Lauren Boebert suggests minors should wait until 21 to choose their gender identity

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• Rep. Lauren Boebert suggested an age requirement for young members of the LGBTQ community to make choices about “their sexuality and identity.”
• “We require people to be 21 to purchase alcohol beverages, and 21 to purchase tobacco products,” Boebert tweeted.
• Boebert has faced criticism in the past for her comments on LGBTQ+ issues, including her opposition to the Equality Act.

Rep. Lauren Boebert on Friday posted on Twitter suggesting young people be “required” to reach a certain age or “a certain level of maturity before making life-altering decisions about their sexuality and identity.”

“We require people to be 21 to purchase alcohol beverages, and 21 to purchase tobacco products,” the Colorado congresswoman tweeted.

Some Republican lawmakers, who have the same questions as Boebert, seek to limit access to things like gender-affirming care for LGBTQ+ young members. The issue has been widely debated across the United States.

In Arizona, residents under the age of 18 have limited access to irreversible gender reassignment surgeries after Gov. Doug Ducey signed this bill into law last week.

“Throughout law, children are protected from making irreversible decisions, including buying certain products or participating in activities that can have lifelong health implications,” Ducey wrote.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered investigations into parents who allowed their children — who identified as trans and nonbinary — to get gender-affirming care. Treatment includes puberty blockers and hormone therapies. For Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, these treatments amounted to “child abuse.”

Paxton has filed an appeal after a Texas judge ordered to stop the investigations.

Recently, GOP lawmakers have sought to restrict conversations about both sexual orientation and gender identity in schools, insisting that such issues are inappropriate for children.

Rep. Madison Cawthorn said Monday that Democrats had declared a “war on biology” in supporting the rights of transgender Americans. Speaking on the House floor on Monday, the North Carolina congressman also said that the party’s “left-wing movement is forcing children to endure radical expressions of sexuality.”

Last week, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law the Parental Rights in Education bill. Dubbed “Don’t Say Gay” bill by its critics, it will ban state’s primary schools from engaging in instruction related to sexual orientation or gender identity. Florida teachers of all grade levels will also be prohibited from instruction on topics that are not “age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate” for their students.

Source: The Hill