Joe Biden’s nominee for Assistant Secretary for Health and Human Services, “Rachel” Levine, dodged a question by Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on whether or not he would support serious gender-altering procedures for minors, including puberty blockers and gender reassignment surgery, as reported by Breitbart.
Senator Paul, who is himself a doctor, asked a length question of Levine, a biological man who was born as Richard Levine, and believes himself to be a woman. Paul pointed out that “American culture is now normalizing the idea that minors can be given hormones to prevent their biological development of their secondary sexual characteristics.”
Noting that Levine in the past has “supported both allowing minors to be given hormone blockers to prevent them from going through puberty, as well as surgical destruction of a minor’s genitalia,” Paul cited a study from The American College of Pediatricians which reported that “80 to 95 percent of pre-pubertal children with gender dysphoria will experience resolution by late adolescence if not exposed to medical intervention and social affirmation.”
Paul then directly asked Levine if he believes “that minors are capable of making such a life-changing decision as changing one’s sex?” Levine responded with a non-specific answer, simply saying that “transgender medicine is a very complex and nuanced field with robust research and standards of care that have been developed.” Levine added that, if confirmed, he would “look forward to working with you and your office and coming to your office and discussing the particulars of the standards of care for transgender medicine.”
Following that answer, Paul simply asked to “let it go into the record that the witness refused to answer the question.”
In addition to his controversial stance on “transgenderism,” Levine had also faced widespread criticism for his actions while serving as Secretary of Pennsylvania’s Department of Health. In the midst of the coronavirus outbreak, when Levine forced nursing homes in the state to accept coronavirus-positive patients, he had taken extra steps to ensure that his own mother was moved out of such a facility and into private care.