A GOP rally in Tennessee at which lawmakers vowed to introduce legislation that will seek to end gender transition surgeries for minors drew thousands of attendees on Friday.
Tennessee House Majority Leader William Lamberth and state Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson called for an end to the procedures that had been performed on minors over the age of 16 at Vanderbilt University Medical Center since 2018. A crowd of at least 1,500 people came to the Nashville event, many of them there to show their support and others there in protest.
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“We need to ban this practice in Tennessee,” Lamberth said, while Johnson promised that a bill seeking an end to the procedure would be one of the first bills filed, according to the Tennessean.
Vanderbilt University recently announced that it stopped the procedures on minors temporarily as the facility looks into the latest research on the surgeries. The university added that it would abide by any rule passed by the state’s legislatures, according to News Channel 5.
Friday’s rally drew a crowd of at least 1,500 people, including anti-transgender rights activists, pro-transgender rights activists, Proud Boys, and people protesting circumcision. Former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who recently left the Democratic Party for what she said were its anti-feminist views, was one of the rally’s main speakers. Gabbard claimed that by advocating for a ban on the gender affirming procedures, she was protecting children.
“Our kids are having their childhood stolen from them,” Gabbard said, according to the outlet.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) also spoke at the rally, which was organized by the Daily Wire and right-wing commentator Matt Walsh.
“Children first, and families first,” Blackburn told the crowd. “The radical Left is trying to put their woke agenda on every single family in this state. … I will do everything I can do at the federal level to make sure we protect our children.”
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A trial on whether a law blocking transgender procedures on adolescents is constitutional is underway in Arkansas. The state introduced the legislation last year, but the legislation was blocked by a U.S. district judge.
