Chris Hayes Urges Dems to Double Down on Transitioning Children

HAYES: “I think that — I don’t think there’s anyone who hasn’t had a moment across the political spectrum of some form of progressive communication that’s either left them bewildered or a little like, ‘Eh, I don’t know about that,’ but I also think, at the same time, there is a message of what I would, like, call commonsense patriotic pluralism that is a majority message, which is like, if some father and mother have health care for their kid lined up, who is trans, just stay the f**k out of their business. Like, and let them make that decision. That’s their decision to make. You don’t have to make that for your family. I’m not going to tell you what to do with your family.”
MAHER: “Well, I mean, but the argument is whether the child should make the decision.”
HAYES: “But the child is never making the decision. The parents are always making the decision. Parents consent to medical care.”
MAHER: “Well, here in California, you’re allowed to hide it from the parents, if the kid — “
HAYES: “Yes, but — “
MAHER: “Thank you, one person who knows that. Somebody knows that is the case.”
(Laughter)
HAYES: “I think in the vast majority, we’ve been hearing from parents right now whose kid’s medical care has been interrupted. I think there’s a way to talk about — “
MAHER: “Well, of course, they would say it’s not medical care.”
HAYES: “Sure, that is what they are saying.”
MAHER: “They would say it’s disfiguring a child.
HAYES: “I think they should mind their own business, I really do. I think they should mind their own business. And I think that’s true about a lot of things. I think there is this sense in which there was this, sort of, backlash politics, some of which I understood, some of which people I knew felt that way. I don’t think what the people wanted was for the women CIA agents at the CIA to be told that they couldn’t get together once a month to, like, celebrate former women’s spies. I think, like, fundamental parts of what we call in this country the traditions of pluralism, which is what this country is, and pluralism is another word for diversity — if we’re not going to use that one, let’s use pluralism — that fundamentally, there is a majority that understands that, like, we all come from different places, and part of what makes this country work is we acknowledge and we negotiate those differences, and that’s a thing that I think Democrats can win back a majority of messaging.”