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Tucker Carlson

Defending Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill, Fox’s Tucker Carlson says teachers who talk to kids about gender identity should “get beaten up”

The bill passed by the Florida House and Senate would ban classroom discussion of LGBTQ issues or people

Special Programs LGBTQ

Written by Alex Paterson

Research contributions from Jane Lee

Published 03/09/22 1:37 PM EST

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During the March 8 edition of his prime-time Fox News show, Tucker Carlson asserted that teachers who talk to kids about gender identity “should be arrested” and “beaten up.” Carlson also lied and fearmongered about best-practice medical care for transgender youth, falsely claiming, “Physicians all over the country are violating the most elemental medical ethics by prescribing puberty blockers and hormone treatments to minors.”

Carlson made this call for violence while defending Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which would ban classroom discussions about sexual orientation or gender identity between kindergarten and third grade and allow parents to sue school districts for failing to follow these provisions. The state Senate and House have both passed the measure, which is officially known as the “Parental Rights in Education Bill,” and it is now heading to Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ desk for his signature. In February, DeSantis signaled that he would support the bill.

Numerous LGBTQ and civil rights organizations and the White House have condemned the bill, with the Human Rights Campaign’s state legislative director saying, “The Florida state legislature is playing a dangerous political game with the health and safety of LGBTQ+ kids.” According to a 2021 research report from The Trevor Project, “LGBTQ youth who learned about LGBTQ issues or people in classes at school had 23% lower odds of reporting a suicide attempt in the past 12 months.” It is also crucial to note that discussing the existence of LGBTQ people is not the same as discussing sex or sexual health.  

What’s more, gender-affirming medical care for trans youth is accepted as a safe, effective, and lifesaving treatment that is widely supported by medical professionals and yields dramatic mental health benefits. 

Carlson also ignored the experiences of LGBTQ youth and falsely claimed that talking to children about LGBTQ issues is “sexual abuse.” In reality, research shows that trans children sense their gender identities at a young age. According to the American Psychological Association, “Children usually have a sense of their gender identity between age 2 to 5 and they typically become cognizant of their sexual orientation around age 9 or 10, although this self-awareness is occurring at earlier ages, particularly as it is a topic more widely discussed and available to younger children.” 

The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh joined Carlson during the segment and said that the bill will prevent people from grooming “young children.” Walsh’s fearmongering about grooming plays off of the right-wing hoax that LGBTQ people support sexual predators or pedophiles. DeSantis press secretary Christina Pushaw previously made similar accusations on Twitter while defending the new legislation, saying, “If you’re against the Anti-Grooming Bill, you are probably a groomer or at least you don’t denounce the grooming of 4-8 year old children.”

Video file

Citation From the March 8, 2022, edition of Fox News' Tucker Carlson Tonight

TUCKER CARLSON (HOST): You hate to say this is happening, but it is. Physicians all over the country are violating the most elemental medical ethics by prescribing puberty blockers and hormone treatments to minors. Long-term effects, totally unknown. These are life-altering procedures that are given to children below the age of consent. It is totally immoral, it should be illegal.

In many cases, kids are pressured into these procedures by the people in charge and that means teachers and administrators and school therapists and nurses and then doctors.

…

CARLSON: You shouldn't be talking to kindergarteners about gender identity, especially if you're not their parents. That's creepy. You should be arrested for that, in fact. You talk to a normal person's kids about sex in kindergarten, you get beaten up. You should be beaten up, please.

…

MATT WALSH (THE DAILY WIRE): Look, there’s a reason why Democrats are treating this bill like it’s the apocalypse. All we're telling them is you can't groom young children and to them it's Armageddon, and that's because they know they have to indoctrinate the kids into this madness very, very young. They have to get to them very, very young because if you wait until people are a little bit older, they're going to know that it's insane. And so that's -- their entire worldview kind of hinges on being able to get to the kids really young and in Florida, they’re going to hopefully stop that from happening.

CARLSON: You can't commit sexual abuse against my kindergartener, and that's what this is. It's sexual abuse. You're not allowed to commit it, and if you do, there are consequences. There should be real consequences. Like for real, I think. But anyway, Matt Walsh, great to see you. Thank you.

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