For Saturday’s installment of CNN This Morning Weekend, host Victor Blackwell welcomed Elana Redfield of UCLA Law’s Williams Institute to attack the “very ideological” GOP for not giving “gender-affirming care” to minors and President Biden from the left for his proposed sports-related Title IX changes.
Republicans were first up for condemnation as Blackwell was stumped by the fact that Republicans are willing to give female medical care to girls, but not boys, “At the top, I said these are states that are now banning gender-affirming care for trans minors, because many of these laws do not address gender-affirming care for cis-gender teenagers. If a parent wants to allow their 16-year-old to get breast implants, a cis-gender girl or their boy to get growth hormones, cis-gender boy, those things are not dealt with in legislation. Am I right this is focusing exclusively on, or primarily, I should say, on trans teens?”
Blackwell unwittingly stumbled upon a truth: allowing a teenage girl to get breast surgery to fix a birth defect, is gender-affirming care. Giving breast implants to a teenage boy, is gender un-affirming.
However, Redfield agreed that there is some sort of hypocrisy going on:
That’s exactly right. I mean, the language of the bills, for the most part, all of them include exceptions. So they’re saying you can’t get this care, if you’re trans, but you could get it if you, for example, have a diagnosis around precocious puberty or early onset puberty, or if you have an intersex condition or diagnosis physical or anatomical traits that might not conform to ideas of male or female. So, there are exceptions in the rules that really point to the fact that this is very ideological. They’re really trying to target trans kids.
Later in the segment, Blackwell shifted to the White House and sports by reading a statement from, “a group of trans and nonbinary legislators sent a letter to the president that said that “the administration may have been attempting to provide legal protections and clarity, in actuality, these proposed rule changes would simply provide those who seek to deny us our right a road map for how to do so.”
Blackwell then sought to rephrase the concern, “Essentially, the White House is eliminating categorical bans on trans athletes. These lawmakers say it now just shows people how to pick out a few individual trans athletes. To that criticism and concern, you say what?”
Redfield did not launch into a denunciation of Biden, but subtly suggested the proposal wasn’t good enough, “and that’s why they have a public comment period to accept suggestions for how to clarify the language to make sure they’re best protecting trans people.”
Wanting a more direct answer, Blackwell wondered, “Do you think it needs to go further, that the White House needs to alter or change this proposed change to Title IX?”
Redfield responded by doubling down on subtlety suggesting changes, “I think we’re still working on our comment here, but I’d say, really, Title IX itself does– is very broad and protective and would include trans people at all levels of athletics and so we want to make sure that’s reflective in the rule.”
Title IX is not broad. It clearly and specifically says “sex,” not “gender identity.”
This segment was sponsored by ClearChoice.
Here is a transcript for the April 29 show:
CNN This Morning Weekend
4/29/2023
8:34 AM ET
VICTOR BLACKWELL: At the top, I said these are states that are now banning gender-affirming care for trans minors, because many of these laws do not address gender-affirming care for cis-gender teenagers. If a parent wants to allow their 16-year-old to get breast implants, a cis-gender girl or their boy to get growth hormones, cis-gender boy, those things are not dealt with in legislation. Am I right this is focusing exclusively on, or primarily, I should say, on trans teens?
ELANA REDFIELD: That’s exactly right. I mean, the language of the bills, for the most part, all of them include exceptions. So they’re saying you can’t get this care, if you’re trans, but you could get it if you, for example, have a diagnosis around precocious puberty or early onset puberty, or if you have an intersex condition or diagnosis physical or anatomical traits that might not conform to ideas of male or female. So, there are exceptions in the rules that really point to the fact that this is very ideological. They’re really trying to target trans kids.
…
BLACKWELL: Let me ask you about the White House– the proposals on changes to Title IX protections and I should say that the Williams Institute offered some research that went into making the decision to the White House.
The—a group of trans and nonbinary legislators sent a letter to the president that said that “the administration may have been attempting to provide legal protections and clarity, in actuality, these proposed rule changes would simply provide those who seek to deny us our right a road map for how to do so.”
Essentially, the White House is eliminating categorical bans on trans athletes. These lawmakers say it now just shows people how to pick out a few individual trans athletes. To that criticism and concern, you say what?
REDFIELD: Well, what the federal government here is trying to do is really capture the spirit of Title IX, which protects against discrimination in educational programs on the basis of sex. So the rule—the proposed rule is really trying to show how that does protect transgender people and so we want to make sure that we understand that this does protect transgender people in any level of athletics, whether it’s K-12 or whether at the highest levels and so it’s important—and that’s why they have a public comment period to accept suggestions for how to clarify the language to make sure they’re best protecting trans people.
BLACKWELL: Do you think it needs to go further, that the White House needs to alter or change this proposed change to Title IX?
REDFIELD: I think we’re still working on our comment here, but I’d say, really, Title IX itself does– is very broad and protective and would include trans people at all levels of athletics and so we want to make sure that’s reflective in the rule.