Matt Walsh Testifies Before The State House Health Committee on Youth Gender Bill

[0:00] My name is Matt Walsh. I'm here as a husband, father, and concerned citizen of the state of Tennessee. [0:05] And I want to thank the committee for allowing me to speak and for all of you on the committee who support this important legislation. [0:11] Now, I know that we can't agree on very much these days, but we should be able to agree that our most solemn responsibility as individuals, [0:17] as a state and as a country, is to protect our children. [0:20] We should be able to agree that children do not have the physical, emotional, or mental capacity to protect themselves or to make life-altering decisions. [0:27] We should be able to agree that it's never okay to chemically castrate, sterilize, butcher, or mutilate a child. [0:33] And in fact, all decent people do agree on all these points. [0:36] But many of the people who hold power in this country and who run our institutions, including our medical institutions, do not pass this basic test of decency. [0:45] They've made House Bill 1 not only necessary, but one of the most important pieces of legislation this body has ever taken into consideration. [0:51] In service to a radical far-left agenda, children are being led down a path of gender confusion and identity crisis. [0:59] This crisis, manufactured by the culture, is then exploited and monetized by medical professionals who first put them on chemical castration drugs like Lupron. [1:07] Then the victims are given cross-sex hormones, which often have irreversible and permanent effects. [1:13] Finally, before the age of 18, many of these kids will undergo surgery, such as double mastectomies, which will alter their bodies and their lives forever, [1:18] taking something away that they can never get back, no matter how much they regret it in the future, and so many do. [1:25] This is happening across the country, and that includes in our state. [1:28] Children are being coerced into decisions that they are not equipped to make in pursuit of a goal that can never be attained. [1:33] The girl who gets the double mastectomy is no closer to being a boy after getting the procedure than she was before. [1:39] She's still a girl and will always be a girl, just now a mutilated and damaged one. [1:44] Now, you may notice that most of the people who support and advocate for this butchery are not petitioning to lower the drinking age. [1:49] They're not trying to pass a law to allow middle schoolers to get tattoos or take out mortgages or purchase firearms or cigarettes. [1:55] That's because even they recognize that minors lack the maturity and discernment required to make those choices. [2:01] They recognize that when it comes to alcohol and tobacco and guns and mortgages and tattoos, [2:04] yet when it comes to irreversible, life-altering medical interventions, [2:08] suddenly these same people discover a newfound confidence in the responsible decision-making powers of children. [2:13] Their position is not even consistent or coherent, much less morally or scientifically defensible. [2:17] We cannot allow this wickedness to continue. [2:21] We cannot tolerate it. [2:22] We are decent and rational people in this state. [2:24] We love our children. [2:25] We recognize basic truths. [2:27] One of those basic truths is that a child who is confused about her identity needs guidance and love and clarity. [2:34] She does not need hormone injections and scalpels. [2:38] She needs and deserves to be protected from those child-abusing quacks and soulless vultures [2:43] who wish to exploit her confusion for their own gain. [2:46] That's why we need this law. [2:48] Our kids cannot protect themselves, but we can, and we must, and we are. [2:54] Thank you. [2:55] We've heard in the news last week and even today that it's pro-life to vote against this bill. [3:06] We've heard that suicides are prevalent, and suicide has impacted my family, [3:13] so I'm sensitive when I hear something like that. [3:16] I've read some of the stuff that you've done, and I was wondering, can you speak to the statistics of mental health [3:27] and suicidal tendencies for the people who have gone through transition or for people who have not? [3:34] In your studies, from what I've read, can you speak to that? [3:36] Sure. [3:37] Well, the claim that, you know, doing the chemical castration drugs or surgery or hormonal intervention, [3:45] the claim that this prevents suicide or has positive psychological effects down the line is utterly, totally baseless. [3:54] There are no credible long-term studies that bear that out, [3:57] and one of the reasons for that is that there couldn't possibly be any credible long-term studies [4:01] because we've never done this to kids on this scale ever before in history. [4:05] So this current, shall we say, crop of children, they are the guinea pigs. [4:10] This is all experimental. [4:12] We're sort of trying it out on them to see if it works. [4:14] Now, they have attempted a few times to do studies, [4:16] and the interesting thing is that the World Professional Association of Transgender Health, WPATH, [4:20] which is a radical far-left pro-trans organization, [4:24] they commissioned a study to try to prove that hormones and puberty blockers decreased suicide rates among trans-identified youth, [4:35] and even in their own study, they found that they couldn't prove it. [4:38] They couldn't make that link because it's just not possible to do. [4:40] The other thing I would mention, too, is that, you know, [4:43] the number of trans-identified youth has skyrocketed in recent years. [4:49] We're talking about exponential 10x, 20x growth, just huge numbers have increased. [4:56] And what we hear from the pro-trans side is that, well, this is not a social contagion. [5:00] It's just that, you know, there's always been this many trans people. [5:03] It's just that they were not in an affirming environment before in history, [5:07] and so they couldn't come out. [5:08] And now, for the first time, trans people have the ability to live their truth, so to speak. [5:13] Well, if that's the case, and there have always been these sort of, like, millions of trans people, [5:18] and if it's also true that if we don't affirm them, that it would cause them to commit suicide, [5:23] then we should be able to look back in history and find just this unbroken, incredible epidemic [5:29] of children mysteriously killing themselves because they weren't being affirmed as trans. [5:34] And what you find is that that didn't exist. [5:37] I mean, the youth suicide rate has increased exponentially alongside trans-affirmation. [5:44] So trans-affirmation causes the suicide rate, not the other way around. [5:47] The last thing I'll note is that the suicide rate among trans-identified people is sky-high. [5:53] It remains sky-high. [5:54] All the data shows this. [5:55] It remains sky-high even after surgery, and, in fact, in the most reliable data that we have, [6:00] it's years after surgery when suicidality is the highest for trans-identified people. [6:06] That's the reality. [6:08] Chairman President, you're good? [6:09] Okay. [6:09] Any further questions for Mr. Walsh while we are out of session? [6:13] Mr. Hammer? [6:14] Representative Hammer? [6:15] Thank you. [6:15] Thank you, Mr. Walsh. [6:18] I found it interesting. [6:19] One of our people testified today that they had their gender-affirming surgery at 16. [6:26] And I know you in former comments mentioned this on your blog. [6:30] At about 16, you're an adult who's mature and can make decisions. [6:34] You're that at 16. [6:35] I don't care what anybody says, even going so far as to say, you know, 16 people, when [6:39] you're 16, you should be married and could be pregnant or should be pregnant. [6:45] So I'm curious if 16 is an adult, in your view. [6:50] Why does this bill have the minor defined as 18? [6:55] Mr. Walsh is recognized. [6:56] Yeah, that's a hit piece you took from Media Matters, from something when I was a radio [7:02] host 13, 14 years ago, in my early 20s. [7:05] It's also not an accurate reflection of what I actually said. [7:09] I was talking about the fact that people tended to marry young historically, and that's all [7:16] that that was about. [7:18] How does that relate to this subject? [7:21] I'm just curious of your definition of if you feel like people are adults at 16, should [7:27] Well, people are adults at 18, but actually your brain is not fully developed until you're [7:32] 25. [7:34] So we should be having a conversation about whether we should even be doing these surgeries [7:38] to people at 18. [7:39] But certainly before 18, it's absurd. [7:43] I mean, do you think that a 16-year-old can meaningfully consent to having their body parts [7:48] removed? [7:52] Do you? [7:54] No? [8:00] We do not. [8:01] Yeah, we ask the questions. [8:02] It's not, it's, Representative Hemmer, you are recognized. [8:08] No more questions. [8:09] Okay. [8:10] Representative Clemens, you are recognized. [8:13] Yeah, thank you, Mr. Chairman. [8:15] Can you give us a summary of your educational background or your healthcare education experience? [8:21] Mr. Walsh, you're recognized. [8:23] My experience in healthcare? [8:25] Your educational background. [8:26] I'm just curious. [8:27] You've testified as to a lot of your own research. [8:30] I'm curious for what purpose you do that and what background you have to qualify as you [8:34] to speak to that. [8:35] Well, my background that qualifies me to speak to this is that I'm a human being with a brain [8:39] and common sense and I have a soul. [8:42] And so, therefore, I think it's a really bad idea to chemically castrate children. [8:46] That is my experience. [8:48] Also, I did, now it's true, I didn't go to college, but I did go to school long enough [8:53] to learn how to read so I can read the data for myself. [8:56] And that's exactly what I've done. [8:58] Representative Clemens, you're right. [8:59] And for what purpose do you conduct your research and use this brain of yours? [9:04] Mr. Walsh, you're recognized. [9:07] I use it for the purpose of trying to protect children from being castrated and mutilated. [9:11] That's one of the things I try to do. [9:13] You don't use it to... [9:14] Thank you, Mr. Chairman. [9:15] You don't use it to get clicks on your publication? [9:18] Are you using it right now to try to get clicks with this interaction? [9:22] I really like the idea of drawing attention to the fact that this is happening to children. [9:33] I know you seem to find it very amusing. [9:35] I don't. [9:37] Representative Clemens. [9:40] Well, you made a lot of misrepresentations and characterizations in your comments. [9:46] I think it's fair for me to question your background. [9:49] What did I mischaracterize? [9:50] Let me finish, please. [9:53] You're recognized, Representative Clemens. [9:54] You know, if you're going to come before a committee and make mischaracterizations and [9:59] misrepresentations, it's fair game for us to ask you your educational background and [10:05] your foundational knowledge for making such characterizations. [10:08] That's my point. [10:10] So I'm curious about you speaking to the development of the human brain by the age of 25. [10:17] I seem to recall you advocating on behalf of firearm possession at the age of 18. [10:21] Do you think that's appropriate? [10:22] Let's stay on the bill, please. [10:25] That's all I got. [10:25] Yeah, well, can I respond to that? [10:29] Representative Mitchell, you're recognized. [10:31] I can't respond to what Representative Mitchell is recognized. [10:33] Thank you, Mr. Chairman. [10:34] So, you know, I think your original article, blog post, or tweet, or whatever kind of started [10:43] this firestorm. [10:43] So I'm trying to figure out, you know, where we need to look for these surgeries because [10:48] I'm still trying to find, you know, the surgeries because, you know, the sponsor of the bill [10:54] last week, I kind of agreed with him. [10:56] I said, we need to split this bill into two parts. [11:00] You know, I may agree with him on the surgery part because I don't think it's happening. [11:04] So, you know, you seem to have started this. [11:07] So I need your evidence of where these surgeries are occurring in Tennessee. [11:12] Could you give me, you know, places, times, maybe some names or something that, you know, you know of? [11:21] Mr. Walsh, you're recognized. [11:24] My evidence is the health care provider's own words. [11:29] You know, I outlined Vanderbilt Health and their transgender care program and the people [11:40] that work for that program, their own words, talking about what they do and talking about, [11:44] for example, providing the chemical castration drugs to adolescent children. [11:50] As far as surgeries, you know, double mastectomies do happen. [11:53] And the way that I know that they happen is that after I called attention to this program [11:57] at Vanderbilt, they said that they were going to stop performing. [12:01] They were going to put a pause on the program that performs these surgeries on minors. [12:05] And so if you're pausing the program that performs surgeries on minors, then I'm going [12:08] to assume that the program existed. [12:11] Otherwise, you couldn't have paused it. [12:12] So, now, the exact number of kids who are being subjected to this, I don't know exactly. [12:18] It's really hard to come up with those numbers. [12:19] I think because the people doing it aren't really proud of it. [12:22] And there's not a lot of interest on their end to tell us. [12:25] But I do think that, you know, even one child being horrifically mutilated is too many. [12:31] So I know that it's more than one, and that's reason enough to put a stop to this, I would say. [12:38] Representative Mitchell, you're recognized. [12:40] So, so last week I had an amendment that, you know, [12:44] we're looking to protect children from abuse. [12:47] And I also had an amendment to stop cosmetic surgery of rhinoplasty and breast enhancements [12:55] to minors. [12:57] How would you feel about that? [12:59] You know, is that mutilation of children as well under the age of 18? [13:03] They can't think for themselves? [13:05] Representative Mitchell, that's not on the bill that we have. [13:08] Yeah, it is. [13:09] It's surgical. [13:10] It's surgical. [13:11] I'm happy to answer that. [13:14] You're free to answer, Mr. Walz. [13:16] Okay. [13:17] My personal feeling about banning breast enhancements for minors? [13:22] Yes, I would be all for. [13:24] Personally, I'd be all for banning that. [13:25] Absolutely. [13:27] Yeah. [13:27] Representative Mitchell. [13:29] Okay. [13:29] And so I think the previous representative, you know, proved that you have no medical background, [13:37] correct? [13:39] No. [13:40] So you're here probably just as a public policy. [13:43] You're trying to address good public policy, correct? [13:48] Mr. Walz. [13:49] Yes. [13:50] So I just have to question, you know, some of your public policy, you know, expertise when, [13:58] you know, I'm reading here, Singapore is able to have nice things in part because they execute [14:04] drug dealers by hanging and arrest even petty vandals and thieves and beat them with a cane [14:11] until they bleed. [14:11] We don't have nice things here because we aren't willing to do what is required to maintain them. [14:18] So, you know, with statements like that, I kind of have to question your public policy beliefs. [14:23] And, you know, and you also stated there'd been no studies. [14:28] Well, I'm sitting here holding a study from the American Academy of Pediatrics from the [14:33] University of Pittsburgh about the suicidal disparities between transgender and cisgender [14:40] adults and children. [14:42] So I think, you know, before you state things, you may need to know all the facts. [14:49] Thank you. [14:51] All right. [14:51] Thank you. [14:52] Is that Congress Bond? [14:54] Chairman Williams, you're recognized. [14:58] Thank you, Mr. Chairman. [14:59] I'll make a motion to go back out of session or back into session. [15:02] Thank you. [15:03] Is there an objection? [15:06] All right. [15:07] There is, there's, would you withdraw? [15:14] Might. [15:19] Yes, I will withdraw. [15:21] Okay. [15:22] All right. [15:23] Is there any further questions for Mr. Walsh? [15:27] Okay. [15:27] Seeing none, thank you for your testimony. [15:30] Thank you. [15:31] Okay. [15:32] Okay. [15:33] Representative Clements, would you like to call up? [15:35] Yes, Mr. Chairman. [15:36] Thank you. [15:36] I just have a single question for, I think- [15:40] I'm- [15:41] I'm- [15:41] I'm- [15:42] I'm- [15:43] I'm- [15:44] I'm-