Sean Hannity guest lies that Dr. Rachel Levine “wants to erase gender ... to destroy notions of the traditional family”
Fox contributor Rachel Campos-Duffy also suggested Levine, nominee for assistant secretary of health, does not “care about children”
Written by Brianna January
Published
Fox contributor Rachel Campos-Duffy claimed that Dr. Rachel Levine, nominee for assistant secretary of health and the first transgender person nominated to a Senate-confirmed position, is “part of a cultural Marxist movement that wants to erase gender in order to destroy notions of the traditional family.” The segment, on Fox News’ Hannity, also featured Fox News contributor Dr. Nicole Saphier and spread misinformation about health care for trans youth.
Both guests praised Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) for pushing right-wing media myths about trans youth during Levine’s February 24 Senate confirmation hearing, in which he lied that the Health and Human Services nominee supports the “genital mutilation” of trans kids, who do not undergo gender affirmation surgeries.
PinkNews has noted that “at no point does Levine support reassignment surgery on trans children, which is routinely restricted to adults over the age of 18 across most of the US.” And as social work professor Katherine Kuvalanka told The Washington Post, “The only interventions for young children is affirmation and acceptance for who they are.”
During the February 25 episode, Hannity and his guests echoed lies about best-practice medical care for trans youth. Hannity repeatedly claimed that trans youth are undergoing a “permanent life decision here, without the input of their parents,” and Saphier also falsely suggested that trans kids are having surgeries.
Additionally, Campos-Duffy suggested Dr. Levine, a pediatrician, doesn’t “care about children,” saying, “People who want to normalize changing the sex of children and not letting their parents, who are the best people to care for them, know about it, are people who don't care about children.”
Citation From the February 25, 2021, edition of Fox News' Hannity
SEAN HANNITY (HOST): All right, Dr. Saphier, you are a medical doctor. This is a life-changing event. Question is about parents and whether or not they have a right to be informed of these decisions. Thoughts?
DR. NICOLE SAPHIER (FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR): Well, that's right, Sean, and you know, it's important to clarify that the question wasn't about transgender in general. It was about minors and being transgender. And my biggest concern with some of the treatments that are going on for children that are identifying as transgender is I don't want a life-long identity to be defined by childhood insecurities. The biggest concern I have as a mother and as a physician -- puberty is fundamental for psychological development as well as the frontal lobe is not fully developed until the mid-20s. And that's really where your decision making and your reasoning comes from. I have a hard time doing anything permanent in terms of hormone and surgery that -- until a child has been fully developed. And that is my biggest concern.
HANNITY: And Rachel, your take on that.
RACHEL CAMPOS-DUFFY (FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR): Listen, Dr. Levine is a pediatrician, and I think the most important attribute of a pediatrician is that they love and care about children. People who want to normalize changing the sex of children and not letting their parents, who are the best people to care for them, know about it, are people who don't care about children. And, you know, we shouldn't be surprised. We've seen people with these, you know, adults willing to put their political agenda ahead of children all year long in the form of the teachers union.
And I think, Sean, that we need to ask ourselves, why is Dr. Levine doing this? Dr. Levine is part of a cultural Marxist movement that wants to erase gender in order to destroy notions of the traditional family. They want to destroy it. We saw this with BLM. It was part of their mission statement.
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HANNITY: The question is, I guess, are younger kids, are they mature enough to make a life, in some cases a permanent life decision here, without the input of their parents? We'll let you decide.