Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris has avoided addressing whether she supports transgender surgeries for minors—a far-left position that most Americans do not support. Yet a number of LGBTQ groups that endorse attempted gender transition procedures for children are eagerly backing Harris and her running mate Tim Walz.
A few of these top LGBTQ groups are the American Civil Liberties Union, GLAAD, Advocates for Trans Equality, and the Human Rights Campaign. These organizations, which did not respond to requests for comment, warn against “anti-LGBTQ” legislation, citing fears that Republican politicians will protect children from transgender procedures, classroom discussions of gender and sexuality, and inappropriate drag performances.
Though Walz, as governor of Minnesota, signed an executive order establishing a “right” to trans hormones, puberty blockers, and surgeries, the Harris campaign has thus far refused to tell The Daily Signal whether it supports transgender surgeries for minors. The White House referred The Daily Signal to the Harris campaign on the matter.
It’s a question fraught with peril for a campaign closely tied to far-left groups, given the fact that most Americans do not support hormonal or surgical transgender interventions for kids.
The White House, which has previously embraced “medical care” for trans-identifying kids, appears to be aware of this. In early July, the White House flip-flopped on the topic, first telling news outlets that the Biden-Harris administration did not support transgender surgeries for children, before reaffirming support for irreversible procedures for minors after “intense pressure” from LGBTQ groups.
The flip-flopping followed reports that the top trans-identifying leader in the Department of Health and Human Services, Rachel Levine, successfully pressured the World Professional Association for Transgender Health to remove age requirements for minors to get irreversible transgender procedures.
Levine’s office has said that “early” transgender surgeries, hormone treatment, and affirmations are “crucial” for the health of kids and teens who identify as transgender, arguing that if these procedures are not made available to trans-identifying youth, they are at risk of self-harm or suicide.
Research has found that, contrary to those activists’ claims, so-called gender-affirming care increases the likelihood that youth will attempt suicide. According to one April study, “Gender-affirming surgery is significantly associated with elevated suicide-attempt risks, underlining the necessity for comprehensive post-procedure psychiatric support.”
California Attorney General Kamala Harris participates in the San Francisco Pride parade June 26, 2016. (Photo: Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images)
GLAAD (formerly known as the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation), claims that so-called gender-affirming care (transgender surgeries, hormones, and puberty blockers) is both crucial and lifesaving for young people who believe they are transgender, stating that “efforts to ban and criminalize this care are not based in medical or scientific expertise, and frequently spread misinformation about what the care is.”
The organization has steadily documented Harris’ record on LGBTQ issues, describing the Biden-Harris administration as the “most pro-LGBTQ presidency in history.” When she selected Walz as her running mate, GLAAD emphasized Harris’s commitment to LGBTQ matters.
“Vice President Harris’ choice of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz underscores a longstanding commitment to the equality, prosperity, and safety of all Americans, including and especially for LGBTQ people,” GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said in a statement at the time. “Gov. Walz has a proven record of including and protecting LGBTQ people and the fundamental freedoms all Americans treasure.”
GLAAD’s accountability trackers emphasize that Harris has taken at least “66 positive moves for LGBTQ equality,” including marrying a gay couple as far back as 2004, opposing conversion therapy practices, and consistently supporting the radical Equality Act—legislation that would allow males in girls spaces, force employers, workers, and hospitals to comply with state mandated ideology, threaten families who refuse to allow their children to undergo gender transitions, and more.
The ACLU, an organization that sues to help minors obtain so-called gender affirming care, predicts that given “the Biden-Harris administration’s record of improving protections for LGBTQ people,” there is strong likelihood that “Kamala Harris would be a champion for the community if elected.”
“While there remains work to be done to protect the LGBTQ community, we have seen significant progress under the Biden-Harris administration in undoing the anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ policies of Donald Trump’s administration,” the ACLU said in a release titled: “Why a Harris Presidency Promises Hope for LGBTQ Rights.”
One major goal the ACLU has for the Harris-Walz administration is the passage of the Equality Act. The ACLU promises that if necessary, it will use public pressure, “including aggressive lobbying and grassroots mobilization,” to force Congress to pass the Equality Act.
Its top recommendation for Harris and Walz is to “issue an executive order on day one directing federal agencies to examine ways that they can affirmatively enhance access to gender-affirming care in federally funded programs.” Gender-affirming care is the activist euphemism for transgender surgeries, hormones, and puberty blockers.
The ACLU also wants Harris to work with the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division to “use litigation to protect trans people across the country from discriminatory state laws.”
“The Biden-Harris administration has a strong record of protecting and expanding the freedom of LGBTQ people at a time when those freedoms have faced an unprecedented assault,” said James Esseks, co-director of the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Project, in an August statement.
“With further attacks on our rights and a landmark Supreme Court case on the horizon, we would encourage a Harris-Walz administration to continue this commitment and do everything in their power to protect our rights, our health care, and our freedom to be ourselves without fear,” Esseks added.
When Harris announced Walz as her vice presidential running mate, the Human Rights Campaign deduced that “a Harris Administration would build on the Biden-Harris legacy of being the most pro-equality in American history.”
“There’s no doubt—Kamala Harris has electrified the nation and breathed new hope into the race,” said Kelley Robinson, Human Rights Campaign president, in a statement at the time. “Her pick of Governor Walz sends a message that a Harris-Walz Administration will be committed to advancing equality and justice for all.”
The organization lauded Harris as a “career-long champion for LGBTQ+ people,” pointing out that she established a hate crimes unit to investigate crimes against people who identify as LGBTQ shortly after she became San Francisco district attorney in 2004. HRC also praised her for a 2006 conference she organized bringing together over 100 officials to take down the gay and transgender panic defense—whereby a defendant can claim that the discovery that a trans-identifying person was misrepresenting their biological sex provoked the defendant into the heat of passion.
“As Vice President, Harris has helped lead the most pro-equality administration in history,” HRC states in a release, citing the Biden-Harris administration’s signage of the Respect for Marriage Act, its promotion of people who identify as LGBTQ within the administration, the selection of LGBTQ judges, and more.
The Human Rights Campaign also backs so-called gender-affirming care for minors, criticizing those who wish to protect children: “Some are even going as far as to accuse parents who support their transgender children of child abuse,” the organization said in a fact sheet on the matter.
HRC falsely claims that “no permanent medical interventions happen until a transgender person is old enough to give truly informed consent.” A number of detransitioners, young people who tried to transition before realizing this is impossible, have recently sued the doctors and medical organizations that transitioned them on the grounds that they were not able to fully give informed consent due to their age and mental health issues.
The organization Advocates for Trans Equality expects Harris to “expand upon the protections for transgender Americans established by the Biden Administration,” praising her for “an unwavering commitment to advancing the well-being of the transgender community.”
“Her leadership promises to fortify and enhance the efforts to address and meet the needs of transgender people, ensuring continued progress in our nation’s history of civil rights,” Advocates for Trans Equality Executive Director Rodrigo Heng-Lehtinen said in a July statement.
Advocates for Trans Equality pushed back strongly when the White House initially came out against transgender surgeries for minors, accusing the White House of prioritizing politics over science.
“No parent should ever be put in the position where they, their child, and their doctor agree on a course of action, supported by the overwhelming majority of medical experts, but the government forbids it,” Heng-Lehtinen said in an early July statement.
“The Biden Administration is sending mixed messages that are misguided and dangerous for trans youth,” Heng-Lehtinen added. “We need the President to keep the promise he made to have the backs of trans youth and clarify his opposition to the dangerously sweeping bans that target trans youth and their families.”
