The Daily Signal - California Weighs Gender-Transition Bill for Youths Beyond Its Borders

Episode Date: July 15, 2022

California is moving ahead with a bill that would offer gender-transition medical treatment not just to in-state children, but also to kids across America.  If passed, California’s "Trans Refuge Bill" would allow young people from other states to visit California to receive sex hormones, puberty blockers, and sex-reassignment surgeries.   “What's happened is that there are a number of states that have recognized that these medical interventions are incredibly harmful,” says Erin Brewer, the co-founder of Advocates Protecting Children. But California has decided to “open its doors to people who want to access these medical interventions, even though their states have found them to be incredibly dangerous and worth blocking,” she added.  Brewer is no stranger to the complexities of gender dysphoria, having herself once thought she was a boy as a child after surviving sexual assault. Today, Brewer says she is thankful she did not take medication or have surgeries to alter her body, and hopes more can be done to provide young people struggling with gender dysphoria counseling and other help they need.  Brewer joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to discuss California’s transgender children bill, and share her own story of struggling with gender dysphoria.  Also on today’s show, we also cover these stories: President Joe Biden refuses to confirm whether he would discuss the killing with of journalist Jamal Khashoggi with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman when they meet Friday. Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts files an ethics complaint with the Office of Congressional Ethics accusing Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif., of "knowingly and intentionally defaming" Heritage legal expert Amy Swearer. Twitter suspends the pro-abortion group Ruth Sent Us from its platform for the group's posts encouraging the harassment of Supreme Court justices.   Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the Daily Signal podcast for Friday, July 15th. I'm Doug Blair. And I'm Virginia Allen. California wants to offer gender transition medical treatment, not just to children in its own state, but across America. The California state legislature is considering legislation that would allow young people from other states to come to California to receive sex hormones, puberty blockers, or to have gender reassignment surgeries. Aaron Brewer says that she herself was a quote unquote trans kid, believing as a little girl that she was actually a boy. And Erin says that she's so thankful today for the adults in her life that helped her through her gender dysphoria and didn't allow her to transition. Today she joins the show to discuss what California's possible bill would mean for children across the country struggling with gender dysphoria.

Before we get to Virginia's conversation with Aaron Brewer, let's hit today's top news. During a press conference ahead of his trip to the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, President Biden refused to confirm whether he would discuss the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi with Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman. Here's Biden via USA Today. My views on Khashoggi have made been absolutely positively clear. And I have never been quiet about talking about human rights.

rights. The question that I'm, the reason I'm going to Saudi Arabia, though, is much broader is to promote U.S. interest, promote U.S. interest in a way that I think we have an opportunity to reassert what I think we've made a mistake of walking away from, our influence in the Middle East. Khashoggi was murdered and dismembered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey back in 2018. After an investigation, Turkish officials determined that he was assassinated by Saudi agents sent to the behest of bin Salman. Prior to his death, Khashoggi had been critical of the crown prince. Well, Biden wouldn't say whether he planned to discuss the murder with bin Salman.

Kishogi's widow, Hanan Altar Khashoggi, said that she met with Biden officials last week, who assured her the topic would come up. Now that Rovi-Wade has been overturned, states across the country vary drastically in their abortion laws. Even though Illinois and Wisconsin border one another, the states have vastly different abortion laws. Wisconsin has a law on the books from 1849 that bans most all abortions. The law is currently under review by the court, but in the meantime, most abortions are not allowed in Wisconsin. But just south in Illinois, abortion is legal through most of a woman's pregnancy. So now a Wisconsin doctor has purchased two properties just over the border in Illinois to offer abortions. One abortion clinic will offer abortion pills and the other surgical abortions.

The abortion clinics are located within 20 miles of the Wisconsin border. Earlier today, you testified that you hoped that this was the last time you testified before Congress. For the sake of our nation and the integrity of this Congress, I do to... I said Congress after a mass shooting trying to figure out how to... solve a problem that we are all heavily invested in solving. Ms. Swearer, I have not asked a question. How dare you? Reclaiming my time, how dare you misstate the law?

How dare you ask questions that you do not even want an answer to? During a hearing last month hosted by the House Oversight Committee, Representative Katie Porter, Democrat from California, accused Heritage Foundation expert Amy Swearer of falsely testifying under oath to Congress. Congress. Now Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts is filing an ethics complaint with the Office of Congressional Ethics, accusing Porter of knowingly and intentionally defaming Swearer. In a statement released by the Heritage Foundation Thursday, Roberts said, Amy Swearer is one of the brightest, most influential Second Amendment scholars in this country. She is also a forthright and honest patriot who believes in the Constitution. Representative Porter's behavior towards her was emblematic of what Washington has become, unsurious and unscrupulous individuals more interested in viral moments in social media cloud

than honest policy discussions and problem-solving. Roberts has asked the Office of Congressional Ethics to reprimand or admonish Porter for defaming swear and recommend that Porter's accusation be stricken from the record. Jordan Wong, a Porter spokesman, responded to the complaint saying, like Mr. Roberts, Congresswoman Porter believes that policy debates are part of healthy democracy. To have those debates, we must have shared facts. The facts here are clear. Ms. Swearers claim that gun violence prevention legislation would make Americans become felons overnight is misleading and unsubstantiated.

She should not have given that testimony under oath to Congress. The Daily Signal is the Heritage Foundation's news outlet. Twitter has suspended a pro-abortion group from its platform. Back in May, the group Ruth Sentis published the home addresses of the court's six more conservative justices. Multiple protests then took place at the homes of those Supreme Court justices. TikTok banned the group Ruth Sennis in May for publishing the addresses, but then allowed them back onto the platform. Facebook also banned the group's page, but Ruth Sennis just created a new one, and so far, Facebook has not taken that page down. It's unclear if Twitter plans to permanently suspend Rous Ennis or if the group will be allowed back onto Twitter in the coming weeks.

That's it for headlines today. Now stay tuned for my conversation with Aaron Brewer as we discuss California's gender transition bill for children. As conservatives, sometimes it feels like we're constantly on defense against bad ideas. Bad philosophy, revisionist history, junk science, and divisive politics. But here's something I've come to understand. When faced with bad ideas, it's not enough to just defend. If we want to save this country, then it's time to go on offense. Conservative principles are ideas that work, individual responsibility, strong local communities, and belief in the American dream.

As a former college professor and current president of the Heritage Foundation, my life's mission is to learn, educate, and take action. My podcast, The Kevin Roberts Show, is my opportunity to share that journey with you. I'll be diving into the critical issues that plague our nation, having deep conversations with high-profile guests, some of whom may surprise you. And I want to ensure freedom for the next generation. Find the Kevin Roberts Show, wherever you get your podcasts. California is racing ahead promoting transgender legislation. And most recently, the California State Assembly held a hearing on Senate Bill 107. The bill would allow parents from other states to bring their children to California,

receive gender transition medical treatments, whether that be surgeries, puberty blockers, or sex hormones. So here with us to talk about that legislation and share a little bit of her own story is Aaron Brewer, who is a self-described former trans kid. And Aaron is the co-founder of advocates protecting children and the Compassion Coalition. And she's also the author of the book, Always Aaron. Erin, welcome to the show. Thanks for being here. Well, thank you so much for having me. There's just there's so much to talk about and I appreciate you're covering this issue because so many other news organizations either miscover it or just ignore it. Yeah, well, it is critical to be talking about. I wonder if you could give us a little bit more

information about this California bill that's being referred to as the trans refuge bill. What is it? What would it do? Well, it's, it's really a scary piece of legislation. What's happened? is that there are a number of states that have recognized that these medical interventions are incredibly harmful. This includes puberty blockers that induce developmental delays in children, cross-sex hormones that when combined with puberty blockers results in sexual dysfunction and infertility, and then surgeries which take healthy body parts off of otherwise healthy children. And so California has decided to step up and, I guess, open its doors to people who, who want to access these medical interventions,

even though their states have found them to be incredibly dangerous and worth blocking. It sort of reminds me of if California said, you know, we've decided opioids are actually a great idea. And since some states have concerns about them, we're going to go ahead and open our doors, and anybody who wants opioids, come on down to California and we'll hand them out like candy.

It's basically what California is doing with regard to treatments for jobs. gender confusion. And what is most concerning to me is that these are incredibly damaging interventions and all the research shows that the vast majority of children will naturally resolve these difficult feelings if allowed to naturally progress through puberty. So I love that description that you give because I think that paints a really clear picture of what this bill does, that it's California opening its door to parents across the country and saying, hey, you can bring your child here. And even though maybe transition surgeries are illegal for minors in your state, you can have

them in the state of California. So how would this affect our country, really, not just the state of California, but the whole nation? Well, it's pretty duplicitous because what it's doing is California is telling other states that it's not going to respect their laws. And this is, this is incredibly concerning for one state, especially a state as big as California with as many resources and as much influence as California has, to basically tell other states it's not going to respect their rules of governance. And in fact, they're not just going to disrespect it. They're going to actively undermine efforts in this regard to protect children. It's somewhat shocking, considering that in California a number of child transatlantic,

are speaking out and talking about the incredible damage that was done in California with these interventions. And yet California is ignoring that. And basically, to me, it looks like California has adopted a religious belief on this, that some children are born in the wrong body, and they're going to impose that religious belief on everybody else in the country, regardless of what their states say. Thankfully, the Supreme Court just recently ruled with the Dobs ruling that states do have the authority to make decisions about health care. But, you know, California is also trying to undermine the Dobbs ruling when it comes to states that have come up with their own rules and regulations regarding abortion. So in lots of ways, California seems to be

saying that it's not going to respect other states and it's going to do what it wants and encourage people to basically be medical tourists. It's very concerning. It is concerning. Erin, like you say, you believe that this legislation will cause harm, that this bill, if it became law in California, it would cause harm. And I know that your thoughts on that really come from your personal experience in many ways. You describe yourself as a trans kid, a former trans kid. Can you share a little bit of your own story? Sure, and I think this is something for people to understand is that, you know, I call myself a former trans kid because according to the transgender ideology, I was one, which means I was insistent and persistent and consistent with my belief that I was born in the wrong body and that I was actually a boy. Thankfully, I lived it in a day and age where my teachers and health care providers and other adults didn't affirm that misbelief on my part and recognized it as a sign that I had.

some very difficult feelings I was struggling with and got me the help with the school psychologist and therapist that I needed. The fact that these days I would be told, yes, indeed, you are transgender, you were born in the wrong body, and we are going to retard your growth and development, damage your otherwise healthy body, and allow you to dissociate from yourself and create a new persona, essentially running away from yourself. It's just, it's heartbreaking to me. and I think about how hard it was having those feelings when I was a child, but how thankful that I was, that I had, you know, very caring people to help me understand that those feelings came because of a sexual assault that I endured.

And the mistaken belief that if I became a boy, that that wouldn't happen, and that it was my fault that it had happened in the first place. And really it was my attempt to protect myself from something like that ever happening again, but it was founded on the idea that it was my fault that the sexual assault happened and that it was my responsibility to do what I could to stop it from happening again, really based in a lot of self-hatred. And so, again, I feel like, you know, comparing it to opioids is really pertinent these days because children, when they have difficult feelings, they do whatever they can to run away from them.

And in my case, you know, the running away was basically killing off Aaron and becoming Timothy, becoming a little boy. And I had people help me help me to work my way back and accept myself as Aaron and learn to live with myself and learn to unpack the feelings I had as a result of the sexual assault. Now we're essentially telling these kids, go ahead, disassociate, become a different person, run away from those difficult feelings. in the same way as we would a drug addict just say, oh, okay, go ahead and indulge that drug habit of yours because we don't want you to have difficult feelings. And then they compound that with these threats of suicide. And it's very disturbing to me that we have adults telling children that they're unable to handle difficult feelings and either they get what they want or they kill themselves.

That's an incredibly dangerous message to be giving to children. And I have no doubt that if somebody had told them, me when I was a child that I was born in the wrong body and I needed to access these medical interventions in order to feel better, that I would have done whatever I could. I would have threatened suicide. Maybe I would have run away to California to access these medical interventions. And that's the disservice that we're doing to these children is telling them they can't handle these difficult feelings and that the only solution is to embrace this identity rather than to work through the difficult feelings.

Well, and as you're speaking, there's just so much to your story, and it's so powerful. And I'm so glad for you, Erin, that you had adults in your life who came alongside of you and who were willing to do the hard work of processing with you and journeying with through something so difficult as sexual abuse. And, I mean, of course, as a child, you know, we can't unpack all of those emotions and feelings and get to the root of why am I feeling this and why am I thinking this, that really is the job of the adults around us to help us do that. What did you find most helpful for you as a young person, as a child, as a youth, to begin to again feel comfortable in your own body? Well, it did take a long time.

It was, you know, I had, I started therapy with a school psychologist when I was in first grade. and I continued to access psychological help well into adulthood. I wouldn't say that my gender dysphoria completely resolved until the day I had my daughter. And they put her in my arms and I looked at her and I thought, this baby is amazing and my body made it. And it really sort of reset my whole view on myself, just accepting myself as a woman who is now a mother. and just so thankful that I got that opportunity.

And I think that's one of the reasons why I'm so passionate about this, is that the opportunity to have my daughter was what helped me so much in resolving those gender dysphoric feelings. And that's being taken away from children with these interventions. The testosterone, the puberty blockers, the estrogen that they're giving to boys, those undermine their fertility. And so those kids will never have the opportunity to understand that their body, are awesome and that they're able to do these amazing things like make make babies if you're a woman or be a father if you're a boy and um i think another thing that really helped was cognitive behavioral

therapy where i learned to um basically rewrite how the self-talk that i was giving myself so when i was stressed out when things weren't going well when i didn't fit in at school when i didn't have friends initially my go-to was it's because I'm a boy and if people would just treat me like a boy everything will be all right and the therapist helped me learn to rephrase that so instead of saying you know it's because I'm inherently flawed and I was born in the wrong body then I would start to say no it's because I have these difficult feelings that I need to work through I'm really a survivor I made it through some really difficult things and I need to learn some skills in order to be able to make friends in order to have better social interactions with my peers. And that cognitive behavioral

therapy is a skill that, you know, to this day I use when I start, you know, in any kind of stressful situation, start to feel like, you know, I start to give myself negative messages. I remember, oh, wait, that's unhealthy. And I have these skills to say, you know, it's not because you're, you're, there's something wrong with you. It's, you know, and I think that that's something that resiliency is something these kids really need. Another thing that really saved me, that not a single person said you were born in the wrong body, Aaron. Not one single person said you're actually a boy, Aaron. Every single adult in my life recognized that I was struggling, that I needed help and support.

Not one single one chose, called me by the name that I wanted them to call me by. They didn't let me use the boy's bathroom. They didn't call me by boy pronouns. And at the time, it made me angry. But now I look back and I'm so thankful that I had really caring adults. who are upholding truth with me and insisting that I accept myself as the girl that I am rather than allowing me to run away from my difficult feelings. Wow, that's huge.

Now, I think, you know, you look at the heart, I think, behind, for so many people who are pushing transgender ideology, I think for a lot of them, they're maybe just unaware kind of of the truth and the realities. and they want kids to feel loved. And so we're sort of hearing this narrative from those in California who are promoting this bill that, you know, they say it's going to provide refuge for trans youth. But, Aaron, in your opinion, what does it actually look like? What does it actually mean to provide refuge, to provide safety for those who are struggling with their gender identity? Well, it definitely doesn't involve convincing them that they can.

can't live with themselves or that they're inherently flawed. Those are messages no child should ever get. And the fact that California is now putting out that message to children across the nation is just unconscionable. What is loving and kind and compassionate is to tell these children that they're going to make it, that they're okay just the way they are, that everybody has difficult feelings, and that we will be there to help them work through them. And I think especially when I see how many young women are developing rapid onset gender dysphoria,

basically what's happening is they're uncomfortable with the changes of puberty. And they're being told by transgender activists that if you're uncomfortable with the changes that your body's going through as a result of puberty, it's because you were born in the wrong body. And most of us who have gone through puberty know that that's absolutely a lie. That going through puberty is tough. And these kids need to learn skills to manage. difficulties rather than to be told, you know, we're going to give you a quick fix. And one thing I want to mention is that almost any child, young adult, adult who is put on

testosterone will initially feel really good. And that's because it's a steroid. It's a controlled substance. And so it's not surprising that a lot of kids will initially feel like they found the right treatment. But ultimately, what that right treatment is, you know, is a controlled substance. And so it's not surprising that a lot of kids will initially feel like that right treatment is, is it's damaging their body permanently. It's reducing their lifespan. It's, it's, you know, untold medical problems in the future, likely medicalizing them for life. But ultimately what it's doing is to tell it is telling that child that who they are isn't okay and that they need to become somebody else. And that's, that's not a message any child should ever get. So, so, you know, if California wants to be a refuge, what they need to be doing is, is,

telling children that they can make it through these difficult feelings, that no child is born in the wrong body, and setting up support so that children have, you know, children with autism, learn social skills, because a lot of these kids who are developing trans identities now have autism, and they need help navigating the difficult world of social interactions in high school. A lot of these kids had trauma, like I did, and they need therapists or, you know, loving adults or pastors who can help support them as they unpack what happened to them. Again, it's difficult work. If there's a way I could snap my fingers and have it so I didn't experience that sexual assault,

I would have, you know, I would gladly do it. It's something that has haunted me for my entire life. But if I were told I was born in the wrong body, I believe that might have been even more traumatic than the sexual assault that happened to me. What do we know about kids that all, believe that lie, that they've been born in the wrong body and that decide to transition. How do they fare emotionally, mentally, physically? What happens to them? Well, they don't do very well. And that's another thing that's so confusing is that we are

encouraging a treatment path that has been proven to show really poor outcomes. And so, first of all, there's no evidence that these interventions help with gender dysphoria. So the very treatment that we're giving has no evidence behind it. It's basically experimental. What we have found is that kids who go down this medical pathway have higher rates of self-harm and higher rates of suicidal ideation, likely higher rates have completed suicide. And that's because they've been told if they embark on this journey to change who they are, that it will cure them, that they'll feel great, that all their problems will go away. So they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, embark on this pathway and they take the puberty blockers and that doesn't really help.

So then they get the cross-sex hormones and that doesn't really help. And then they get the surgeries and that doesn't really help. And then there really isn't anything else for them to do. And they realize that they've got all the problems that they had before they started down this pathway, but now they're compounded because they've damaged their bodies and they have all the time that they could have been using to resolve the underlying issues that were causing the gender dysphoria was wasted as they pursued these really unethical experimental interventions. Yeah. Erin, what would be your advice to parents or other adults who know a young person who's struggling

with their gender identity? That's a really good question. And I think the biggest thing is to encourage that child to understand that they are okay just the way they are, to provide them with support, to get them away from the people, who are telling, you know, celebrating a transgender identity to get them out into nature, to get them to get them some skills. I always call them kind of grounding skills. So one of the things that happens when a child has been traumatized and this happened to me

is that I developed dissociative coping mechanism. So when things get very stressful for me as a child, I would just kind of go away and leave my body and sort of check out. And kids who do that are, you know, it's almost like they view themselves and then their body is separate. And so they really need opportunities to integrate themselves with their body. And so if you can get them out doing physical things, gardening or riding horses or snorkeling or mountain climbing or, you know, anything that gets them out of, you know, out of social media away from that pure influence that's telling them that they should move forward with this child's identity and allows them to reconnect with who they are.

I also think it's really important for parents to understand how this, you know, basically the transgender ideology is very cult-like in its approach and that encourages children to rewrite history and to disconnect with anybody that they, who doesn't affirm them. And so parents really have to view this as a child who's been taken into a cult and use the same kind of methods that you would to save a child from any other cult. And there are some good books out there that can help you do that. But the main thing is to just continue to remind the child of who they are. You know, if you have a long history with that child, bring up memories of things that you've done together. Remind them of the things that they've done that they've enjoyed.

just to reinforce who they are rather than that dissociative personality that the transgender ideology is trying to encourage them to embrace. On, Erin, I know that you are on the forefront of this issue of offering resources and wisdom to individuals. Could you share just briefly about the work that advocates protecting children does? Sure. We came together to do what we could to do outreach and education on this. issue. So many people really don't understand what's going on. A lot of times people hear that a child was born in the wrong body and they don't understand that this is an ideology rather than a fact. A lot of people think that a child can change sex if they're given these interventions and they just don't understand that this is really very much like a religious belief that is teaching children

that they have a gendered soul that's been somehow put in the wrong body. And so advocates is doing our best to do outreach and education. We send books and resources to policymakers and doctors and teachers and parents. We do podcasts and as you mentioned, we have a number of books. I'm actually publishing a new book this month, which is a parenting in the transgender world for parents whose children haven't been taken over by this ideology and who, want to help, you know, sort of arm their children against it. We also provide a lot of support to parents who are just completely taken aback when their child who's, you know, up until this point, been perfectly comfortable with their body, comes home and says, I'm actually born in the

wrong body. And so providing support for those parents in education. But primarily just doing as much outreach in education as we can, because I really believe that the vast majority of people, once they understand how dangerous these interventions are and how harmful it is to tell a child that they're inherently flawed and that they need to damage their body in order to survive. I think the vast majority of people will recognize that is a very dangerous thing to do. Yeah. Well, and for all of our listeners, if you want to learn more about the work that Aaron and many others in this field are doing, if you want to find any of those resources, those books, you can visit Advocates Protectingchildren.org

to find those resources and learn more. Erin, thank you so much for a time today. We really appreciate your willingness to share your story and really just bring some light and some truth to this challenging conversation. Well, thank you so much. And again, I just appreciate your covering this. I honestly just have a sense of like if there was some way to talk to every. single American that we'd overcome this so quickly, but the mainstream media isn't willing to cover this. And so I'm so grateful for you being willing to cover it. Absolutely. It is

critical. Aaron Brewer with advocates protecting children. Aaron, thank you. Thank you. And that'll do it for today's episode. Thank you so much for listening to The Daily Signal podcast. If you have not done so already, please be sure to subscribe to the Daily Signal podcast on your podcast listening app of choice. That's Google Play, Apple Podcast. Spotify and IHurt Radio. Please leave us a review on a five-star rating on Apple Podcast and encourage your friends and family to subscribe as well. Thanks again for listening and we'll be back with you all on Monday.

The Daily Signal podcast is brought to you by more than half a million members of the Heritage Foundation. The executive producers are Rob Blewey and Kate Trinko. Producers are Virginia Allen and Doug Blair. Sound designed by Lauren Evans, Mark Geinney, and John Pop. For more information, please visit DailySignal.com. Thank you.