Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) expressed anger that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. isn’t against transgender people enough to be the next president of the United States. The longshot candidate recently said he doesn’t know enough to say whether gender-affirming medical care should be made inaccessible to trans minors. This angered Greene, who has introduced legislation to ban gender-affirming care for minors nationwide and to make it more difficult for trans adults to access it. introduced legislation to make gender-affirming care for minors across the country illegal and to make it harder for trans adults to get it.
In a recent interview, conservative commentator Patrick Bet-David asked Kennedy, “What will you do as a president to get this nonsense out, to prevent kids under the age of 18 with or without the consent of their father to transition? You may even say that that is an okay policy you’re a part of that many families disagree with. One, what is your position on this and what will you do as a president?”
Kennedy responded, “My position is that people should not be able to have access to those procedures, that minors shouldn’t, without parental permission, and I don’t know enough about it to say that it should be completely illegal.”
These comments may be some of his first public ones sharing his views on gender-affirming care. He has previously said that trans people “should not be made second-class citizens” and that he opposes trans girls participating in competitive sports.
Kennedy has previously claimed, however, that traces of the herbicide chemical atrazine in tap water are causing “sexual dysphoria” in boys and turning them transgender. PolitiFact rated Kennedy’s claim as “false,” noting, “No scientific studies in humans have linked atrazine exposure to gender dysphoria.”
In a social media post criticizing Kennedy’s response, Greene wrote, “We should be courageously protecting children from the child genital mutilation medical industry.”
“I have a bill that does just that. Protect Children’s Innocence Act! And Pres Trump will protect kids!!”
Greene has promoted her bill, the so-called Protect Children’s Innocence Act, by spreading misinformation about gender-affirming care, calling such care “gruesome, irreversible operations on underage children.”
Gender-affirming care for trans minors almost never includes surgery, and for younger children, it’s mostly just letting them dress how they want and play with the toys they want to play with and referring to them with the right pronouns. For teens, it can include puberty blockers – which have been shown to reduce lifelong suicide risk among trans people – and hormone therapy. Some older teens can access some forms of non-genital surgery if they meet stringent requirements, which is rare.
Gender-affirming care for trans minors is supported by the American Medical Association (AMA), the Endocrine Society, and other leading medical organizations. The AMA issued a resolution just last year reaffirming its support for gender-affirming care based on scientific evidence.
An average of national political polls show Kennedy with just 10% of support from likely voters, according to the data journalism website FiveThirtyEight, as of May 6.
