The Biden administration is reiterating its support for child sex change surgeries after a spokesperson told media earlier this month that “these surgeries should be limited to adults.”
“The Biden administration is reaffirming its support for overturning bans on gender-affirming surgeries for transgender minors after backlash over a recent White House statement opposing such surgeries,” the Guardian, Britain’s main left-wing news outlet reported Wednesday.
In early July, a spokesperson for the White House allegedly told The 19th News via email:
These are deeply personal decisions and we believe these surgeries should be limited to adults. We continue to support gender-affirming care for minors, which represents a continuum of care, and respect the role of parents, families, and doctors in these decisions.
Following this remark, which appeared to be a reversal of the Biden administration’s previous relentless support of child sex changes, transgender activists “launched a pressure campaign” against the Biden administration, according to the report.
“[These statements] unfortunately sowed a lot of confusion among transgender people and our families as to what is their position,” Rodrigo Heng-Lehtinen, executive director of Advocates for Trans Equality, told the outlet. “The Biden administration has consistently done the right thing and … there’s been a really positive track record for a long time, which we’re really grateful for. Then when those statements came out, it seemed like a contradiction. It made everyone pretty scared that there was some about-face.”
The White House reportedly responded to the pressure campaign by emailing concerned transgender activists, reaffirming the Biden administration’s commitment to allowing child sex changes.
Neera Tanden, a domestic policy adviser to Biden, sent the White House’s updated current policy to concerned activists, claiming that while the Biden administration believes “gender-affirming surgeries” should be reserved for adults, it does not believe politicians should ban Americans from allowing their children to undergo sex changes.
“We continue to fight state and national bans of gender affirming care, which represents a continuum of care, and respect the role of parents, families, and doctors — not politicians — in these decisions,” Tanden wrote in the email, allegedly obtained by the Guardian. “Gender-affirming surgeries are typically reserved for adults, and we believe they should be. Above all, families should have the freedom to make the medical decisions that they and their doctors determine are best for them — which is why we oppose attempts to limit healthcare for transgender individuals in the courts or through legislation.”