Biden weighs in on gender surgeries for kids
US states should not have the authority to prohibit “gender-affirming” procedures, President Joe Biden told trans activist Dylan Mulvaney in an interview broadcast on Sunday.
Asked whether states should “have a right to ban gender-affirming healthcare,” an umbrella term that includes hormone treatments as well as “top” (chest) and “bottom” (genital) surgeries, Biden responded that no states “or anybody” should be able to prohibit the controversial treatments, “as a moral question or as a legal question. I just think it’s wrong,” he said.
“Sometimes, they try to block you from being able to access certain medicines, being able to access certain procedures, and so on,” the president continued. “None of that should be available,” he said, before correcting himself: “I mean, no state should be able to do that in my view.”
“I feel very, very strongly that you should have every single solitary right including use of your gender-identity bathrooms in public,” Biden said.
Asked whether he had any “messages to the families of trans folks that are seeking options for their children but are struggling to find resources,” Biden reassured parents that “things are changing” and “just because it’s different, there’s nothing to be fearful about.”
While Mulvaney and Biden both avoided explicitly mentioning children as the intended recipients of gender-affirming procedures until the end of their conversation, Mulvaney’s introductory video states that the activist was “standing up for any of the little Dylans that deserve a clear path to their true identity” and condemns recent legislation for allegedly targeting trans children.
In another video, uploaded ahead of the White House visit, the activist declares that “trans kids, they deserve a fighting chance to be their true selves.” No states have attempted to ban adults from transitioning, though several – including Tennessee, Texas, Arkansas, Arizona, and Alabama – have limited children’s access to the procedures.
In response to significant cultural backlash, several hospitals known for performing mastectomies, hysterectomies, penectomies, and other irreversible procedures on patients under 18 have publicly stopped offering these treatments.
Some, like the Harvard-affiliated Boston Children’s Hospital, have even tried to cover up having offered them at all, despite evidence to the contrary.
Mulvaney was invited to the White House to discuss trans issues with the president as part of NowThis News’s presidential forum, which brought together half a dozen young activists focused on climate change, abortion, LGBT rights, gun control, criminal justice reform, and economic inequality.
