Democrat senators rebuked Sen. Rand Paul, M.D., (R-KY) for questioning a medical nominee about the safety and wisdom of trying to change children’s sex via surgery and drugs.
Democrats — and their media allies — ignored the substance and science of Paul’s questions to Rachel Levine, a man living as a woman who has been nominated by President Joe Biden for a top job at the Department of Health and Human Services.
“It is really critical to me that our nominees be treated with respect and that our questions focus on their qualifications and the work ahead of us, rather than on ideological and harmful misrepresentations like those we hear from Senator Paul earlier,” committee chairwoman Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) told transgender nominee Rachel Levine. “So thank you again for your response,” she added.
“I also want to say how much I appreciate the dignity and the professionalism that you demonstrated in your response to Senator Paul,” said Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN). “I want to be really clear that this is a moment where we should be focusing on the grave challenges before us.”
Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and PensionsPaul sharply questioned Levine, who has endorsed drug and procedures to change children’s apparent sex:
“Like surgical mutilation, hormonal interruption of puberty can permanently alter and prevent secondary sexual characteristics,” Paul said. “The American College of pediatricians reports that 80 to 95 percent of pre-pubertal children with gender dysphoria will experience resolution by late adolescence if not exposed to medical intervention and social affirmation. …. Dr. Levine, do you believe that minors are capable of making such a life-changing decision as changing one’s sex?”
Levine, a doctor, repeatedly stonewalled Paul’s medical questions, saying:
Well, senator, thank you for your interest in this question. Transgender medicine is a very complex and nuanced field with robust research and standards of care that have been developed. And if I am fortunate enough to be confirmed as the assistant secretary of health, I look forward to working with you and your office and coming to your office and discussing the particulars of the standards of care for transgender medicine.
Paul was the only GOP senator who asked about Levine’s record in transgender activism. The issue was dodged by other GOP senators, including Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC), Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN), and Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL).
Also, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), a doctor, ignored the issue despite many polls showing the transgender ideology is very unpopular with voters.
Fortune 500 business groups, however, are increasingly promoting the transgender ideology alongside their push for chaotic civic diversity.
Overall, the transgender ideology opposes civic rules and laws that recognize the complementary biology-based differences between them. Instead, the ideology would require the federal government to enforce each adult’s or child’s claimed male or female transgender status on other Americans. The self-identification of male-or-female status would effectively end single-sex institutions and cultures, including women’s athletics and bathrooms as well as gay and lesbian communities, and it would ease the sale of transgender-related medical services to children.
Democrat senators refused to engage with Paul’s questions about the safety of transgender medical practices aimed at children.
“I appreciated your thoughtful and medically informed response to Senator Paul’s questions earlier in the hearing,” Murray told Levine after Levine had stonewalled Paul.
“Thank you for the way in which you handled those questions,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) told Levine.
“I want to say to both the doctors here today, [thanks] for your willingness to serve [and] your thoughtful responses,” said Sen Jackie Rosen (D-NV) before indirectly insulting Dr. Paul: “I know being a doctor takes both intelligence and empathy … so I appreciate you being here today.”
The Democrats’ Senate leader, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), also dodged Paul’s medical questions by portraying them as “attacks”:
Their attacks on trans people and the transgender community are just mean, mean and show a complete lack of understanding, a complete lack of empathy. Their despicable comments just make my blood boil with anger. If I didn’t have a mask, you could see my teeth gritting.
Biden nominee refuses to answer my question about whether the government should override a parent’s consent to allow a minor to receive puberty blockers or surgical amputation of breasts or genitalia. https://t.co/XiWTfQFE89
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) February 25, 2021
The major media outlet also dodged Paul’s medical questions.
The New York Times said:
Dr. Levine’s confirmation hearing briefly turned combative on Thursday, when Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, opened his questioning with a tirade about “genital mutilation” and a demand to know whether the nominee supported gender reassignment surgery and hormone therapy for minors.
The substance of Paul’s criticism was relegated to the final two paragraphs of the 16-paragraph article:
Her detractors have seized on a 2017 speech she gave describing hormone therapy as a standard of care for transgender youth, and also on a tweet she posted in January 2020 about a study showing that transgender youth with access to puberty blocking drugs are at decreased risk of suicide.
“This study is important because it’s the first to show this specific association,” Dr. Levine wrote.
The Washington Post article began: “A Republican senator lashed out Thursday at the Biden administration’s nominee for an assistant health secretary position, a physician who would be the highest-ranking openly transgender official in government history.”
And then argued that Paul’s data was wrong:
Contrary to Paul’s arguments, and those presented in a recent wave of GOP-led bills targeting transgender children, current medical guidelines in the United States do not recommend transition-related surgeries for minors.
Before puberty, most transgender children simply begin with a social transition, changing their names, pronouns and clothes to match their gender identities. Medical interventions for older transgender youths can include puberty blockers and hormone treatments, but surgeries are generally recommended only after a person turns 18.
However, there is vast evidence online and on television of American kids having their genitalia and breasts removed by surgeons:
— Oldspeaker1 📢 (@oldspeaker1) February 25, 2021
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