On Wednesday, the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the state of Tennessee over its new law prohibiting ‘transgender’ treatments for minors, which is to say child mutilation, including so-called ‘gender-affirmation surgery’ and hormone therapy.
The name “gender-affirmation surgery” is quite ironic when one considers that the operation involves a group of doctors who are taking any step they can to make their supposed patients appear as if they are not the gender they were born with.
The DOJ claims the law goes against the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and is seeking an order to prevent the law from commencing on July 1, 2023. The agency posted about its lawsuit on Twitter, declaring that the mutilation of children’s genitals as well as pumping hormones into their bodies constitutes “Medically Necessary Care for Transgender Youth.”
Justice Department Challenges Tennessee Law that Bans Critical, Medically Necessary Care for Transgender Youthhttps://t.co/5Vm57SHpCH
— DOJ Civil Rights (@CivilRights) April 26, 2023
“No person should be denied access to necessary medical care just because of their transgender status,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, according to a DOJ press release. “The right to consider your health and medically-approved treatment options with your family and doctors is a right that everyone should have, including transgender children, who are especially vulnerable to serious risks of depression, anxiety and suicide. The Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department will continue to aggressively challenge all forms of discrimination and unlawful barriers faced by the LGBTQI+ community.”
NBC reported that the lawsuit comes after Clarke contacted every state attorneys general last month to tell them that federal law safeguards so-called ‘transgender youth,’ also known as gender-confused children, from what she apparently considers to be discrimination.
Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti reacted to the news confidently, essentially telling any detractors to take a shot at taking the newly passed law down.
“The federal government has joined the ACLU and an elite New York law firm in attacking a bipartisan law that protects children from irreversible harm,” Skrmetti said in a statement. “I welcome the opportunity to litigate these issues and vigorously defend Tennessee’s law.”
— TN Attorney General (@AGTennessee) April 27, 2023
Debates surrounding the bill prior to its eventual passing proved controversial, which some may find odd given that many consider it to be common-sense legislation.
An exchange during a Tennessee hearing showed a tense moment where conservative commentator Matt Walsh and Democrat Nashville lawmaker John Ray Clemmons sparred over whether or not children should be legally subjected to such life-altering decisions.
Upon being asked by the Democrat lawmaker what he uses his political brand for, Walsh responded, “I use it for the purpose of trying to protect children from being castrated and mutilated… that’s one of the things I try to do.”
