After the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, and the Children’s Hospital Association asked the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate critics of transgender surgery for minors, Tennessee’s Attorney General is leading a coalition of his peers in responding.
“We, the undersigned State Attorneys General, write to express our deep concern with the recent letter you received from the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Medical Association, and the Children’s Hospital Association asking you to investigate and prosecute people who question the medical establishment’s current treatment of children struggling with gender dysphoria,” says the letter penned by Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, and co-signed by 12 other attorneys general. “You cannot and should not undertake such investigations or prosecutions.”
“We emphatically agree that anyone engaged in violent crime or threats of violence should be investigated and prosecuted by the appropriate authorities,” says the letter. “But the medical organizations are asking you for much more than that. They are asking you to direct the criminal enforcement power of the federal government not only at those committing or threatening violence but also at those whose speech may ‘provoke’ such threats.”
It continues:
We respectfully demand that you stand down and allow the national conversation to continue. Now is a time for more speech, not less. Each side must have the opportunity to marshal evidence, make its case, and attempt to persuade the American people of the rightness of its position. This is the process most likely to attain the truth and promote effective policymaking. Silencing critics of current gender dysphoria treatment practices for minors will not make children any safer or healthier. Instead, it will lead to bad decision-making and erode public confidence in both the federal government and the medical community.
In the letter, the Attorneys General note that countries like Britain, Sweden, Finland, and France have all restricted medical treatment for gender dysphoria in children, due to the fact that the effect of the drugs given to children to “transition” can be irreversible.
“Meanwhile, in the United Kingdom, a blue ribbon investigation led to the closure of the country’s only dedicated gender identity clinic and raised serious concerns about the use of puberty blockers,” the letter says. “And the National Academy of Medicine in France advises caution in pediatric gender transition and expresses concern over the existence of epidemic-like case clusters of adolescent gender dysphoria.”
“The right to disagree stands as the most fundamental American right,” said Skrmetti in a press release. “Government can never criminalize criticism. Especially when something as important as our kids’ long-term well-being is at stake, we need to allow for open discussion and constant questioning.”
The latest call for persecution of those who speak out against the political left’s agenda is eerily similar to a 2021 scandal wherein the DOJ asked the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to monitor parents who protested Critical Race Theory (CRT) and COVID-19 restrictions in schools, at one point labeling those parents as “domestic terrorists.”
The DOJ later apologized for the label, but not for monitoring the parents.
Read the letter:
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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Tennessee AG John Skrmetti” by Tennessee Office of the Attorney General.
There will be a Rally next week in Nashville. It is time that we as Tennesseans stand up show up and speak up and tell the Federal Government that the constitution does not give them any rights in healthcare. Give a child a chance to grow up and experience puberty. You don’t treat a mental disorder with Surgery. https://www.votervoice.net/COSACTION/Events/7124/Register
I completely agree. Thanks for sharing! 🌹
I am astounded! A Tennessee AG who actually takes action rather than hitching a ride (sometimes) on other AG’s work.
The mutilation of children through both drugs and surgery should be banned altogether.
You know Skrmetti is taking care of business when good ole william delzell is hot and bothered.
Well done Jonathan, keep up the great work!
How about respecting the rights of the critics of these Tea Party AG,s and their phony concern for parents’ and victims’ rights?
I do not see that anyone is blocking you from speaking your mind or requesting that the DOJ investigate you. Do you think that your rights are more important than those of the critics of transgender surgery or of any other treatment for gender dysphoria when it involves minors?
Also, I question your omniscience in determining that all of the State Attorneys General concerns are phony in this situation or in any other that might be addressed in the future. They are asking for an open dialogue on this subject – without penalties or persecution of parties on either side (as long as violence is not threatened).
I believe that the State Attorneys General are making a reasonable request. However, I feel that it would be a waste of my time to try to convince you otherwise.