Right-wing troll Matt Walsh claims transitioning is ‘impossible’ at signing of trans healthcare ban
Transphobic commentator Matt Walsh gives speech at Mississippi Republican signing of trans healthcare ban (Matt Walsh/Twitter)
Right-wing commentator for The Daily Wire and self-described “theocratic fascist” Matt Walsh spoke at the signing of a law banning gender-affirming healthcare for minors in Mississippi, claiming transitioning is not “physically possible”.
The new law bans puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgery for trans people under the age of 18, making Mississippi the seventh state across America to enact such legislation, NBC News has reported.
Despite trans healthcare having been shown to improve the mental health of trans teens, Republican governor Tate Reeves reportedly said he signed the bill due to a “dangerous movement” that encourages young people to undergo gender-affirming care.
“This dangerous movement attempts to convince children that they’re just a surgery away from happiness,” he said after signing the bill into law. “It threatens our children’s innocence and it threatens their health.”
As well as banning gender-affirming care for minors – with doctors providing trans healthcare at risk of losing their licence to practice – the bill also bans public funding from going to institutions, such as hospitals, that provide gender-affirming care.
Matt Walsh, a commentator for the right-wing news outlet Daily Wire, was invited to speak at the signing and took the opportunity to brand those who provide gender-affirming care “child-abusing quacks”.
He said: “I’m extremely encouraged to not only see this law being passed, but to see the national movement that we have been able to build pushing back against the gender-ideology madness that has [had] a stranglehold on our society and on our children for far too long.”
He added that it was not “physically possible” to transition from one gender to the other, and that the law was necessary to “protect” children.
“[Children] need and deserve to be protected from the child-abusing quacks and soulless goblins who wish to exploit their confusion for their own financial gain,” he said.
Mississippi joins several states in imposing harsh laws affecting the LGBTQ+ community in recent months.
The state also hit the headlines last year when a mayor threatened to withhold vital funding for local libraries unless “homosexual materials” were taken off shelves.
City of Ridgeland mayor Gene McGee reportedly refused to send $110,000 [approximately £92,000) in already-approved city funding to the Madison County library system because books containing LGBTQ+ themes “went against his Christian beliefs”.
