Indiana Senator Jim Banks posted a video to the social media platform X that features him speaking on the idea of gender ideology being taught to minors. Commenters who took to the replies to share their opinions are divided in their frustrations, with some agreeing with Coons and others disagreeing. There were a large number of commenters pushing back against anti-trans claims, stating that schools encouraging children to medically transition or undergo surgeries are exaggerated or false.
In the video posted to the Senator’s X profile, Banks goes over the age limits for various legal activities, including being 16 to drive, 18 to vote, and 21 to drink alcohol. This then leads to a different question: “How young are some children in America when they have to have sex transition surgery?“
The question was directed at Dr. Kurt Miceli, Chief Medical Officer for the advocacy group Do No Harm. In response to the question, he claims that, “As we noted, we put together a database based on claims data in the Do No Harm database, and noted that almost 14,000 kids, less than seventeen-and-a-half, and many of those, again, young teenagers, who had these hormonal interventions and procedures, for 5,700 surgeries.”
When the conversation turned to Chloe Cole, an activist who underwent detransitioning and now opposes gender-affirming care for minors, she gave her own testimony. She claims that she was placed on a puberty-blocking intervention beginning at the age of 13 and then, at age 15, had a double mastectomy.
With this, Senator Banks directed the topic to Shannon Minter, Legal Director at the National Center for LGBTQ Rights, asking what the appropriate age would be for speaking to children about sexuality. Minter appeared to be shocked that the question was directed at him, and, according to comments, various people disagreed with Banks.
Reactions to Indiana Senator Jim Banks On Gender-Affirming Care for Minors
While comments were divided between those who agreed with Senator Jim Banks and those who disagreed, the latter took the lead. A top comment under the post reads, “They’re taught about sexuality at 12 because that’s when many start going through puberty and nature has a way of making them aware of it at that age. They are not encouraged to mutilate their bodies at any age, that is a horrible lie that only MAGA believes to be true.”
Another commenter wrote, “This topic has been made political in order to fire up the conservative base. In actual reality, the vast, vast, VAST majority of gender affirming surgeries are fat little boys who started growing boobs and don’t want them. Like nearly all of them. NOBODY IS GETTING MUTILATED!“
Another wrote “That is simple, Occam’s Razor Razor were the simplest reason must be correct. Grooming… 100% this is about indoctrination, controlling your children, teaching them THEIR values… It should be ILLEGAL to teach this in schools, it is a parent’s responsibility.“
As the video continues to gain popularity on X, more commenters are leaving their frustrations and opinions behind, further dividing the conversation.
