GOP Candidates Divided on Sex Change Treatment Bans for Minors

Well, to be honest, there’s mostly consensus among Republican candidates on the issue with one vast exception.

While Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is working to protect minors by banning harmful and irreversible mutilations caused by hormone blockers, at least one other candidate has come out in opposition to banning sex change experimentation on children.

While speaking recently to CNN, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie voiced opposition to bans on sex change therapies for minors saying the issue should be left to parents:

During a segment on CNN’s “State if the Union” Sunday, Christie was asked his thoughts on Republican governors placing more bans on gender reassignment surgeries and puberty blockers for minors in their states.

“I don’t think that the government should ever be stepping in to the place of the parents in helping to move their children through a process where those children are confused or concerned about their gender,” Christie said defending minors access to sex change procedures, despite the majority of his base having a different stance on the issue.

“What I would like to make sure each state does is require that parents are involved in these decisions,” the Republican told CNN’s Jake Tapper. “The fact is that folks who are under the age of 18 should have parental support, and guidance, and love as they make all the key decisions of their life, and this should not be one that excluded by the government in any way.”

Leaving healthcare decisions up to parents seems like a good conservative position against government intervention.

In this case, however, there are very compelling arguments for trying to protect children from an industry bent on pushing transgender ideology on young children, then bullying parents into irreversible surgeries and/or hormone treatments.

The argument is made often but bears repeating. Minors are not allowed to smoke, drive cars, consume alcohol, or perform any number of other activities reserved for certain ages of maturity.

Yet, for some inexplicable reason, the culture is being bent and prodded to allow a five-year-old to make life-altering decisions that result in sterilization and irreversible bodily harm.

Christie is not only outside the mainstream among his own party but even with the population at large.

To quote more from the Fox News story above, public opposition to hormone treatments for minors is fairly broad:

While Christie supports allowing children under 18 access to sex change treatments, a Washington Post-KFF survey found that 68% of Americans oppose access to puberty-blocking medication for kids ages 10 to 14 and 58% oppose access to hormonal treatments for kids ages 15 to 17.

For a public that can’t agree on much of anything, there seems to be a consensus that letting children under 18 decide they want to inflict damage on their bodies at the hands of what amounts to scientific experimentation should not be allowed under the law.

It’s Christie outside the norms on this issue, not DeSantis or any other Republican governor seeking to protect children from a predatory transgender ideology.

As the public learns more and more, spurned by documentaries such as What Is a Woman?, by Matt Walsh of the Daily Wire, opposition to sex change treatment for minors seems to grow.

After all, the documentary wracked up nearly 200 million views thanks to a promotion from Elon Musk.

As Musk says, every parent should indeed watch this, and maybe Chris Christie too:


Nate Ashworth

The Founder and Editor-In-Chief of Election Central. He's been blogging elections and politics for over a decade. He started covering the 2008 Presidential Election which turned into a full-time political blog in 2012 and 2016 that continues today.

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