When it comes to the current youth in America, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis isn’t afraid to push against the narrative surrounding ideas of gender identity and sexual orientation on kindergartners. Over the past few months, DeSantis has come under criticism from more than the woke mob and cancel culture. Both the Democrats and even Hollywood moved to bash the Governor for helping pass the Parental Rights in Education law. Now, as the Walt Disney Company moves against the Governor, DeSantis has claimed to support another law banning gender transition surgery for children.  

Speaking political commentator Lisa Boothe on her “The Truth with Lisa Boothe” podcast, DeSantis was asked, “So, the Florida Department of Health has issued guidelines for treating gender dysmorphia, recommending against gender transition, puberty blockers, and hormones, but would you support a state law banning any of those medical interventions for children?” 

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Not skipping a seconds, the Governor answered, “I would ban the — yeah I would ban the sex change, the operations. I think that it’s something that — you can’t get a tattoo if you’re 12 years old. When they say ‘gender-affirming care,’ what they mean, a lot of times is, you are really, you’re castrating a young boy, you’re sterilizing a young girl, you’re doing mastectomies for these very young girls. And, here’s the thing, what our guidance pointed to, and [Surgeon General Joseph Ladopo] did a great job, for these young kids, 80% of the cases resolve themselves as they grow up, and so you’re doing things that are permanently altering them, and then they’re not gonna be able to reverse that, and so I don’t think it’s appropriate for kids at all, I think the guidance is right, but I think that there should be additional protections. ‘Cause, you know, when you’re growing up, there are things that, you know, it’s an awkward time, and it seems like there’s a concerted effort in society to push these kids in to do some type of medical intervention, and in our judgment that’s not healthy.”

Even before DeSantis appeared on the podcast, on April 20, the Florida Department of Health released their own guidance that opposed transgender treatments for any child. The guidance included, “Systematic reviews on hormonal treatment for young people show a trend of low-quality evidence, small sample sizes, and medium to high risk of bias,” the guidance said. “A paper published in the International Review of Psychiatry states that 80% of those seeking clinical care will lose their desire to identify with the nonbirth sex. One review concludes that ‘hormonal treatments for transgender adolescents can achieve their intended physical effects, but evidence regarding their psychosocial and cognitive impact is generally lacking.’ The Department recommended against ‘social gender transition,’ i.e. changing a child’s name, pronouns, and clothing, as a treatment option for children; opposed prescribing puberty blockers or hormone therapy to children and adolescents; and opposed gender reassignment surgeries as a treatment option.”

The department added, “Based on the currently available evidence, ‘encouraging mastectomy, ovariectomy, uterine extirpation, penile disablement, tracheal shave, the prescription of hormones which are out of line with the genetic make-up of the child, or puberty blockers, are all clinical practices which run an unacceptably high risk of doing harm.’”

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