While the Harris-Walz campaign has repeatedly attempted to label their opponents as “weird,” the American Principles Project (APP) told the Daily Caller News Foundation that Vice President Kamala Harris’ “radical” record on transgender issues makes her the weird one.
Harris’ voting record from the senate, public statements and actions as vice president — including congratulating transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney on a year of “living authentically” as a woman and inviting cast members from Queer Eye to the White House — reflect an extreme stance on gender issues, APP argued in an analysis of her record shared exclusively with the DCNF. APP President Terry Schilling told the DCNF that the “obsession” with gender identity issues, specifically those surrounding children, “makes Kamala the weirdest.”
“The obsession with giving kids gender transitions — it’s not just weird, it’s evil,” Schilling said.
The Human Rights Campaign, which has fought against state bans on transgender procedures for minors, endorsed Harris as “a trailblazer” who “has been a champion for LGBTQ+ equality for decades.”
As a California senator, Harris co-sponsored the Equality Act, which would include sexual orientation and gender identity as prohibited categories of discrimination under federal civil rights law. (RELATED: Tim Walz’s Admin Spearheaded Efforts To Cut Most Age Requirements For Genital Surgeries On Kids)
The bill would allow men to compete in women’s sports and access female-only spaces like bathrooms and locker rooms. Parental rights advocates have warned the bill could open the door to enabling children to undergo gender transitions over objections from their parents, as some school policies already do.
“These are kids,” Schilling said. “They need formation. They need adults, both in their home and in the family, in their schools and in their government, to be protecting them from these bright, shiny objects that a lot of really bad people put in front of them.”
Our LGBTQI+ children should not fear who they are.
No one should be made to fight alone.
We are all in this together and we will fight with pride. pic.twitter.com/9LlauYZkUU
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) June 18, 2024
Like President Joe Biden, Harris has criticized Florida’s efforts to protect minors from sexually explicit material in schools, calling the state’s Parental Rights In Education Bill — referred to as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill by opponents — a law passed by “extremists.” The law prevents instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation in classrooms for children up to third grade.
“I have to tell you, so many of you may know, in 2004, on Valentine’s Day weekend, I was one of the first elected officials in the country to perform same-sex marriages,” Harris said in July at the American Federation of Teachers 2024 National Convention. “So, here’s the thing: It pains me so to think 20 years later that there are some young teachers in their 20s who are afraid to put up a photograph of themselves and their partner for fear they could lose their job. And what is their job? The most noble of work, teaching other people’s children.”
As California Attorney General, Harris also worked “behind the scenes” to pave the way for a policy enabling prisoners to obtain gender transition surgeries, though she earlier filed briefs defending a state agency’s decision to deny surgeries. (RELATED: Harris Once Bragged About Working ‘Behind The Scenes’ To Get Sex Change Surgeries For Trans Inmates)
“Toward the end of her tenure as attorney general she worked behind the scenes to establish a policy around granting gender-affirming surgeries to individuals who are currently incarcerated — the first of its kind in the country,” a spokesperson for her campaign told the Los Angeles Blade in 2019.
EXCLUSIVE: Harris VP Short-Lister Collaborated With Trans Lobby To Target Counselors Who Don’t Gender-Transition Kids https://t.co/bC7jhx3Sq9
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) August 1, 2024
In 2022, Harris and her husband, Douglas Emhoff, joined Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Rachel Levine in welcoming children who identified as transgender to the White House.
“Gender affirming care is the medical standard and allows these kids to be themselves & live a normal life,” Levine wrote on X. “To all trans kids: we see & support you.”
Levine, who identifies as transgender, pressured the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) to remove age limits from its Standards of Care Version 8 (SOC-8) guidelines, according to unsealed court documents. WPATH ultimately removed limits for procedures like cross-sex hormones and surgeries when it released the guidelines in September 2022.
Schilling said a Harris administration would put “Rachel Levine types” in every agency, including the Department of Justice (DOJ), which he said has already “been weaponized against parents for showing up at school board meetings where kids were getting raped by trans identifying people in their school bathrooms.” (RELATED: Kamala Harris Presidency Could Be A Nightmare Scenario For Pro-Lifers, Conservatives Concerned About DOJ Weaponization)
“They’ll be at Homeland Security, they’ll be at the Department of Education, they will be everywhere,” he said. “They will be setting policies that all of us have to live by and put up with.”
The Biden-Harris administration has fought state bans on transgender procedures for minors in the courts, including in a case challenging Tennessee’s law now at the Supreme Court. The administration cited WPATH’s guidelines in its filings, though unsealed documents revealed that WPATH suppressed, or chose not to seek, the publication of evidence reviews that undermined their recommendations.
Additionally, a four-year review of transgender medical studies commissioned by the National Health Service (NHS) England and released in April found “weak” evidence for offering puberty blockers to minors. The report, conducted by Dr. Hilary Cass, also found “no clear evidence that social transition in childhood has any positive or negative mental health outcomes.”
Schilling questioned whether Harris was aware of or had read the Cass report.
“If you’re going to push sex changes on kids, you should be reading up on this everywhere you can,” Schilling said. “Do you understand that the Cass Report has serious problems with the recommendations coming out of the transgender industry?”
The White House said in early July that it supports “gender-affirming care for minors” but believes “surgeries should be limited to adults,” according to a statement reported by the Advocate. The White House clarified days later that it would still “vigorously fight categorical bans on gender affirming care in the courts,” while reaffirming surgeries should be “reserved for adults.”
Harris’ pick for vice president, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, has a record of supporting child sex change procedures in his state.
Walz’ administration enabled minors to receive state-funded genital surgeries last year when it eliminated age restrictions from most transgender procedures in the state’s insurance policy, the DCNF previously reported. Additionally, Walz signed a “Trans Refuge” law that protects children who travel to Minnesota for transgender procedures, giving state courts “temporary emergency jurisdiction” when a child has been “unable to obtain gender-affirming health care.”
“Kamala Harris is going to be pouring gasoline on the fire and making it bigger,” Schilling said. “We need to put this fire out. Our children are our future.”
The Harris campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
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