Jun 3, 2024; Washington, DC: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green (R-GA) speaks as Dr. Anthony testifies in the House about the COVID pandemic Photo: Josh Morgan-USA TODAY
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) – who has a long history of spreading medical misinformation – promoted a fake medical group because they attacked transgender minors’ identities.
The American College of Pediatricians is an SPLC-designated hate group that was founded in 2002 to attack the right to an abortion, LGBTQ+ couples’ rights, and conversion therapy bans. The organization’s name is intended to be confused with the reputable and mainstream American Academy of Pediatrics, which is the professional association of pediatricians in the United States.
Related:
Last week, the rightwing group – the American College of Pediatricians – put out another statement opposing gender-affirming care for trans youth. The statement was accompanied by a video where executive director Jill Simons appeared in a white lab coat.
Insights for the LGBTQ+ community
Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more.
The video went viral on the right, getting 51 million views. And Greene shared it on X yesterday.
“Incredibly strong statement from the American College of Pediatricians following the science: there are only TWO genders!” she wrote. “I completely agree, which is why we must pass my bill, the Protect Children’s Innocence Act, to END the genital mutilation of kids in America.”
Gender-affirming surgery is very rare for trans minors in the U.S., and genital surgery is unheard of for those under 18. Her bill would ban all gender-affirming care for trans youth – not just surgery – and also place restrictions on gender-affirming care for adults and even ban medical schools from teaching about it.
“No child should have their body mutilated in irreversible ways before they are old enough to even vote,” Greene wrote.
Incredibly strong statement from the American College of Pediatricians following the science: there are only TWO genders!
I completely agree, which is why we must pass my bill, the Protect Children’s Innocence Act, to END the genital mutilation of kids in America.
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) June 11, 2024
The American Academy of Pediatrics – the mainstream professional group – supports gender-affirming care for trans youth. The group issued a statement in 2023 opposing laws that discriminate against transgender people and saying that the organization will “ensure young people get the reproductive and gender-affirming care they need and are seen, heard, and valued as they are.”
Greene has a long history of sharing medical misinformation and promoting quacks who support her political worldview. For example, she held a congressional hearing this past March about what she said was the “Black Market of baby organ harvesting,” where she invited several known conspiracy theorists to the House to testify.
She was also banned from Twitter in early 2022 for multiple violations of the social media platform’s ban on COVID misinformation. Earlier this year, she told the director of biologics evaluation and research at the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Peter Marks, that his claim that vaccines save lives is “bulls**t” and cited internet claims that vaccines have led to “all kinds of injuries, miscarriages, heart attacks, myocarditis, permanent disability, neurological problems.”
She also said that the COVID-19 vaccines cause “turbo cancers” at that hearing.
“I’m a hematologist and oncologist that’s board certified,” Marks responded. “I don’t know what a ‘turbo cancer’ is.”
