Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was pressed in a Tuesday evening conversation with Fox News Tonight guest host Piers Morgan regarding his position on transgender care for youth.
"I have always looked at this traditionally Piers. I'm a traditionalist," Christie told the right-wing host. "A woman is someone who is born with that biological gender at birth. I recognize now that there are folks who feel differently about that. And they're free to feel differently about that — I don't. So, to me a woman is born someone who is born a biological woman and that's the definition. And I confronted the first in to this as governor because the legislature sent me a bill that would allow people to change their gender on their birth certificate and I vetoed it."
Morgan replied, "But you have — not withstanding that — but you have been, I would argue, probably the most progressive of the Republican candidates on this issue. You signed two bills that match California's bathroom policy for transgender youth, and directed New Jersey Department of Education to give schools guidance on other issues relating to transgender students, like preferred names and pronouns. Legislation also allowing transgender youth to participate in sports that matched their gender identity rather than their biological sect."
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Christie immediately corrected Morgan, saying, "That did not happen when I was governor, that happened when Phil Murphy was governor."
The former governor was then asked whether "transgender females should able to compete against biological females," to which he replied, "Biological males should not be allowed to participate against biological females — done."
Morgan followed up with the question of whether parents should be involved in deciding whether their kids should have access to gender affirming care.
The Republican hopeful answered, "We're having a big argument in our country too about parents being excluded from educational choices for their kids, and we as a Republican Party and conservatives say parents should decide their children's educational choices. Well, I don't think the government has any business getting in between a parent and their child in any one of these instances. I believe we should put parents in charge of these decisions when someone is not at the age of majority, and I always thought that that's what conservatives were all about."
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When Morgan said, "But most conservatives are not about that anymore as a mindset," Christie quickly snapped back, saying, "Well then they're not conservative."
Morgan suggested, "Or maybe you're not a conservative by the modern yardstick."
The former governor disagreed, saying, "No. That's like saying that now a biological woman isn't a woman by a modern yardstick. So don't use the modern yardstick one way and then want to change it a different way, ok? What is very clear to me is that conservatives don’t want big government in their lives. They don't want big government interfering in their lives, especially in their personal lives. They don't want the government saying what books their children can read. They don't want the government saying, you know, what their education should be. They want parents to be involved in the middle of that. Well gee whiz, Piers, shouldn't they be in the middle of making those decisions?"
Morgan argued, “But it's also a government's responsibility to protect children, and what we've seen in the last few years is a creeping erosion of kids' rights, where many of them are being, frankly, mutilated. And so a lot of people are looking to politicians now to take a lead and say, 'Enough of this. Enough of these clinics all around America. We've had them in the UK with the Tavistock clinic and others, where frankly child abuse and mutilation is going on. Is it now incumbent on politicians like you who want to be president to say, 'Enough of this, we're gonna protect our kids.'"
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The GOP hopeful replied, "No. It's incumbent upon politicians to deal with other issues other than this and let the parents deal with these issues. My view of it is, when we have war in Eastern Europe, when we have inflation that is bankrupting people in this country, when we have educational standards dropping through the basement, when we have a border that we can't protect, an immigration system we can't fix, then no, I don't believe that's what we should be doing. Let the government do the things they're supposed to be doing well first, before they start substituting for a parent's judgement. Parents should decide where kids go to school, we should have educational freedom and parents should decide these very difficult sexual emotional issues with their children. They shouldn't be dishing off those issues to the government."
The National Center for Transgender Equality reports:
Many transgender people need to deal with physical and mental health problems because of widespread discrimination and stigma. Many transgender people live in a society that tells them that their deeply held identity is wrong or deviant. Some transgender people have lost their families, their jobs, their homes, and their support, and some experience harassment and even violence. Transgender children may experience rejection or even emotional or physical abuse at home, at school, or in their communities. These kinds of experiences can be challenging for anyone, and for some people, it can lead to anxiety disorders, depression, and other mental health conditions. But these conditions are not caused by having a transgender identity: they're a result of the intolerance many transgender people have to deal with. Many transgender people – especially transgender people who are accepted and valued in their communities – are able to live healthy and fulfilling lives.
Additionally, Human Rights Campaign notes, "Many transgender young people experience family rejection, bullying and harassment, or feel unsafe for simply being who they are - all of which can be added risk factors for suicide."
HRC's report references a American Academy of Pediatrics 2018 report, which emphasizes, "Emerging research reveals that transgender individuals (those whose gender identity does not align with their sex assigned at birth) report suicide behaviors (ie, plans for suicide attempts or past attempts) at a higher rate than their cisgender peers (those whose gender identity aligns with their sex assigned at birth)."
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Watch Mediaite's video below or at this link.
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National Center for Transgender Equality full report is available at this link. Human Rights Campaign's report is here. American Academy of Pediatrics report is here.
