Republican Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz zinged an apparent heckler who interrupted a congressional hearing on transgenderism Thursday.
Gaetz hit back at a witness who said that parents have a right to decide whether their child receives a sex change.
“But in Washington state today, the parent makes the decision that they’re not going to provide that gender-affirming care, what it does is it unlocks for the government a window of time to keep the child away from the parent and to not tell the parent where the kid is,” Gaetz said.
In response, a heckler yelled something that sounded like, “Murderer!”
“Oh please, get over yourself,” Gaetz shot back, before continuing. “What’s terrible is when you have this incongruent desire for the government to restrain the ability of parents to parent. And I can only imagine the terror that a parent must go through not knowing where their child is.”
Democratic Washington Gov. Jay Inslee signed legislation in May allowing youth and homeless shelters to contact child services rather than parents and guardians in cases where the parents reject their child’s desire to undergo irreversible sex changes. The law would require the children’s department to make an attempt to notify the parents and reunite the family only after their child is referred for puberty blockers or other sex-change treatments.
Washington law defines so-called “gender affirming treatment” as “a service or product that a health care provider … prescribes to an individual to support and affirm the individual’s gender identity.” (RELATED: Heckler Shouts Down Adam Schiff After He Bashes Donald Trump During Crime Hearing)
Multiple reports have concluded that hormone therapy and puberty blockers have effects that are often irreversible and can damage fertility, bone density and mental wellbeing. Several U.S. states and some European nations have passed bans on sex change treatments for children.