Congresswoman Lauren Boebert criticized HHS Assistant Secretary Richard “Rachel” Levine for his comments that the government needs to “empower” kids to go on puberty blockers and receive sex reassignment surgery.
Levine said the administration wants to base treatment and affirm, support and empower youth, not limit participation in activities and sports or limit their ability to get gender affirmation treatment.
Boebert said Levine isn’t advocating to empower children, but instead to groom them.
“The Assistant Secretary for Health is out here trying to ’empower’ children to become transgender,” Boebert wrote. “The word is ‘groom,’ Richard, not empower. You’re grooming them, not empowering them.”
Richard appeared on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” and discussed a column that criticized states enacting limits on transgender treatment for kids.
Richard said the laws, combined with “significant harassment,” contribute to mental issues for trans kids.
Senator Roger Marshall noted that 80 percent of children outgrow gender dysphoria, but under the Biden administration, the children may suffer irreversible harm.
“‘Gender-affirming care’ is child abuse,” Marshall wrote.