‘Transgenderism Is a Mental Health Disorder’: Republican Wants to Ban Funding for Gender Care
Ramaswamy's transphobia on display at final presidential debate
Republican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy put his bias against transgender Americans on full display Wednesday evening, calling for federal funding to prevent the availability of gender-affirming care.
Ramaswamy, a wealthy businessman and one of the Republicans chasing frontrunner Donald Trump for the 2024 presidential nomination, also boldly repeated the falsehood that “transgenderism is a mental health disorder.”
It's become an all-too-common refrain from Ramaswamy, and he has before been fact-checked because being transgender is not a mental health disorder.
Ramaswamy was one of four candidates sharing the stage in Tuscaloosa, Ala., for the fourth and final Republican presidential debate ahead of the first voting in early states to choose a presidential nominee.
As he has throughout this year, Trump was once again a no-show in Tuscaloosa. The former president by far is preferred for the nomination over his rivals who were on-stage, according to public opinion polling.
However, Trump could well select from those rivals — including Ramaswamy — for his eventual running mate.
During the televised debate, Ramaswamy returned to the topic of transgender Americans, who have found themselves increasingly the target of right-wing bigotry and attacks, including hundreds of pieces of legislation at the state level restricting their rights.
“I think the North Star here is: transgenderism is a mental health disorder. We don’t let you smoke a cigarette by the age of 18, we don't let you have an addictive drink of alcohol by the age of 21. And I just challenge Ron DeSantis to go one step further and support what I think is clearly within the authority to do, using federal funds just like [President Ronald] Reagan did in '84, for the Highway Act that set the minimum drinking age needs to be 21,” Ramaswamy said, referring to his rival for the nomination, DeSantis the Republican governor of Florida. “We can do the same thing when it comes to banning genital mutilation or chemical castration.”
That was more misinformation from Ramaswamy, as gender-affirming care has been found to be helpful, safe and effective for trans people to live better lives.
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