Senate Democrats repeatedly dismissed concerns about gender-transition procedures for minors during a Wednesday hearing, arguing that the issue affects too few children to warrant congressional scrutiny even as witnesses testified about the serious and sometimes irreversible consequences of such treatments.
The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions held a June 3 hearing titled “Protecting Our Children: Exposing the Dangers of Irreversible Gender Transition Procedures on Minors.” The committee called three witnesses: Dr. Kurt Miceli, the medical director of Do No Harm, an organization that seeks to protect minors from harmful medical procedures which come out of identity politics, Chloe Cole, a detransitioner, and Shannon Minter, the legal director of the National Center for LGBTQ Rights.
Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders opened the hearing by questioning why it was happening at all.
“Today we are … spending hours on a hearing that impacts an infinitesimal number of people,” Sanders raged. “You pick on a powerless minority today, it’s not undocumented immigrants. Today it’s trans kids, and maybe we can get some votes, getting everybody to kind of hate this powerless minority.”
Sanders continued to emphasize that because relatively few minors received transgender surgeries, the hearing wasn’t worth the Senate’s time.
“In other words, Mr. Chairman, we are using precious committee time dealing with an issue that impacts at most less than 100th of one percent of teenagers throughout America, and zero kids under the age of 12,” Sanders emphasized.
Later in the hearing, Miceli cited figures showing that 14,000 children underwent gender-transition procedures from 2019 to 2023, including more than 5,700 surgical cases. Democrats continued to frame the figures as statistically small but did not dispute the numbers. Minter, the Democrats’ witness, also referenced similar figures.
“Over a five-year period of that number, only about 14,700 receive any medication. That is an incredibly small percentage,” Minter said. “Over a five-year period, we’re talking about fewer than one in 1,000 young people, and this is a very small group of young people receiving any type of medical treatment. It is only after the most careful screening.”
Minter appeared to overlook the fact that detransitioner Chloe Cole, just moments before, had testified that doctors surgically transitioned her after a single psychiatric evaluation. (RELATED: Twitter Suspends Famous Detransitioner Chloe Cole For Responding To Trans Activist’s Violent Post)
Democratic Wisconsin Sen. Baldwin compared Cole’s experience with permanent pain from her transition to a back surgery gone wrong.
“I know a close family member who deeply regrets having back surgery that made the pain chronic throughout her life,” Baldwin said. “It made it worse. Those things happen. We have tools for dealing with it.”
“There’s virtually no regret associated with those who receive these treatments,” Minter insisted.
Democratic Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine began by acknowledging Cole’s experience with medical malpractice and expressing hope that her lawsuit would be successful. He then read a letter from a mother who said she had been impressed with the level of care doctors provided her child during a medical transition.
“Are you familiar with the level of threat that has been — that is happening right now with folks who are simply doing their jobs as medical professionals?” Kaine asked.
Democrats repeatedly argued that decisions about transition-related care should be left to parents, doctors and children. They also criticized government efforts to restrict minors’ access to such procedures, describing the involvement as “hateful” and “harmful.”
“Yes, the level of anguish that this administration’s targeting of these healthcare providers and these families has created is really profound,” Minter said.
Kaine also drew a comparison between the administration’s position on transgender issues and racism in the South, prompting pushback from Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley.
Later in the hearing, Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey also criticized Republican efforts to restrict sex changes for minors.
“Trump and MAGA Republicans are obsessed with getting between doctors and their children,” Markey said, while wearing a rainbow tie and Pride pin. “When you cannot win on health care, on wages, on gas, on grocery prices, you look for someone to blame. And sadly, they’ve chosen the trans community.”