Biden blasts DeSantis-backed ban on transgender affirming care for minors as 'sinful'
President Biden attacked a Florida ban on gender affirming care for minors as "cruel" and "sinful" during an appearance on 'The Daily Show.'
Assistant Secretary for Health for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Rachel Levine promised that medically changing kids’ genders will soon be normalized.
Levine praised the "gender-affirming care" at the Pediatric Grand Rounds session at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center in Hartford. Levine was invited to speak at the event about the Florida Parental Rights in Education law and the political implications of gender reassignment surgery taking place at children’s hospitals.
Levine also said gender-affirming care for minors had the "highest support" of the Biden administration.
"But I'm a positive and optimistic person, and I choose to be positive, optimistic. And I think that the wheels will turn on this," Levine said.
Dr. Rachel Levine, the highest-ranking openly transgender official in the United States, speaks after being sworn in as Assistant Secretary for Health and a four-star admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps during ceremonies at the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, U.S., October 19, 2021. ( Chris Smith/U.S. Department of Health & Human Services/Handout via Reuters)
"I think that it's not going to be politically advantageous. It wasn't particularly in 2022. And so I think that as we look to all the different elections in 2024, I think the next two years are going to be challenging. But I am positive and optimistic and hopeful that the wheel will turn after that and that this issue won't be as politically and socially such a minefield."
Dr. Stanley Goldfarb of Do No Harm organization, a national association of medical professionals that combats "woke" activism in the healthcare system, told Fox News Digital that there is "no good evidence that children treated with gender-altering hormones or puberty blockers improved mental health assessments."
"Levine’s appearance at Connecticut Children’s Hospital praising ‘gender-affirming care’ for minors and claiming it will be fully embraced is wrong and must be countered," Goldfarb said. "There is no good evidence that children treated with gender-altering hormones or puberty blockers have improved mental health assessments."
"Despite assertions to the contrary, a recent study from the University of Washington showed that there was absolutely no change in the psychological well-being of children with gender dysphoria treated with these medications," Goldfarb continued. "There can be irrevocable harm being done to children by those pushing for these radical, ideologically driven, treatments. Treatment for minors needs to be based on rigorous scientific inquiry, not on dubious, agenda-driven studies or the demands of activists."
Rep. Andy Harris, a member of the House Doctors Caucus and Co-Chair of the Pro-Life Caucus, said that it's "reprehensible for a government official—let alone the Assistant U.S. Secretary of HHS to promote the genital mutilation of minors as becoming a standard practice in the U.S."
"As a physician, I was proud to co-sponsor the 'Protect Children's Innocence Act' which would prohibit harmful medical procedures used to treat gender dysphoria in transgender minors, including puberty blockers and surgeries in which minors alter their body to correspond to a sex that differs from their biological sex," Harris said.
Harris went on to say, "Many pediatricians, particularly pediatric endocrinologists, have expressed serious concerns about the use of puberty blockers, hormone blockers, and sex transition surgeries in minors. These doctors know that these medications and procedures can impact children’s bone growth, fertility, and risk of breast and prostate cancer. Meanwhile, HHS has pressured providers to provide this care or else face discrimination lawsuits. We must protect our children."
Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' filed a complaint against a Florida venue for exposing kids to sexual material in a recent drag show. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky, File)
Levine’s comments came after President Biden ramped up attacks on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in a clip of a new interview Monday without naming him, calling the state's actions regarding transgender youth"close to sinful."
Florida's medical boards voted to ban puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and gender-affirming surgeries on children last November.
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This follows a parental rights' bill the governor signed earlier in the year banning teachers from giving classroom instruction on "sexual orientation" or "gender identity" in kindergarten through third grade.
President Biden attacked Florida's response to transgender youth issues in a new interview with former Obama aide Kal Penn, one of several left-wing voices who's been guest-hosting "The Daily Show" in recent weeks.
President Joe Biden speaks during the annual House Democrats Issues Conference at the Hyatt Regency Hotel March 1, 2023, in Baltimore, Maryland. Biden spoke on a range of issues, including bipartisan legislation passed in the first two years of his presidency (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
"It's just terrible what they're doing," Biden says in the video. "It's not like, you know, a kid wakes up one morning and says, you know, I decided I wanted to become a man, or I want to become a woman. I mean, what are they thinking about?"
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"What's going on in Florida is, as my mother would say, close to sinful. I mean it's just terrible what they're doing," Biden said.
"It's not like a kid [just] wakes up one morning and says ,'You know, I want to become a man' or ‘I want to become a woman.’ What are they thinking about here? They're human beings, they love, they have feelings, they have inclinations," Biden said.
Fox News' Jessica Chasmar contributed to this report.