Biden: Children Can Decide to be Transgender

In a town hall on Thursday night, Joe Biden, the Democratic candidate for the upcoming presidential election, said that if he were elected, he would change the “dangerous and discriminatory agenda” that prevent gender transition treatment for children.

At the town hall, a woman claiming to be the mother of a transgender child asked Biden his stance on legalized transition treatment for children. She claimed that President Trump has stripped her child of his rights in this regard.

“The idea that an 8-year-old child or a 10-year-old child decides, ‘You know, I decided I want to be transgender, that’s what I think I’d like to be, it [would] make my life a lot easier,’ there should be zero discrimination,” Biden said. “And what’s happening is, too many transgender women of color are being murdered. They’re being murdered.”

The idea that an 8 year old child or a 10 year old decides “You know I wanna be transgender,” should be zero discrimination.

Joe Biden encourages child transgenderism?? pic.twitter.com/2jev6H7Mlp

— MRCTV (@mrctv) October 16, 2020

The second half of his statement is bizarre and it is unknown what he was referring to and in what manner transgender women of color were being murdered. This segment of his statement was redacted from most mainstream media and from video segments presented on mainstream media.

Puberty Blockers: Dire and Irreversible Consequences

Peter Sprigg, Senior Fellow for Policy Studies at Family Research Council Action released a new issue analysis publication critical of Biden’s statement. 

‘”Joe Biden’s answer in last night’s townhall ignores studies that have shown that, when left to themselves, most children with such conditions outgrow them and do not identify as ‘transgender’ adults. However, such conditions and identities are increasingly being embraced and actively affirmed, not only through ‘social transition’ (changing one’s public expression of gender identity) but through radical physiological interventions as well. These include the use of drugs to block normal puberty, cross-sex hormones, and gender reassignment surgery. Biden was right about only one thing—these procedures do not make a child’s life easier,” concluded Sprigg.

As Peter states in the new FRC publication:

“Each of these procedures has serious negative side effects—up to and including permanent sterilization. Despite claims to the contrary, these procedures are often not reversible, and they are not ‘evidence-based,’ because research has not shown that these procedures are effective in accomplishing their purpose, which is to improve the patient’s mental health. They violate the most fundamental principle of medical ethics—’First, do no harm.'”

Though Biden’s statement was clearly intended to attract left-wing voters, the legislation involves careful; consideration of consequences for the public welfare. His statement clearly did not take into account that gender identity treatment in children and adolescents involves hormone treatment and puberty blockers. The medications, which suppress the body’s production of estrogen or testosterone, essentially pause the changes that would occur during puberty. 

The use of these hormones for gender dysphoria has not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The use of these hormone treatments at this stage of development has not been well-researched and the hormones that are blocked by these medications, also play a role in a child’s neurological development and bone growth. Hormone treatments may increase the risk of cardiac problems later in life and breast cancer.

The physical changes that hormones bring about are irreversible. One possible side effect of hormone blockers is permanent sterility. Ironically, using hormone blockers on young boys would result in permanent micro-penis, making it impossible to lead a normal sex life later in life while also making it impossible to undergo sexual reassignment surgery to simulate female genitalia.

The medical treatments are expensive and a political battle will surely be fought over whether government-funded health insurance will pay for the treatment.

Kamala Harris: Transgenderism. Sex Work, and Human Trafficking

Many transgender activists support Biden’s running mate, Kamala Harris, for statements she made in the primaries supporting the legalization of prostitution. Though this position contradicts legislation she supported while working as the attorney general of California, her newly revised platform is popular with the left-wing and especially popular with transgender people. An ope-ed in the Washington Blade, an LGBT website, noted that the unemployment rate among transgender people is several times higher than that of the mainstream population, forcing many in the transgender community to resort to sex-work. The op-ed admitted that legalizing prostitution would lead directly to an increase in human trafficking. 

Torah Perspective on Transgenderism: Taking God’s Role in Choosing Gender

Rabbi Moshe Avraham Halperin, head of the Machon Madii Technologi Al Pi Halacha (the institute for technology according to Torah law) studies medical ethics in the framework of the Torah. He addressed the issue of transgender treatments on two levels: what is permitted by Jewish law and what this means in the larger context of society.

“This is certainly forbidden in Halacha (Torah law),” Rabbi Halperin said. “It is forbidden for several reasons, one being that it is explicitly forbidden to castrate a man.”

Rabbi Halperin cited Rabbi Abraham ben Meir Ibn Ezra, a medieval Spanish Bible commentator, who described a practice in his time in which men would cut their bodies in order to facilitate lying with men. Rabbi Halperin emphasized that according to the Ibn Ezra, this was forbidden in Leviticus. 

Do not lie with a male as one lies with a woman; it is an abhorrence. Leviticus 18:22

“This is just one of the symptoms of liberalism in the world. This is an effort to cancel out any expression of the Divine Will in the world and replace it with the individual as the Creator. This is the belief that people have the right to choose their gender.”

The rabbi emphasized that God decides gender, as stated in Genesis.

And Hashem created man in His image, in the image of Hashem He created him; male and female He created them. Genesis 1:27

“People who believe in God know that it is He who chooses how we come into the world and how we leave it,” Rabbi Halperin said. “God decides which seed fertilizes which egg and which gender it will be.”

“This is taking on political expression and Biden is establishing precisely which side he is on without any pretense. This is expressed in every aspect of life which is why liberal thought claims that people have the right to take a life whether through abortion or euthanasia.”

Biden is a Catholic and though his campaign has recently taken to touting his faith, his political beliefs are in contradiction of those of the Catholic Church. In late September, Cardinal Raymond Burke called for Biden to be excluded from receiving Catholic sacraments due to his long history of advocating abortion.