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(NewsNation) During the fourth Republican presidential debate on Wednesday, candidates disagreed on whether transgender issues were properly addressed or not.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and businessman Ramaswamy Vivek compared being transgender to having a mental illness, while former New Jersey governor Nikki Haley argued over rules governing the use of restrooms by students of color. Christopher Christie argued that kids may make the decisions regarding gender-affirming child care.
Former President Donald Trump, who has so far maintained a sizable lead in the contest, was absent from both of these discussions.
Christopher Christie
Despite his personal views on various forms of gender-affirming care, the former governor of New Jersey stated that parents should be the ones making decisions about a child’s health.
Every parent who is watching now says, “I get to make the decisions about my children, not anyone else.” Do you begin to relinquish some of this power? You won’t like the power they take away from you next.
Christie has made a number of contradictory remarks and actions toward LGBTQ Americans. In addition to vetoing a bill that would have made it simpler for trans people to obtain gender-appropriate birth certificates, he has also established protections for them in schools.
He vetoed legislation in 2012 that would have made same-sex marriages legal in New Jersey. The next year, after deciding not to challenge a court’s decision allowing the marriages, he gave up on that battle.
Christie continued by outlawing licensed professionals from attempting to convert queer teenagers through so-called conversion therapy in New Jersey, the second state to do so.
He stated to moderators on Wednesday that, as a Republican, he supports “less government.”
Without the state dictating what those values may be, Christie said, “we may allow parents to teach values that they believe in in their homes.”
Ramaswamy Vivek
On Wednesday, Ramaswamy reiterated the untrue assertion that “transsexuality is a mental health disorder.”
Transgender identity was removed from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders by the American Psychiatric Association in 2012.
He proposed outlawing “genital disfigurement and chemical castration,” contrasting gender-affirming child care with tobacco or drinking before the legal drinking age.
Nikki Haley
Haley and DeSantis debated so-called bathroom bills—laws governing which restrooms transgender and gender non-conforming students are permitted to use—from beginning to end.
Haley was criticized by DeSantis for eliminating one such bill in South Carolina a number of years ago.
When the problem was first brought to Haley’s attention ten years ago, she said, “We had maybe a few kids who were dealing with an issue, and we don’t need to bring government into this.” She continued, “Now, the problem has exploded.”
Haley remarked, “What I have always said is that boys go into boys’ bathrooms and girls into girls’ restrooms.”
She also disapproved of the notion of individuals participating in sports teams assigned to a gender other than the one they were assigned at birth.
DeSantis, Ron
The former governor of South Carolina, Haley, referred to DeSantis as a liar and made reference to a remark he had made during the 2018 member forum during their discussion.
According to a report by The Tampa Bay Times, the Republican governor had stated that “bathroom
wars” weren’t “a great use of our time.”
Currently, Florida forbids transgender individuals from using restrooms and locker rooms that are designated for the gender they were assigned at birth.
DeSantis remarked, “I don’t think men should be going into little girls’ bathrooms.” “We have every right to protect them from that because, in my opinion, it is wrong.”
