Fox News Flash top headlines for March 31
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Amid an ongoing debate surrounding transgender athletes, a women’s rights group called out the Biden administration on Thursday after the White House announced new policies geared toward expanding the rights of transgender Americans.
The Biden administration put out a statement announcing new actions to support the mental health of transgender children, remove barriers that transgender people face accessing critical government services, while also condemning "the proliferation of dangerous anti-transgender legislative attacks."
"The evidence is clear that these types of bills stigmatize and worsen the well-being and mental health of transgender kids, and they put loving and supportive families across the country at risk of discrimination and harassment. As the President has said, these bills are government overreach at its worst, they are un-American, and they must stop," the statement read.
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signs a bill in Oklahoma City on Wednesday, March 30, 2022, that prevents transgender girls and women from competing on female sports teams. Stitt signed the bill flanked by more than a dozen young female athletes, including his eighth-grade daughter Piper. (AP Photo/Sean Murphy)
Ginny Gentles, senior fellow at Independent Women’s Forum, told Fox News Digital on Thursday that the administration's recent policies "ignores the rights of female athletes."
"By actively opposing state laws that protect women's sports and repeatedly assuring activists that he will always have their back, the President ignores the rights of female athletes. Male athletes should not play on women’s teams and compete against female athletes," Gentles said in an email.
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On Wednesday, governors in Oklahoma and Arizona joined more than a dozen other states in signing bills into law that prevent transgender girls and women from competing on female sports teams. At least 10 states have banned transgender athletes from participating in sports at all levels in a way that is consistent with their gender identity.
"The President's activist-drafted agenda also ignores the pleas of detransitioners and parents who are desperate to protect vulnerable children from medical abuse and radical gender ideology," Gentles continued. "Detransitioners are shining the light on the culture, laws and policies that pushed them down a harmful path of hormones, surgeries and deteriorating mental health. What the Biden Administration calls ‘gender-affirming health care’ encourages young girls captivated by a social contagion to remove their breasts and inject hormones, turning them into lifelong medical patients. The President of the United States should not advocate for medical exploitation of children."
Protesters hold up signs before the 2022 NCAA Division I Women's Swimming and Diving Championship at the McAuley Aquatic Center on the campus of the Georgia Institute of Technology on March 17, 2022 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Justin Casterline/Getty Images)
The Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Population Affairs released a document Thursday titled "Gender Affirming Care and Young People." The same day, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's National Child Traumatic Stress Network – another subset of the HHS – released a parallel document titled, "Gender-Affirming Care Is Trauma-Informed Care."
The HHS documents describe what it calls appropriate treatments for transgender adolescents, including: "'Top' surgery – to create male-typical chest shape or enhance breasts;" and "'Bottom' surgery – surgery on genitals or reproductive organs, facial feminization or other procedures."
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The debate surrounding transgender athletes received national attention after University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas, a transgender female, was allowed to compete on the women’s team after three years on the men’s team.
Texas swimmers Erica Sullivan and Evie Pfeifer embrace as 500 Freestyle winner Lia Thomas walks past during the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships on March 17th, 2022 at the McAuley Aquatic Center in Atlanta Georgia. (Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Thomas secured several records at the Ivy League Championships in February with wins in the 100, 200 and 500 freestyle events after the NCAA updated its policy in January to defer to the guidance for participation to each sport’s governing body. She also became the first transgender athlete to obtain a national title with a win in the 500-yard freestyle last month.
Fox News’ Timothy H.J. Nerozzi and The Associated Press contributed to this report.