Following the bold admission by a Vanderbilt professor that removing perfectly healthy breasts and genitals from girls and boys could be a cash cow for the university and the city of Nashville, the Daily Wire held a massive rally on the steps of the Tennessee State House on Oct 21, 2022, in an effort to end child mutilation.

The rally was bravely and bluntly titled “The Rally to End Child Mutilation.”

Following are the most important and clarifying eight quotes from that rally.

 

I’m not going to leave it to my kids to fight this fight. That is our job as adults!

One of the most ridiculous lies they [gender ideologues] tell is that they want to affirm kids. That is a lie. They are not affirming the child.

They are affirming confusion.

They are affirming despair.

That’s what they are affirming.

We do not affirm confusion. We affirm the child.

-Matt Walsh

As we gather here, we are celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the enactment of Title IX. Title IX was created out of recognition of the biological differences between men and women and we as women have had great opportunity for advancement because of it.

Where we are today though is, those in power are denying the existence of women. They are seeking to erase us an entire category of people.

And even more dangerously, they are denying the existence of objective truth!

Without recognition that there is such a thing as truth, there are no boundaries in our society which is why we are where we are today. We are here to stand up for children, who need our voice, because our children are having their childhood stolen from them.

Our kids need us now. They need to hear our voices speaking up for them. They need to hear your voices of courage. Your voices of truth. Exercise your right to free speech. Exercise your voice and your vote.

-Tulsi Gabbard, former Democrat Congresswoman

Gender ideology and radical sexual ideology are deeply intertwined. You cannot separate them. They come together! They’re here to sexualize our children. They will not stop until we stop them.

So I ask you, join me and stand fierce and strong. If they believe that children can consent to dangerous, life-changing medical procedures, what else do they think children can consent to?

Children are not sexual. Keep your hands off our children.

-Landon Starbuck, mother, writer, advocate against child exploitation

 [Regarding truly gender dysphoric children,] “Instead of caring for the child’s underlying distress, the science shows this conveyer belt [of life-long drugs and healthy body-part removal] leads to more pain. The full risks are not yet known, but what we do know is enough to pull the plug on this entire political experiment.

Off-label puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones result in decreased bone density, increased cardiovascular and cancer risk, impaired brain function, liver dysfunction, and permanent sterility.

Teen girls who have their healthy breasts removed are never able to nurse children. Boys who permanently block puberty never reach sexual maturity and can’t father children. And that’s in addition to the risks and complications with these irreversible surgeries. This is not healthcare!

These are dangerous, unscientific, and unregulated experiments with permanent effects. And they are being perpetrated by ideologues and activists on our children. Children are not political experiments.

If kids lack the maturity in critical thinking skills to sign a contract, to vote, or even get a tattoo, how can they possibly be mature enough to understand and consent to the life changing implications of these drastic procedures? They cannot. That is why the adults in their lives must protect them.

Our kids are being sold a real lie.

So let’s give our kids real help. Not by permanently altering their bodies, but by treating their psychological and mental health needs.

Let’s help children recognize and love their bodies and teach them that true human flourishing starts at living at peace with your body. The vast majority of children who are distressed with their biological sex and are allowed to progress through their natural puberty come to live at peace with their bodies. Don’t turn them into a permanent medical patient.

-Christiana Kiefer, Senior Counsel, Alliance Defending Freedom

My name is Colin Wright. I’m an evolutionary biologist, perhaps best known for arguing the now controversial position: That biological sex is real. There are only two sexes. The differences between males and females matter. And that women are adult human females.

You might be wondering why this is relevant here at a rally about ending child mutilation, but it’s actually extremely relevant because the justifications given for performing these horrific surgeries on children are rooted in absurd reality-denying pseudoscience about basic biology.

It’s a pseudo-science that denies the existence of males and females.

It’s a pseudo-science that says that biological sex is just an arbitrary social construct.

It’s a pseudo-science that says that a person’s identity determines their biology.

And it’s a pseudo-science that says that you can be born in the wrong body.  

Most people don’t realize how much our major scientific and medical institutions have been captured by this pseudo-science, literally claiming that girls who are tomboys and boys who are feminine are literally transgender.

But the American Psychological Association, The Endocrine Society, The American Psychiatric Association, and even the CDC to name only a few, literally define someone being transgender as a person whose expression or behavior does not conform to that which is typically associated with their sex. That’s their definition! Go look it up if you don’t believe me. It doesn’t get much clearer than that [because that is no definition at all.]

What is occurring at Vanderbilt Health and hospitals and clinics all over the country in the name of this gender pseudoscience is a medical scandal of horrifying proportions.

And it has to end right now.

-Colin Wright, evolutionary biologist and activist against gender illogic

Radical gender ideologues protested the rally, screaming loudly, obnoxiously, and nearly non-stop through the whole event. The next speaker boldly addressed this fact.

Tennessee is able to stand up and to show the nation how you get this done to begin banning these irreversible harmful surgeries on children and I have news for you [pointing to the protestors]. We will ban these gender surgeries!

We look you in the eye and we tell you your day has come.

Your time is over.

 We will stand up.

We will stop you.

We will face you down anytime, anywhere, and we will beat you on the issues at the ballot box and you will not take an inch in this state from here on out.

So get the moving trucks ready because this is not the state for you.

-Robby Starbuck, film maker, political activist

The following two speakers are both individuals who were seriously harmed by following the so-called “gender affirming medicine” prescription and came to greatly regret taking that path.

The first, Scott Newgent, is an adult woman and mother of three children who tried to transition to a man, only to realize she could never be a man.

The second is very brave young woman, Chloe Cole, a self-described “former transgender kid” who was persuaded to medically transition to become a “male.” She thankfully realized this was not possible and happily detransitioned.

I’m a mother, and as a woman who has given birth, carried life, as someone who fell for the relentless onslaught of glitter bombs and unicorn farts. I’m here today to put an end to the idea that medically transitioning children is about human rights. It is not. It’s about money! We need to stop pushing puberty blockers, hormones, and surgeries on children. Stop telling kids they were born in the wrong body.

If I as an adult, I couldn’t resist the temptation of a “quick fix” of this elixir, do you really think someone with an immature frontal lobe can?  These children need people in their lives to help them embrace, accept, and love themselves for who they are, not a delusion of something they will never become.

There are many reasons a child or teenager might think that they’re transgender. Transgender is not a condition. It’s a verb. It’s something you do through a choice you make. No one is born in the wrong body That’s hogwash.

Medical transition is not for a child. It must stop. A bigot today is a hero tomorrow. My question is are you willing to take the heat today to be a hero tomorrow, to save a generation of children?

Our children deserve us to adult, better.

-Scott Newgent

Chloe Cole, 18-years old, socially transitioned at 12. She cut her hair short, started wearing male clothes, and went by a new name, asking her parents to call her their son. But she has bravely detransitioned. She shared her story.

A lot of you must be wondering, How does this happen? What led up to this? Well, there’s several factors that make our youth quite vulnerable.

Little did I know that after making my first Instagram account at 11, I would immediately be recommended … No! … bombarded with trans-identifying kids, unachievable body standards, and even soft-core porn. I never stood a chance, because that was just the beginning.

I fell victim to the idea that I was actually a boy trapped in a girl’s body and I began to present myself in a way that felt more consistent with my so-called “gender identity.”

My parents wanted to support me, but they were at a loss for what to do for me.

So they turned to the help of healthcare professionals who went on to coerce them in giving up their role as parents and letting me do as I pleased. We had no idea these so-called doctors and therapists were just butchers and liars.

Some say that transition regret is incredibly rare and the reason that transgender individuals detransition is almost always due to external factors such as social pressures, or low income. This could not be any more false! A new detransitioner, often a minor, reaches out to me on nearly a daily basis. This is an epidemic!

I see detransitioners express their regret online and get bombed with hatred by trans activists who have millions of followers. They need to silence any dissent in order to maintain the carefully constructed narrative as soon as anyone expresses regret.

I was met with hatred by the same people who encouraged and celebrated every milestone in my transition.

I was told that I was nuisance at best, and a harmful force to other “real” trans people at worst, just for admitting my mistake. They said to me that I was only a spoiled brat who manipulated and hurt my parents and family. They told me that I didn’t deserve testosterone or to undergo mastectomy. 

Now, that part is true, because I deserve so much better! Children with gender dysphoria deserve so much better.

They deserve adults who care for them when the world is preying on them. They deserve to just be kids.

-Chloe Cole describes herself as a “former transgender kid”

You can watch the entire rally here.

A common theme from each of the speakers was that parents and other adults must step up and fight to protect innocent and vulnerable children from these predatory medical professionals who have drunk the gender ideology kool-aid and are medicalizing children for enormous profit. Their warnings undergird the important truth of this viral meme that cries out to all adults of good-will who care about truth and child innocence.

Leaders from the Tennessee State Legislature announced at the conclusion of the rally that they would soon be introducing and passing bills in the Volunteer State that would ban the so-called “gender affirming health care,” a misnomer if there ever was one, in the next legislative session.

Additional Resources

Tennessee Considering Legislation Banning ‘Sex-Change’ Procedures on Minors After Vanderbilt Scandal

Huge Increase in Sexual Identity Confusion and Body-Mutilating Procedures

Why Christians Can’t Avoid the “Trans” and Gender Redefinition Issue

How the “Trans” and Gender Redefinition Issue Attacks the Family

How to Respond to “Trans” and Gender Ideology? Simple: Live Not by Lies

What Does it Mean to Be Trans Anyway?

When Transgender Issues Enter Your World: How Christians Can Respond with Compassion, Courage and Truth