President Donald Trump was blasted by conservatives for posting a Truth Social message Thursday that approved of transgender surgery for minors with parental consent.
“NO TRANSGENDER MUTILATION SURGERY FOR CHILDREN, WITHOUT THE EXPRESS WRITTEN APPROVAL OF THE PARENTS” was listed in Trump’s promotion of the Save America Act, which pushes voter ID requirements on Election Day to address the GOP’s unproven claims of widespread fraud.
Trump disciple-turned-nemesis Marjorie Taylor Greene, the former firebrand GOP congresswoman, led the outrage. She shared a screen grab of the item, which was later edited, and a rant: “Trump now supports trans gender mutilation surgeries of children if their parents want it!!!!!”
“What is wrong with him??? To do this to a child is absolutely disgusting, wrong, and a complete perversion of God’s creation AND NOW THE PRESIDENT SAYS ITS OK AS LONG AS THESE SICK PARENTS AGREE!!!” she added.
Right-wing podcaster Matt Walsh also chimed in.
“‘No trans surgery for children without parental consent’ is meaningless,” he wrote. “The consent of the parents is not the issue. The issue is that the procedure is barbaric and insane, no matter if parents agree to it or not.”
The item was later changed to “NO TRANSGENDER MUTILATION SURGERY FOR CHILDREN.”
But Greene claimed the original parent-consent line was no mistake, and that it was altered because of “huge backlash!!!”
“Don’t be stupid and think that it was a mistake or a staffer,” she wrote. “He was forced to change it bc we all made him. Just like we forced him on the Epstein files.”
Greene may have a point. Trump has said virtually the same thing.
“We don’t want transgender operations without parental consent,” he told Bloomberg in a 2024 interview. “It is 99.9% common sense. It really is common sense.”
GOP operatives spent a reported $222 million on messaging against transgenderism and the LGBTQ+ community in the 2024 election buildup. The president has followed through in his second term with numerous measures impacting the LGBTQ+ community.
“Nearly 80 million Americans gave President Trump a resounding mandate to restore common sense, and that includes putting a stop to unscientific and irreversible gender mutilation surgeries,” White House spokesman Kush Desai told HuffPost in an email on Friday. “The Administration is committed to delivering with executive action and cooperation with Congress.”