Ron DeSantis, the Republican Governor of Florida, went after President Joe Biden due to claiming this past week that it was “close to sinful” for any state to put up roadblocks to the access of gender reassignment or gender-affirming care to minors due to the procedures having a devastating permanent effect on children.
Biden issued the remarks as part of an interview alongside Democrat Kal Penn on “The Daily Show” hosted on Comedy Central while speaking about how Republican-led states, such as Florida in particular, have been working to protect kids from what they call “gender-affirming care.”
“It is not ‘sinful’ to prohibit the mutilation of minors,” stated DeSantis. “It is not acceptable for the federal government to mandate that procedures like sex change operations be allowed for kids.”
It is not "sinful" to prohibit the mutilation of minors.
It is not acceptable for the federal government to mandate that procedures like sex change operations be allowed for kids. https://t.co/YhPrrU5Poi
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) March 14, 2023
Biden stated that the whole issue of “gender-affirming care” is much “harder” when it comes to kids, but he did make the claim that legislation should stop states from setting up roadblocks.
“Transgender kids is really a harder thing,” he stated. “What’s going on in Florida is, as my mother would say, close to sinful.”
“It’s terrible what they’re doing. It’s not like a kid wakes up one morning and says, ‘You know, I decided I want to become a man’ or ‘I want to become a woman’ or ‘I want to change,’” Biden went on. “What are they thinking about here? They are human beings. They love. They have feelings. They have inclinations that are. … It just, to me, is, I don’t know is, it’s cruel.”
The president went on to state that the use of legislation is a means to force states to stop acting on the issue, arguing that the federal government should “make sure we pass legislation as we passed with same-sex marriage. You mess with that, you’re breaking the law and you’re going to be held accountable.”
As for “what’s going on in Florida” — which seems to be the vast majority of what Biden was speaking about and objecting to — state medical boards issued a vote last November to try and ban transgender surgeries, cross-sex hormones, and puberty blockers for minors. Additionally, the State Senate for Florida put forth a new bill back in February which would make sure to hold any business responsible for the total cost that goes along with detransitioning — if they had initially also covered the total medical costs in relation to the original transition.