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WASHINGTON, D.C., February 25, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) – U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, slammed Richard “Rachel” Levine, a man who claims to be a woman, over his support for child “sex changes” at today's Senate confirmation hearing today for the Biden administration’s pick for assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
“Genital mutilation has been nearly universally condemned,” Sen. Paul said. “According to the W.H.O. (World Health Organization), genital mutilation is recognized internationally as a violation of human rights,” he told Levine.
“Dr. Levine, you have supported both allowing minors to be given hormone blockers to prevent them from going through puberty as well as surgical destruction of a minor’s genitalia, like surgical mutilation,” Paul said.
“What I'm alarmed at is that you're not willing to say, absolutely, minors shouldn't be making decisions to amputate their breasts or to amputate their genitalia,” he added.
Formerly the health secretary of Pennsylvania, Levine ran the state’s draconian COVID-19 response, pushing nursing homes to readmit COVID patients and ordering two-year-olds to wear masks in public.
Levine also has been a longtime, outspoken proponent of transgender treatments for children and adolescents. In a 2017 lecture, he encouraged giving puberty-blockers to gender-confused children throughout puberty, followed by “sex change” surgery at 18. While transgender surgery “usually” is performed only on adults, “there are exceptions” Levine said.
Richard “Rachel” Lavine (@SecretaryLevine) and his perverse beliefs/agenda are a clear and present danger to children and the United States of America. #DoNotConfirmpic.twitter.com/N62JHj3xtL
— Matt Gaspers (@MattGaspers) February 25, 2021
“Hormonal interruption of puberty can permanently alter and prevent secondary sexual characteristics,” Sen. Paul, a practicing physician, said during Levine’s hearing. “The American College of Pediatricians reports that 80 to 95 percent of pre-pubertal children with gender dysphoria will experience resolution by late adolescence if not exposed to medical intervention and social affirmation.”
“Dr. Levine, do you believe that minors are capable of making such a life-changing decision as changing one's sex?” Paul asked. “Do you support the government intervening to override the parents' consent to give a child puberty blockers cross-sex hormones and/or amputation surgery of breasts and genitalia?”
UPDATE (1/29/21) - On day one of the new administration, Biden signed an Executive Order dismantling girls sports, and allowing biological boys back into girls locker-rooms.
The order declares: "Children should be able to learn without worrying about whether they will be denied access to the rest room, the locker room, or school sports. . . . All persons should receive equal treatment under the law, no matter their gender identity or sexual orientation."
This affront to reason effectively signals an end to girls' and women's sports, and diminishes their effort to compete on a level playing field.
Though this petition has already been delivered once, we will deliver new signatures to the US Dept of Education when restrictions permit, in honor of Selina Soule, who filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) in 2019.
UPDATE (5/29/20) - US Dep’t of Education: Letting males compete in girls’ sports violates female athletes’ civil rights
UPDATE (2/13/20) - Selina Soule and two other Connecticut high school girl track athletes, Alanna Smith and Chelsea Mitchell, have sued the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) to stop boys who claim to be girls from competing in their sport.
Soule is the same high school girl who, last year, filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR). That complaint is still ongoing, as the OCR has not yet handed down its guidance ruling.
This also explains why this petition is still ongoing. Please SIGN and SHARE.
But, with another track season soon coming to an end, the girls' attorneys have asked the Court for an injunction that would stop the CIAC from implementing its current policy while the lawsuit proceeds.
Soule, Smith, and Mitchell will soon run in regional and state meets, competing for state championships. This year, they would like to have the opportunity to win, fair and square.
Please learn more about the latest news concerning this case, here: https://www.lifesitenews.com/opinion/three-girls-sue-state-to-stop-boys-who-say-theyre-girls-from-competing-in-their-sport
Then, please SIGN this petition. Thank you!
________________________________________________________________________
Selina Soule is a female athlete who now must compete against biological males because of Connecticut's policy requiring that boys who identify as girls be admitted into girls' sports competitions.
But, when boys compete in girls' sports, they win because they have a natural advantage. It's scientifically proven, and it's also common sense.
This crushes the motivation of the biological girls who have worked hard to compete on a level playing field, only to enter into competitions which they can never win, despite all of their efforts.
It also puts girls into harm's way in contact sports, AND it deprives female athletes of their right to fairly compete for college scholarships and other accolades.
This is wrong! And, that's why this URGENT petition supports Selina and all the other female athletes out there, who have put in the hours on the track or on the court.
Please SIGN this common sense petition supporting Selina Soule's complaint to the Dept of Education's Office for Civil Rights, against Connecticut's discriminatory policy.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/high-school-girl-files-federal-complaint-for-having-to-race-boys
*Above photo credit: Michael Goodin / The Daily Signal
Levine repeatedly refused to answer the questions, claiming that “transgender medicine” is a “nuanced field.”
@USSenate, #DoNotConfirm Richard “Rachel” Levine: pic.twitter.com/KOXVWOggkl
— Matt Gaspers (@MattGaspers) February 25, 2021
“The question is a very specific one: Should minors be making these momentous decisions?” Paul pressed. “You give a woman testosterone enough that she grows a beard, you think she's going to go back looking like a woman when you stop the testosterone. You have permanently changed them.”
“Infertility is another problem,” Sen. Paul noted. “None of these drugs have been approved for this. They're all being used off-label.”
“I find it ironic that the Left that went nuts over (hydroxychloroquine) when being used possibly for COVID are not alarmed that these hormones are being used off-label,” he added.
“There's no long-term studies. We don't know what happens to them. We do know that there are dozens and dozens of people been through this who regret this happening, and a permanent change happened to them, and you know if you've ever been around children, 14-year-olds can't make this decision in the gender dysphoria clinic,” Paul said.
Paul noted the case of Keira Bell, an ex-transgender British woman whose testimony helped convince the country’s high court to ban transgender “transition” drugs for most children.
“She read on the internet about something about transsexuals,” Sen. Paul said. “She ended up getting these puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones. She had her breasts amputated.”
The anti-life, anti-family Biden White House has called Levine “deeply qualified” and said “Dr. Rachel Levine will bring the steady leadership and essential expertise we need to get people through this pandemic … and meet the public health needs of our country in this critical moment and beyond.”
Confirmation of Levine in the Democrat-led Senate would make the cross-dressing, gender-confused official one of the top health authorities in the nation, with broad strategic influence at HHS, the federal agency that administers U.S. government health programs.