Five Republican U.S. senators sent State Attorney Merrick Garland a scathing letter demanding him not to prosecute opponents of radical gender therapy for youngsters the same way the DOJ handled parents who protested about their local school boards.
The letter came after one from medical associations asking the federal government to look into groups and individuals they claim are “trying to coordinate, instigating, and carrying out” threats and violent acts against medical professionals and facilities that provide gender-related medications and surgical procedures to transgender minors. That letter was largely perceived as an effort to intimidate DOJ into silencing critics of the therapies.
Prior to your appointment as attorney general, the senator’s Ted Cruz of TX, Mike Lee of Utah, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Roger Marshall of KS, and Marsha Blackburn of TN stated, “This proposal by advocacy groups to have the federal gov. silence critical speech on their behalf would have been unimaginable.”
The letter stated, “It is crucial to stress that violence and threats are not considered free speech and should be punished to the greatest extent of the law. However, parents who express their worries about their children’s health and safety or their opinions on broader public policy issues are engaging in fundamental First Amendment activity.”
The lawmakers pointed out that the Biden admin and the American School Boards Association had previously collaborated with Garland’s DOJ in an attempt to portray parents who opposed local boards of education as “domestic terrorists.” They demanded copies of any correspondence the DOJ may have had regarding the transgender treatment of minors with the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Medical Association, and/or Children’s Hospital Affiliation.
The letter argued that “Americans have a protected First Amendment right to actively join in the current and passionate debate regarding how best to treat youngsters coping with their gender dysphoria.” The NSBA letter stated that “your actions regarding the NSBA letter send an unacceptable message that federal law enforcement may and will be utilized to support one side of a political argument, and to either stifle or freeze the voice of the other.”
In recent months, the topic of the pharmacological and surgical treatment of kids with gender dysphoria has garnered media attention. Despite hospitals’ long-standing claims that they don’t operate on children, a shocking Reuters report published last week using data examined by health tech firm Komodo Health revealed that thousands of kids have already been given hormones and puberty blockers, hundreds of girls with gender dysmorphic traits have had mastectomies, and as many as 56 kids between the ages of 13 and 17 had genital surgeries from 2019 to 2021.
