The Patriot Post® · Court Stymies Biden's 'Transgender' Agenda
From Day One, the Biden administration has been forcing its “transgender” ideology on the nation. Fortunately, that agenda was given a deserved roadblock when Judge Reed O'Connor of the U.S. District Court for North Texas granted a “permanent injunction” to plaintiffs “to be exempt from the government’s requirement to perform abortions and gender-transition procedures.” It’s a win for freedom of conscience and a rebuke of the Rainbow Mafia.
Judge O'Connor recognized the protection of religious liberty rights in the issuing of his injunction. As Luke Goodrich of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty observed, “Today’s ruling protects patients, aligns with current medical research, and ensures doctors aren’t forced to violate their religious beliefs and medical judgement — a victory for common-sense, conscience, and sound medicine.”
As a result of the ruling, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra will be prohibited “from interpreting or enforcing” the law “in a manner that would require [religious groups, hospitals, or medical professionals] to perform or provide insurance coverage for gender-transition procedures or abortions, including by denying Federal financial assistance because of their failure to perform or provide insurance coverage for such procedures or by otherwise pursuing, charging, or assessing any penalties, fines, assessments, investigations, or other enforcement actions.” (Note that Becerra’s deputy is Rachel Levine, who is formerly Richard Devine.)
The case was raised against the Obama administration’s controversial 2016 HHS mandate that “requires doctors and hospitals to perform controversial gender transition procedures on any patient referred by a mental health professional, including a child, even if the doctor believes the procedure would be harmful.” The mandate came out of an interpretation of ObamaCare’s nondiscrimination clause.
Back in 2019, Judge O'Connor struck down the mandate, and earlier this year, a North Dakota division court did likewise. That prompted the Biden administration to raise an appeal, which instigated this most recent ruling.
In related news out of Texas, in response to a request for a determination by Governor Greg Abbott, the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services just issued this statement regarding gender “reassignment” surgery on minors: “Genital mutilation of a child through reassignment surgery is child abuse. This surgical procedure physically alters a child’s genitalia for non-medical purposes potentially inflicting irreversible harm to children’s bodies.” Social media, by the way, will censor such statements of fact and science. And the Biden administration wants to force doctors into this sort of abuse.
Once again, what the Left and Democrats repeatedly demonstrate, especially regarding the “transgender” issue, is that they are not content merely for individuals to have the freedom to live as they see fit. Rather, they demand that others not only be prevented from objecting but be forced to fully embrace and support this and other “alternative” lifestyles. That is the opposite of the spirit of Liberty upon which this great nation was founded.