The White House sparked backlash after suggesting the decision to transition should be left up to the child and their parents.
Washington Examiner writer Philip Wegmann said during Tuesday’s briefing, “Today, Indiana just banned puberty blockers, hormone therapies, and gender transition surgeries for minors. I’m wondering what the president’s reaction is to the Indiana governor signing that bill into law. And does the president have a position on at what age these kinds of therapies and surgeries are appropriate?”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre replied, “That’s something for a child and their parents to decide, it’s not something we believe should be decided by legislators.”
Watch her comments below:
KJP: "A child and parents" should be the ones to decide if children get sex change surgeries. pic.twitter.com/3NTDfdMYjQ
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) April 5, 2023
Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, reacted, saying, “Breaking: Biden is also pro-choice on mutilating children.”
Breaking: Biden is also pro-choice on mutilating children. https://t.co/l1coDm27hh
— Tom Fitton (@TomFitton) April 6, 2023
Writer Mark Hemingway wrote, “Parents have no authority to decide what their kids read, but they can permanently sterilize and mutilate kids. No amount of propaganda is going to reconcile these offensive contradictions.”
Parents have no authority to decide what their kids read, but they can permanently sterilize and mutilate kids. No amount of propaganda is going to reconcile these offensive contradictions. https://t.co/MIJpJLSb7S
— Mark Hemingway (@Heminator) April 6, 2023
One tweet declared them “monsters.”
Monsters. https://t.co/18hMLMB8Vu
— TheTexasOne (@TexasRepublic71) April 5, 2023
Rep Andy Biggs (R-AZ) called the White House’s position on the matter “twisted.”
What a morally twisted view.
— Rep Andy Biggs (@RepAndyBiggsAZ) April 5, 2023
This is why I’m backing @RepMTG’s latest legislation (HR 1399) to prohibit gender affirming care on minors. https://t.co/m5JzdH8p3e
Blogger Samuel Sey argued, “Democrats hate your children and the God who created them.”
Democrats hate your children and the God who created them. https://t.co/x6lv0147G2
— Samuel Sey (@SlowToWrite) April 5, 2023
Read more responses below:
What’s next?!? That children can consent to having sex as well? https://t.co/MYCiegQA3S
— Santino?? (@livefreesantino) April 5, 2023
Straight up EVIL. Kids cannot consent. This is child abuse at its very core. https://t.co/DkC3fQ38uw
— Matt Sipes (@msipes) April 5, 2023
But not any therapy that offers any option other than affirmation and transition. https://t.co/QVgUe8pMNd
— Chad Felix Greene (@chadfelixg) April 5, 2023
The White House supports sex changes for children. Complete insanity https://t.co/nMIT9jeJZO
— Pebo (@Pebo4Real) April 6, 2023
The judgement center of a child’s brain is not fully developed.
— Max Murray (@MaxMurrayTweets) April 5, 2023
I think the administration is trying to terrorize people with this, particularly parents, to what purpose I don’t know. https://t.co/tr1AXsTA5T
Prison for any parent allowing a child to do this. Same for the doctor. Disgusting.
— Cory Procter (@CoryProcter) April 5, 2023
The child? And I thought Dems don’t want parents involved in that decision?
— Mark Murphy (@murphytravels) April 5, 2023
This is not the first time Jean-Pierre received backlash for her comments related to the issue of the transgender community.
Her remarks came after the shooting that took place at the Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, that killed three children and three adults.
“They want us to fight for their freedoms. And so, it is shameful, it is disturbing, and our hearts go out to the those — the trans community as they are under attack right now, but this is a president who has said many times before he has their backs. He will continue to have their backs and he will continue to fight for them, and his record shows that,” Jean-Pierre said last week.