Bravo host Andy Cohen blasted Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott for directing state agencies to report gender transitioning procedures performed on children as child abuse.
“You might have heard that the governor recently ordered that parents of transgender children who give their kids gender-affirming care should be investigated for child abuse,” the host reported on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen. “You heard that correctly.”
Abbott cosigned Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s directive that sex change procedures, including the use of puberty blockers on children, constituted a criminal offense.
He went on to order the state’s Department of Family and Protective Services to “conduct a prompt and thorough investigation of any reported instance of these abusive procedures,” on the same day.
“This order goes against the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and everyone who knows that gender-affirming care reduces emotional distress and the risk of suicide in kids who identify as transgender,” Cohen said on his Monday night show.
“I can’t believe I have to say this, but there is nothing pro-family about denying children medical care and threatening to rip them from their homes and families,” he continued.
Cohen told transgender youth in Texas that “you belong and I stand with you,” then addressed Abbott directly: “Picking on vulnerable children in an election year does not make you a leader, it makes you a bully.”
He advised Texans to turn out against Abbott at the polls in the upcoming gubernatorial race. “The best way to stand up to this bully is to vote like your life depends on it. Because for a lot of transgender kids in Texas, it does,” he concluded.
"Texas, the best way to stand up to this bully is to vote like your life depends on it, because for a lot of transgender kids in Texas, it does." @Andy #WWHL pic.twitter.com/1Ao4EyvR6O
— WWHL (@BravoWWHL) March 2, 2022
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