During a presidential debate stuffed with viral moments, former President Donald Trump accused Vice President Kamala Harris of wanting “to do transgender operations on illegal aliens that are in prison.”
The subsequent day, considered one of his staunchest supporters in Congress, Sarasota’s Rep. Greg Steube, filed a bill known as the “Stopping Transgender Operation Payments and Wacky Expenses for Illegal Residents and Detainees Act” (STOP WEIRD Act).
Trump seemingly referred to a 2019 questionnaire Harris crammed out for the American Civil Liberties Union through the Democratic presidential main. Then-Sen. Harris wrote that gender-affirming care is a medical necessity; and that because the Attorney General of California, she pushed the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to supply surgical gender affirmation care to inmates.
“I support policies ensuring that federal prisoners and detainees are able to obtain medically necessary care for gender transition, including surgical care, while incarcerated or detained,” Harris wrote, in response to a replica of the questionnaire offered by Steube’s workplace.
The Florida ACLU has not responded to a request for remark as of Friday afternoon.
In a statement Wednesday, Steube claimed the vice chairman pledged to make use of taxpayer {dollars} to fund gender transition operations for undocumented immigrants.
“Free sex change surgeries join a litany of ‘benefits' the Democrats promote to illegals to encourage them to break our laws, enter our country illegally, and vote!” Steube said. “Congress must pass my bill so we can safeguard our taxpayer dollars from Kamala's weird and disgusting plan, which she could implement today.”
The four-page bill provided to the Herald-Tribune by the congressman's office defines a “specified gender transition procedure” as any that is performed to intentionally change a person's body for the purposes of gender affirmation. The bill would forbid using federal funds to pay for such surgeries for people in the custody of the Department of Homeland Security or the Department of Health and Human Services.
However, a spokesperson for Rep. Steube did not respond to an inquiry on how often publicly funded gender transition surgeries occur to those in federal custody. Spokespersons for the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services also did not respond to a request for comment.
The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) said in a debate fact check that “Health care is a human right, and it is the law to provide it for detained people. Health care for transgender people is evidence-based, best-practice medical care supported by every major medical association.”
Christian Casale covers native authorities for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Email him at [email protected] and comply with him on Twitter @vanityhack
