Tuesday's press briefing was full of reporters asking questions of Dr. Ashish Jha and White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on President Joe Biden's fear-mongering COVID-19 remarks from earlier that day, at which point he also received his booster. Jean-Pierre was also asked about a series of other key topics, including on "transgender rights."
A reporter asked Jean-Pierre about radio ads from Stephen Miller's America First Legal, mentioning that they pointed out how the Biden administration has "pushing radical gender experiments on children, changing their names, clothes, identities, and bodies."
KJP: "'Transgender' rights are indeed human rights, and I'll leave that there." pic.twitter.com/VJT5Hg97Qi
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) October 25, 2022
Jean-Pierre's non-answer had to do with her limitations under the Hatch Act. She did point out that "I want to be careful here because you’re asking about a political ad," clarifying "I can’t respond directly to that ad." What she did mention, though, was that "transgender rights are indeed human rights, and I'll leave that at there."
In a statement for Townhall, though, America First Legal's Vice President and General Counsel Gene Hamilton took issue with claims that the ads were political. "America First Legal's recent mailers and ads are not political. They are entirely apolitical and serve to educate American citizens about the current extreme gender ideology agenda being promoted by the Biden Administration. Our advertisements simply point out what this administration and liberals have made clear: the Left is perfectly fine with pushing radical gender ideology on the most vulnerable members of society — our children," he said.
Hamilton further criticized Jean-Pierre's non-answer as she pointed out the weakness of the argument to subject children to a transgender agenda. "No child should be subjected to medical procedures or drugs that can have life-changing and irreversible impacts. Allowing the permanent removal of sex organs from a child is not a matter of 'human rights.' It is a weak response on the part of this administration to the far-Left in order to satisfy their woke base at the expense of our children," he added.
America First Legal also took note of the exchange on Tuesday over social media, retweeting RealClearNews' Phil Wegmann.
AFL is educating citizens about the illegal conduct of the federal government. Contrary to WH assertions, men do not have the “right” to enter girl’s locker rooms. Schools do not have the “right” to promote the sterilization of children or amputation of healthy tissue and organs. https://t.co/YIiaasycgT
— America First Legal (@America1stLegal) October 25, 2022
The resulting thread included a litany of examples of how the organization has fought back against such an agenda from the Biden administration to promote taking advantage of children who may be undergoing gender dysphoria, by pushing procedures and drugs on them that could result in genital mutilation and sterilization.
Another thread included examples of what the administration has done.
/2 Biden & his Admin have repeatedly promoted something called “gender affirming care” (he even did a video about it last week) https://t.co/OynZMc6hnh
— America First Legal (@America1stLegal) October 25, 2022
/4 These “gender-affirming” drugs include Lupron, a drug used to chemically castrate sex offenders: https://t.co/XI2EyZhcpO pic.twitter.com/9BpBWR0uay
— America First Legal (@America1stLegal) October 25, 2022
/6 “Puberty blockers” can lead to infertility: https://t.co/CIDfmkl1Rs pic.twitter.com/pV1959JeYN
— America First Legal (@America1stLegal) October 25, 2022
/8 The Biden DOJ issued a letter to all state attorneys general regarding “gender-affirming care” for “transgender youth.” pic.twitter.com/hCRH3yTTQk
— America First Legal (@America1stLegal) October 25, 2022
The White House has held events and various agencies have released documents promoting taking advantage of children in such a way, and President Joe Biden himself, as well as then White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, have made remarks promoting this as well.
The ads were run in the key battleground states of Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Colorado, as well as in Tennessee, with the latter being particularly relevant after it was revealed that Vanderbilt University Medical Center was performing so-called "gender-affirming" surgeries on children, though they ultimately suspended the surgeries after backlash and threats of action from the governor.
Nevertheless, the media jumped on the America First Legal ads to not only attack the organization, but dismiss the concerns the organization is seeking to inform voters about. Coverage from Sara Dorn at Forbes claimed that the radio ads "are an apparent reference to the Biden Administration’s policies to preserve access to gender-affirming healthcare."
Dorn's report links to the following local reports such as:
- Nashville's WPLN News: "An ad blitz during this weekend’s Titans game targeted transgender care in Tennessee. Who was behind it?" by Blake Farmer.
- Pittsburgh City Paper: "Local radio stations run hateful anti-trans ad from far-right group" by Jordana Rosenfeld.
- The Colorado Sun: "Group led by former Trump adviser targets Colorado Latino voters with anti-transgender ads" by Sandra Fish.
The topic was also brought up at length during the Monday night debate between Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), who is running for re-election against Charlie Crist, who is at this point currently a Democrat. Chillingly, Crist equated "respecting a woman's right to choose" with both having an abortion and young girls have procedures such as double mastectomies.
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