Gender transitions on children: A tale of two governors
If you did a case study of our political and cultural polarization and how radically different the Democratic and Republican parties are, look no further than each party’s poster boy — California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).
Earlier this week, GOP darling DeSantis held a press conference where he boldly stated the dangers of transgender medicine — particularly on children. “They are actually giving very young girls double mastectomies, they want to castrate these young boys. That’s wrong,” DeSantis said, “both from the health and children well-being perspective, you don’t disfigure 10, 12, 13-year-old kids based on gender dysphoria.”
Thursday, DeSantis showed the world that he meant business when he suspended Florida State Attorney for refusing to enforce state law regarding the protection of minors from gender transition treatment.
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Meanwhile, in Newsom’s California, a radical bill just passed out of committee Wednesday in the state assembly that would give California courts the right to take “temporary emergency” custody of out-of-state children whose parents won’t affirm their gender identity or are stopping their children from receiving gender transition treatment. If this bill passed, California courts would even turn a blind eye if a child from another state was kidnapped from their parents or legal guardians and taken to California for the purpose of gender transitioning.
While the bill still needs to be voted on by the General Assembly and the State Senate before making its way to the governor’s desk, it’s likely to pass and be signed into law by Newsom who, last fall, celebrated signing bills that would hide abortions and gender transition treatment for California minors from their parents.
Now, rather than just submitting children who are California citizens to this dangerous medical experimentation, Newsom and the California Left are ready to export their radical gender ideology nationwide and become a top travel destination for minors looking for hormonal or surgical gender transition treatment.
While California attempts to become a “sanctuary state” for young people who identify as transgender, states across the country and even the FDA are starting to wake up to the risks of gender transition treatment for minors. In July, the Food and Drug Administration slapped a warning label on puberty blockers after six girls between the ages of five and 12 suffered from severe side effects, including tumor-like brain masses and eye paralysis.
Despite this implicit admission of the weakness and dangers of “gender-affirming care,” the radical transgender ideology train isn’t slowing down in California any time soon. In Wednesday’s committee hearing, 17-year-old Chloe Cole, who medically transitioned to become a male from the ages of 13 to 16 before transitioning back to being a female, testified against the bill. In her statement, Cole referred to her gender transition experience as “irreversible and painful” and that she “really didn’t understand all the ramifications of any of the medical decisions [she] was making.” She also expressed that her doctor “brushed off [her] parents’ concerns about the efficacy of hormones, puberty blockers, and surgeries” and “were pressured to continue [her] so-called gender journey.” Despite hearing this heartbreaking testimony, the committee passed the bill 11-4.
On the East Coast, DeSantis is ready to go to the mat to protect children like Chloe from experiencing the same sorrow and regret, while the Left in California are all too eager to help children ignore the care and concern of their parents for the sake of protecting their radical gender ideology.
As major figureheads for their respective political parties, Newsom and DeSantis offer the American electorate a snapshot of two very different paths the country can take. With California and Florida as the examples, Americans will have to choose, come November, if the United States is going to be a nation that protects children or one that experiments on them.
Originally published at The Washington Stand.
Claire Gatzke is a Development Operations Associate at Family Research Council.
