Trump official Kayleigh McEnany says Democrats “are erasing parents” in unhinged rant

Former Trump Press Secretary and current Fox News host Kayleigh McEnany recently went on a rant about how the government is “erasing parents” by requiring them to obtain gender-affirming care for their trans children.

McEnany made this comment during a roundtable discussion on the Fox News show Outnumbered, in which the hosts were discussing a potential new California law that would factor in a parent’s support of a child’s gender identity in custody cases. A.B. 957 has passed both the state Assembly and Senate but has not yet been signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D).

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The law is a direct rebuke to national efforts to erase LGBTQ+ identities from schools.

The Outnumbered hosts raged against the bill, with McEnany declaring, “You shouldn’t trust Gavin Newsom, you shouldn’t trust any of these people. They also have a law that if you are a parent in another state, that you can flee, your child can flee, and get a mastectomy or get a sterilization without the consent of the parent.”

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McEnany was likely referring to a law passed in 2022 making California a sanctuary state for trans youth and their families from states that criminalize gender-affirming care.

S.B. 107 prohibits courts and attorneys in California from enforcing subpoenas requested by other states pursuing criminal prosecution of families seeking gender-affirming care for minors in California. It also bans healthcare providers from releasing medical information to out-of-state authorities. 

Gender-affirming care for minors rarely involves surgery and does not involve genital surgery. Mastectomies can be performed in rare cases where trans boys meet stringent requirements but it’s usually adult trans men who receive them.

When signing the bill, Newsom emphasized, “Parents know what’s best for their kids, and they should be able to make decisions around the health of their children without fear. We must take a stand for parental choice.”

And yet, McEnany used the bill as further evidence that “the Democratic Party is trying to erase parents.”

“This is about control,” she said. “They are erasing parents. It’s the only conclusion you can come to.”

She then urged Republicans to look to Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R), who she called “one of the foremost, best voices on education in this country.”

Since his campaign for office, Youngkin has waged war on public education, championing the “parents’ rights” movement that seeks to shut down racially- and LGBTQ+-inclusive learning environments, calling such inclusion a form of “woke indoctrination.”

McEnany argued that Youngkin supports parents because, in a recent interview on Fox News, he used the word parents 15 times.

The American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics have all rejected claims that gender-affirming care is harmful to transgender children or adults.

In fact, studies show that this care vastly improves the mental health of children who receive it.