The Biden administration's Justice Department is hurting children by challenging a Tennessee state law that bans sex reassignment procedures for kids, according to a prominent online influencer who recently de-transitioned after identifying as transgender.
Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Lee last month signed into law a measure that prohibits hormone therapies, puberty blockers, and other medical procedures designed to change one's sex if they identify as the other gender from being used on minors under 18. The law is set to take effect on July 1.
This week, however, the Justice Department filed a lawsuit in federal court against the recently enacted law, accusing Tennessee of discriminating against transgender youth by violating he 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause.
The Justice Department also asked the U.S. District Court for Middle Tennessee, where the suit was filed, to issue an immediate order preventing the law from going into effect on July 1.
But according to a social media influencer and de-transition activist, the Justice Department will only harm kids if it pushes ahead with its suit.
"The DOJ is claiming that the law specifically discriminates against transgender people and targets them because of their gender identity. But this new law is not an attack on the LGBT and trans community in any way — it's simply about protecting children," Oli London told Fox News Digital. "Children cannot consent to life-altering and harmful medical procedures. They cannot consent to taking body- and mind-altering hormones."
London, author of "Gender Madness" and spokesperson for Fairness First PAC, last year de-transitioned back to a man after identifying as a woman for several months. He went on to list potential problems that come along with gender surgery.
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Kids "cannot begin to comprehend the long-term ramifications that transitioning has on their body," said London. "This includes sterilization, incontinence, problems with bone density growth, and fertility issues affecting girls' abilities to have their own children in the future."
The Justice Department countered that sex reassignment procedures are necessary medical care for children who don't want to identify as their biological sex.
"No person should be denied access to necessary medical care just because of their transgender status," Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division said in a statement. "The right to consider your health and medically-approved treatment options with your family and doctors is a right that everyone should have, including transgender children, who are especially vulnerable to serious risks of depression, anxiety, and suicide."
The Civil Rights Division "will continue to aggressively challenge all forms of discrimination and unlawful barriers faced by the LGBTQI+ community," added Clarke.
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U.S. Attorney Henry Leventis for the Middle District of Tennessee echoed that sentiment, arguing in a statement that Tennessee's law is both unconstitutional and discriminatory.
The law "violates the constitutional rights of some of Tennessee's most vulnerable citizens," said Leventis. "Left unchallenged, it would prohibit transgender children from receiving health care that their medical providers and their parents have determined to be medically necessary. In doing so, the law seeks to substitute the judgment of trained medical professionals and parents with that of elected officials and codifies discrimination against children who already face far too many obstacles."
Tennessee isn't the first state to push legislation banning sex reassignment procedures on minors.
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Indeed, state lawmakers nationwide have been pushing a number of bills affecting transgender individuals. This year alone, legislators have introduced more than 400 such bills, dwarfing numbers from recent years. Many of these measures, especially those placing restrictions on gender transition procedures for children and the teaching of gender identity in the classroom, have triggered protests across the country.
At least 21 states have also now imposed restrictions on transgender athletes, primarily with the intention of protecting girls by prohibiting biological males who identify as female from competing against them. And many additional states may soon join that list or expand their restrictions.
Such measures are necessary to protect kids, according to London, who argued the Biden administration needs to stop trying to block Tennessee's law from being implemented.
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"Children should be protected at all costs," said London. "It is of paramount importance that the Tennessee law goes into effect on July 1 without any stalling or interference from the Justice Department."
