Matt Walsh left speechless a Tennessee Democrat representative who failed to catch Walsh in a supposed contradiction when the conservative author asked the lawmaker a simple question during a State House Committee meeting covering a bill that would ban life-altering transgender medical treatments for minors.
State Representative Caleb Hemmer (D-Nashville) attempted to confront Walsh with a statement he supposedly made about 16-year-olds getting married when, as the conservative author noted, he was a radio host “13 or 14 years ago and in my early 20s.” Leftist Media Matters subsequently did a “hit piece” on him using an inaccurate version of his statement.
Things were kicked off with this perfectly valid and relevant question from a Republican about claims that “gender affirmation” reduces the suicide rate. As I explained, that claim is utterly baseless pic.twitter.com/VmANPoETqT
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) February 9, 2023
“I was talking about the fact that people tended to marry young historically, and that’s all that that was about,” Walsh explained about his prior radio statement. “How does that relate to this subject?”
“Just curious of your definition, if you feel like people are adults at 16 –” Hemmer asked.
“People are adults at 18, but, actually, your brain is not fully developed until you’re 25,” Walsh said. “So, we should be having a conversation about whether we should even be doing the surgeries when people are 18. But, certainly, before 18, it’s absurd. I mean, do you think a 16-year-old can meaningfully consent to having their body parts removed?”
Hemmer was silent.
“Do you?” Walsh asked him again. “No?”
In a Project Veritas investigative report released in October, a “gender-affirming” doctor associated with the World Professional Association for Transgender Health’s (WPATH) Global Education Institute expressed concern that minors do not have the capacity to comprehend the ramifications of life-altering gender transition procedures.
“Some of the Dutch researchers started – gave some data about young adults who had transitioned and have reproductive regret – like regret – and it’s there,” British Columbia Children’s Hospital pediatric endocrinologist Daniel Metzger, M.D. told his viewers during a video conference. “And I don’t think any of that surprises us.”
Metzger said 14-year-olds do not comprehend the long-term consequences of transgender treatments, particularly when it comes to sterility and future regrets about no longer being able to have children:
It’s always a good theory to talk about fertility preservation with a 14-year-old, but I know I’m talking to a blank wall, and the same would happen for a cisgender kid right? They’ll be like, “Ewww – kids, babies. Gross.” Or, the usual stock answer is, “I’m going to adopt, just gonna adopt.” And then you ask them, “Well, what does that involve? Like, how much does that cost?” “Oh, I thought you just like went to the orphanage and they gave you a baby.” “No, it’s not quite like that.”
In an apparent attempt to discredit Walsh’s testimony, State Representative John Ray Clemmons (D-Nashville) asked Walsh what qualifies him to speak on the subject.
“Can you give us a summary of your educational background, or your healthcare education experience?” the Democrat lawmaker asked, adding, “I’m just curious. You have testified as to a lot of your own research. I’m curious for what purpose you do that and what background you have that qualifies you to speak to that.”
“Well, my background that qualifies me to speak to this is that I’m a human being with a brain and common sense, and I have a soul, and, so, therefore, I think it’s a really bad idea to chemically castrate children – that is my experience,” Walsh responded. “Also … now it’s true, I didn’t go to college, but I did go to school long enough to learn how to read, so I could read the data for myself, and that’s exactly what I’ve done.”
The exchange continued:
Clemmons: And for what purpose do you conduct your research and use this brain of yours?
Walsh: I use it for the purpose of trying to protect children from being castrated and mutilated, that’s one of the things I try to do.
Clemmons: You don’t use it to get clicks on your publication?
Walsh: Are you using it right now to get clicks with this interaction? … I really like the idea of … drawing attention to the fact that this is happening to children. I know you seem to find it very amusing – I don’t.
Today I testified at a committee hearing in support of a bill banning child mutilation in Tennessee. A Democrat on the committee asked what qualifies me to speak on the subject. It was a very dumb question but I tried my best to answer it for him. pic.twitter.com/56gAnl4TAL
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) February 8, 2023
Asked by State Representative Jeremy Faison (R-Cosby) to speak to the research about mental health and suicidal tendencies of individuals with gender dysphoria, Walsh responded:
The claim that doing the chemical castration – drugs or surgery or hormonal intervention – that this prevents suicide, or has positive psychological effects down the line, is utterly, totally baseless. There are no credible long-term studies that bear that out. One of the reasons for that is there couldn’t possibly be any credible long-term studies because we’ve never done this to kids on this scale ever before in history. So, this current, shall we say, crop of children – they are the guinea pigs. This is all experimental – we’re just trying it out on them, to see if it works.
“The suicide rate among trans-identified people is sky-high,” Walsh noted. “All the data shows this, it remains sky-high even after surgery. In fact, in the most reliable data we have, it’s years after surgery when suicidality is the highest for trans-identified people.”
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Susan Berry, PhD is national education editor at The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected]
Since the Republicans have enjoyed a now 12-year+ supermajority, the Democrats in Tennessee are irrelevant. It is the Lockdown Lee Republican supermajority that protected Vanderbilt’s chop shop for the last two years despite the efforts of Rep. Janice Bowling to outlaw the mutilation of minors by the grifter “health professionals”. Only Matt Walsh pulling their pants down and exposing Vanderbilt has motivated them to “do something”.
This Mengele like mutilation of youth by the democrats is being exposed for how absurd the idea actually is today. I commend Mr. Walsh for not allowing Hemmer to weasel out of the exchange. Sadly main stream media will not fully cover this story which limits public backlash to evict those like Hemmer from office. I do “cut and paste” Tennessee Star articles (and reader comments) and forward them to a larger audience. If Hemmer is your elected representative, let him know your feelings and disappointment. Let him know you will remember his voting record in the next election.
Caleb Hemmer is a clown just trying to make sure he/she/them doesn’t upset the mentally deranged democrat base. The entire trans movement is nothing short of demonic. Anyone pushing this garbage on children especially the doctors should be swinging in the wind.
It would be great if medical professionals would stand up against the trans cult and tell the truth about the horrific consequences of genital mutilation and hormone replacement. However, they are weak and pathetic. The AMA is a disgusting propaganda tool of the extreme left. Medical professionals should read this and be embarrassed that a media personality is doing the heavy lifting on their behalf. Thank you, Matt Walsh, for defending children by taking a stand for common sense and decency.
When I was young I wanted bionic body parts. Thank goodness I was not a child in 2023.
So Western Medicine doesn’t have enough disease to treat without creating significantly more by mutilating our children? We already spend by far the most per capita on health care of any country in the world with ever decreasing life expectancy. Adding the mutilation of our kids on top of the faux pandemic and the death jabs created by Big Pharma as the “solution” has just about destroyed the standing and trustworthiness of the medical community regarding pretty much anything.
Thank you, Mr. Walsh. I am cautiously hopeful that this legislature will actually take action to protect Tennessee children from mutilation. It took Mr. Walsh’s efforts to force this topic to the point that it cannot be ignored as it was last year.