Despite being frequently beset with chaotic and often unintelligible interruptions, Wednesday night’s Republican presidential primary allowed some of the top candidates to address important issues impacting the nation.
One notable example was entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy’s response to a question about whether he would support a federal law mandating that schools notify parents if their children begin exhibiting a different gender identity.
More than 50% of kids with gender dysphoria have considered suicide. And yet politicians reject a law that would require schools to inform parents if their kids change their gender identity at school. Parents have a right to know about their kids: that shouldn’t be controversial.… pic.twitter.com/AzvT2Pq8Om
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) September 28, 2023
While some others in the race have equivocated on the hot-button topic, he made it clear that he believes the current trend of transgenderism among children “is a mental health disorder” that needs to be treated as such.
“We have to acknowledge the truth of that for what it is,” Ramaswamy added.
As for the specific question, he asserted that parents “have the right to know” how their children are presenting themselves while in school.
“And you know what the hypocrisy of this is, even New Hampshire failed to actually get passed a piece of legislation here,” he said. “The very people who say that this increases the risk of suicide are also the ones saying that parents don’t have the right to know about that increased risk of suicide. And I’m sorry, it is not compassionate to affirm a kid’s confusion. That is not compassion. That is cruelty.”
He went on to recall meeting “two young women” who had previously undergone irreversible surgeries as part of an effort to present themselves as males, noting that both now deeply regret their decisions.
“One of them will never have children,” Ramaswamy explained. “And the fact that we allowed that to happen in this country is barbaric. So I will ban genital mutilation or chemical castration under the age of 18.”
Other Republican candidates have also expressed support for a federal version of parental notification mandates like those that have already been approved in a number of districts across the nation.
Seven candidates participated in the second debate, but front-runner Donald Trump was again absent, opting instead to address a group of autoworkers in Michigan amid an ongoing strike.
“Joe Biden claims to be the most pro-union president in history,” Trump said one day after the president appeared in the same state. “Nonsense. His entire career has been an act of economic treason and union destruction. He’s destroyed unions, shipping millions of American jobs overseas while personally taking money from foreign nations hand over fist. Look at the money he got from China.”
