Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) strongly criticized his Democratic colleagues on Friday for their support of gender change surgeries for children. During a House health hearing, Crenshaw passionately expressed his concerns about the potential harm inflicted on young individuals at such impressionable ages where they are incapable of making solid decisions.
“I am not the one who is cruel. Doing a double mastectomy on a 12-year-old girl. That’s cruel. Castrating a ten-year-old boy. That’s cruel,” the Texas lawmaker said.
Doing a double mastectomy on a 12-year-old girl? That’s cruel.
Castrating a 10-year-old boy? That’s cruel.
That’s why my bill would withhold graduate medical education funding to children’s hospitals that perform “gender-affirming care” on minors. pic.twitter.com/FkRTuEllXa
— Rep. Dan Crenshaw (@RepDanCrenshaw) July 13, 2023
Crenshaw went on to express his unease about subjecting children to permanent hormone therapy and puberty blockers, which holds consequences, including hindering them from having children and permanently altering their physiology. According to Crenshaw, these practices display a sense of “cruelty.”
In response to those who dismiss criticisms of the anomaly by those on the right as a “manufactured culture war,” Crenshaw questioned why the topic is even up for debate if it holds no significance. He emphasized that Republicans are not fabricating these concerns but rather raising legitimate questions about the well-being of children.
To support his position, Crenshaw cited a staggering 45,000% increase in gender transition surgeries at hospitals offering these procedures.
He then went on to question the rationale behind advocating for these procedures, considering the significant risks they pose to children’s physical health and mental health.
Drawing an analogy, he compared the low-risk act of giving a child a banana to the high-stakes nature of these procedures, highlighting the importance of Republican concern on the topic.
“You might not know that bananas are healthy for kids, but you also know that there’s not much risk to giving them a banana. So it’s not a big deal. This kind of stuff is a really big deal,” he stated.
He called attention to the fact that there is a lack of clear evidence demonstrating the benefits of such procedures. “And when every single piece of evidence shows that there’s not a clear benefit associated with it, you just press pause. Heck, we’re not even pressing pause. We’re saying don’t fund institutions that are actively doing it. We’re doing way less than pressing pause,” he stated.
The congressman also highlighted a significant fact – roughly 70% of U.S. teens attending gender clinics have pre-existing psychiatric conditions unrelated to their gender issues. Using this fact, he challenged progressives’ claims that denying these procedures leads to higher suicide rates.
Crenshaw has been outspoken about his criticism of gender-affirming care including cross-gender hormones, puberty blockers and gender transition surgeries. Last month, he introduced a bill that sought to ensure hospitals that provide gender-affirming care to minors do not have access to federal funding for their training.
“This is taxpayer money, and when 70 percent of taxpayers opposed these barbaric treatments on minors, then taxpayers should not fund it,” he said, speaking during a hearing about federal funds for pediatricians’ education.
