Florida Governor Ron DeSantis recently shot down the comments from a reporter regarding “gender-affirming care” for children, a euphemism touted by the left often used to denote transgender surgeries. The exchange follows news that a leftist judge blocked Florida’s ban on the so-called “gender-affirming” medical services.
The reporter asked the Republican governor, “Your office told us that you plan to appeal the gender-affirming ruling from yesterday. So my question today, since we’re talking about the budget of taxpayer dollars, why should taxpayer dollars go to this case for the appeal?”
DeSantis hit back, maintaining it is his moral duty to prevent the mutilation of minors from being legal in the state of Florida, while expressing confidence that the judge’s order would be reversed. He illustrated the absurdity of not being able to get a tattoo, but being legally allowed to remove one’s genitals irreversibly as a minor.
“Because it’s wrong to mutilate minors. It is wrong to perform a sex change on a 16-year-old. You’re not allowed to get a tattoo, but somehow, you can have your privates cut off? Give me a break. This is wrong, and I would also say, this has already been decided by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. They upheld Alabama’s law, which was almost identical to Florida’s law. This will be reversed, there’s no question it will be reversed,” he said.
The governor continued, emphasizing that the state can pass legislation protecting children. “Think about it. When the Founding Fathers were creating the Constitution, and when the First Congress passed the Bill of Rights, or even when they passed the reconstruction amendments in the 1860s, do you think a single person involved in that thought that there was a constitutional right to do this genital mutilation? It’s ridiculous. Of course, a state can protect children.”
Further defending the use of Florida tax dollars to fight “gender-affirming” medical procedures, DeSantis explained how he has historically won his appeals. “This idea of using tax dollars because the media will point out, “Oh, the state is spending money to do.” So if you say that we shouldn’t do that, you’re saying that any liberal judge should be able to veto the policy of the State of Florida because they go to the same judges every time, we lost almost every time, and we win on appeal almost every time,” he told the reporter.
The former Republican primary candidate doubled down, asserting that he would fight against the liberal judicial opposition to his laws. DeSantis maintained that he would not back down from the judge’s challenge, prioritizing Florida’s sovereignty to govern itself. Watch DeSantis’ press conference below:
“That’s what happens so if you’re not willing to defend Florida’s duly-enacted statutes against liberal jurisprudence, then you’re basically saying the people of Florida shouldn’t govern themselves and that we should just turn over our destiny to some trial judge somewhere. That I refuse to do,” DeSantis went on.
Note: The featured image is a screenshot from the embedded video.
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