Rand Paul made a fool of himself when questioning Dr. Rachel Levine. The Family Research Council tries to repair the embarrassment.

Sen Rand Paul made a fool of himself with his bad faith questioning of Dr. Rachel Levine.

It should surprise no one that the Family Research Council doesn't like any of President Biden's appointees. The group especially dislikes Dr. Rachel Levine, Biden's pick for assistant secretary of health at the Department of Health and Human Services. If Levine is confirmed, she would be the first openly transgender pick confirmed by the United States Senate.  Like FRC, other members of the conservative right have been scrambling to derail her nomination. The most egregious attempt came from Sen. Rand Paul during her confirmation hearing.  Paul conjured up images of genital mutilation done to children and  so-called dangerous drugs when he questioned her. Justifiably, he was widely criticized for trafficking inaccurate information;

However, in its recent Washington Update, FRC attempted to rehash the exchange between Paul and Levine in way which makes Paul look like a hero:

Rachel Levine . . . is the kind of person Joe Biden believes should be second-in-command at HHS. Senator Paul, not caring how the media would savage him, decided to ask some pointed questions about how Levine's transgender agenda would impact the children of this country. Now, a week later, he's been called everything from a "transphobe" to a bigot. "And what's amazing about being labeled as a 'hater,'" he told listeners on "Washington Watch," "is that I never even mentioned Levine or the surgery and things that [he's] done to [himself]. I just asked whether a minor, whether a 10-year-old, could override parental consent [to get access to transgender hormones or surgery]." Levine refused to answer, leaving all of us to wonder just what brave new world Americans would be entering under his direction at HHS. 

 "So your parents say, 'You're 10-years-old, and you're not going to do this.' And then the 10-year-old says, 'No, I am.' And then the government would adjudicate that as the minor having the right to overrule their parents. I think that's horrendous to imagine. People also need to realize what's going on in these [gender] clinics. Ten percent of the kids are between the ages of three and 10. And when they go in... what they do is if the child is confused... four or five people will come up to them and say... 'Oh, you're so brave. It's a great decision.' No one's telling them the opposite. The people who work in these clinics are often people who've undergone these surgeries or done these things themselves. It's one opinion that they're hearing, and then their parents would be overruled." 

 It doesn't matter whether you're a Republican or Democrat, Paul said. "I think there's a lot of mainstream people who would be horrified to know that a 10-year-old could be goaded into these decisions. And I think Levine's [position] is so far out of the mainstream that people need to hear about it."

As always, FRC is being highly deceptive about the exchange. Paul was criticized because of the bullying manner he treated Dr. Levine and especially because his questions were inaccurate.

He was called out by several different sources because of it:

 

Media Matters:

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) promoted right-wing media lies about medical care for trans youth during the Senate confirmation hearing for Dr. Rachel Levine, who has been nominated to be the assistant secretary of health at the Department of Health and Human Services.

 Paul lied that Levine supports the “genital mutilation” of trans kids, who do not undergo gender affirmation surgeries. In reality, affirming the gender identity of trans youth is best practice health care and widely supported by medical professionals and research, and it yields long-term mental health benefits and can be lifesaving for young trans people. Furthermore, young trans and gender-diverse children are not undergoing surgery or irreversible treatments; rather, as social work professor Katherine Kuvalanka told The Washington Post, “The only interventions for young children is affirmation and acceptance for who they are.”

Vox:

Despite Rand’s claims that puberty blockers and gender-affirming hormones are distributed with little thought, as Katelyn Burns wrote for Vox, “Nowadays, doctors recommend taking a humane and affirming approach when a child expresses that their gender may not match their assigned sex at birth. This affirmation includes allowing trans kids to socially transition (i.e., use whichever name, pronouns, and clothing make them comfortable); medical interventions — like puberty suppression or gender-affirming hormones like estrogen or testosterone — are only recommended for adolescents who have been insistent, persistent, and consistent in their gender identity over long periods.”

CBS Philly:

Dr. Sherman Leis, a world-renowned transgender surgeon who operates in the Philadelphia region, called Paul’s comments discriminatory. “I think he’s terribly misinformed and ill-educated on the subject of transgender medicine and surgery,” Leis said. “Those remarks have nothing to do with Rachel Levine, who’s a highly qualified physician. She’s trained in pediatrics and psychiatry.”

CNN:

Paul's analogy relies on a misunderstanding of gender affirmation treatments and misinformation from non-credible sources. In making his comparison, Paul draws on data from the American College of Pediatricians, a group that many health experts believe is on the wrong side of a number of controversial medical topics, especially the issue of gender conversion therapy. Most medical professionals disagree with Paul's comparison, including Dr. Jason Rafferty, who authored the American Association of Pediatricians' policy statement on transgender and gender diverse youth health care. The World Health Organization (WHO), which the Kentucky senator cited, also distinguishes between the two practices, outlining best practices for the gender-affirming health care in 2017 while opposing all forms of female genital mutilation.

 "The outcome is trying to better align [a trans young person's] body with their sense of self rather than a process that causes [an] ongoing sense of distress and harm throughout their lives," said Rafferty, differentiating between gender confirmation surgery and genital mutilation, respectively. In addition to the WHO, gender-affirming treatment is supported by the AAP, as well as the American Medical Association, among other mainstream medical organizations in the United States. 

It should be noted that it is the AAP, not the ACP, that is the primary organization representing pediatricians in the United States. The ACP formed in 2002 over the AAP's endorsement of same-sex couples adopting children. The ACP, among other things, also supports conversion therapy for LGBTQ youth, a medically discredited practice.

No matter what Paul or FRC claim,  his questions were asked in bad faith. They served no purpose other than to steer the conversation in the direction of anti-transgender smears, junk science, and horror stories involving children (the latter being an evergreen narrative of the religious right).

It was a sloppy attempt by Paul smear Dr. Levine. And what makes the entire situation worse is how FRC continues in the same vein as if no one caught on.  Lies are one thing. Badly told and exposed lies are another. Repeating badly told and exposed lies is simply a new level of embarrassment.