kids puberty blockers, altering their physical appearance, and in some cases performing surgery such as double mastectomies on young girls.
Through an executive order, Trump said he would instruct federal agencies to cease all programs that promote the concept of sex and gender transition at any age and ask Congress to permanently stop spending federal taxpayer dollars to promote or pay for such procedures.
Trump’s plan would also bar any hospital or health care provider participating in a minor’s chemical or physical mutilation from benefiting from Medicaid and Medicare programs. Other reforms Trump announced included creating a private right of action for victims to sue doctors who have performed such procedures on minors.
Trump said he would instruct the Department of Justice to investigate pharmaceutical companies and hospitals that have covered up long-term side effects of sex transitions “in order to get rich at the expense of vulnerable patients” and whether such companies have illegally marketed hormones and puberty blockers, which he said have not been licensed or approved for such use.
Trump’s Department of Education would further inform states and school districts that if any teacher or school official suggests to a child that they could be trapped in the wrong body, they would face “severe consequences,” including potential civil rights violations for sex discrimination and the elimination of federal funding.
The 45th president said he would also ask Congress to pass a bill prohibiting what he termed child sexual mutilation in all 50 states and a bill establishing that the only genders recognized by the United States government are male and female, and they are assigned at birth, which would make Title IX clear prohibiting men from participating in women’s sports.
“We will protect the rights of parents from being forced to allow their minor child to assume a gender — which is new — and an identity without the parent’s consent,” Trump said. “The identity will not be new, and it will not be without parental consent.”
“No serious country should be telling its children that they were born with the wrong gender, a concept that was never heard of in all of human history,” Trump said. “Nobody’s ever heard of this, what’s happening today.”
“It was all when the radical Left invented it just a few years ago,” he added. “Under my leadership, this madness will end.”
NEW VIDEO: President Trump's Plan to Protect Children from Left-Wing Gender Insanity pic.twitter.com/ibQkVUaA0C
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) January 31, 2023