Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) spoke on the Senate floor against the radical medicalization of children who experience gender confusion. Kennedy explained that most children will outgrow gender confusion and condemned the activists who pressure parents into responding to often temporary gender confusion by subjecting their children to harmful drugs and surgeries.
Key excerpts from Kennedy’s remarks include:
“Well before a child learns the difference between adjectives and verbs, activists in many government schools are teaching their pre-K students lessons on transgender pronouns—pronouns like ‘ze’ and ‘zir.’ Public libraries host ‘drag queen story time’ for children of all ages. . . . TikTok essentially functions as a how-to-transition guidebook.
“The issue of gender, Mr. President, has morphed from a topic that only involved the personal decisions of private adults into a movement—a movement that seeks to inject questions about gender and sexuality into every aspect of a child’s life with or without parental approval.”
. . .
“Many activists are comfortable allowing children to take sterilizing medications at 13 years of age, after a single appointment with a therapist—all because adults are supposed to trust children when they claim they’re a different gender.
“I’m very thankful to say that Louisiana is full of compassion and common sense, and we don’t do that. We know this agenda is dangerous, and we know it’s outrageous.”
. . .
“Sec. Hillary Clinton once famously said it takes a village to raise a child. What she meant was that it takes the federal government to raise a child. No, it doesn’t.
“Kids need parents to succeed, and parents have the right to raise their children according to their values. Parents are here to protect kids from danger, from the kids’ own immaturity and from misguided government agents.”
. . .
“I am terrified that our country is mass-producing a generation of mutilated and sterilized young people because policymakers in our schools, in our cities, in our state capitals and in Washington are too afraid to stand up and say enough. . . . That’s why I was so proud of the Louisiana state legislature. The Louisiana state legislature passed HB 648. HB 648 protects Louisiana’s children and supports their parents. HB 648 makes it illegal to use puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgery on children under the age of 18.”
. . .
“Nothing disturbs me, Mr. President, more than the notion that a child’s upbringing should be determined by some bureaucrat rather than the child’s parents, especially when those bureaucrats use the power of the government to maim children. It makes me want to throw up. It makes me want to reach for the sick bucket. Congress must do more to protect parents and their kids from the zealots of the transgender movement.”
Read more about the Families’ Rights and Responsibilities Act here.
