A recently resurfaced video of U.S. Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary Rachel Levine shows the doctor, who identifies as a transgender woman, calling on big tech companies to censor “misinformation” about “gender-affirming care” for minors.
Although Levine made the comments in May, footage of the official’s address from the Federation of State Medical Boards in New Orleans began circulating on social media right after Christmas.
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The doctor claimed “the positive value of gender-affirming care for youth and adults is not in scientific or medical dispute” and asserted anyone questioning its advancement is “dangerous to the public health.”
A montage of comments from Levine’s speech was shared on Twitter Monday by Libs of TikTok:
Rachel Levine calls for big tech to censor “health misinformation” impacting “gender affirming care.” Says “gender affirming care” has a positive value for youth. pic.twitter.com/XdfyZknbuZ
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) December 26, 2022
Levine, a member of President Joe Biden’s administration, said, “We need to use our clinician’s voice to collectively advocate for our tech companies to create a healthier, cleaner information environment.”
Many conservatives on social media saw Levine’s comments as political speak for censorship.
Author Rod Dreher retweeted Levine’s video, writing: “When fascism comes to America, it will be under the guises of Health and Safety.”
Megan Brock retweeted the video, writing: “Wow. Rachel Levine advocates for information censorship, asking healthcare professionals to stop ‘health misinformation” and “collectively advocate for our tech companies to create a healthier, cleaner, information environment.’ Thank goodness for @elonmusk’s Twitter!!”
Connor Boyack, the president of Libertas, also wrote: Protip: what the government labels “misinformation” you can generally just call “information.”
The clip’s surge on social media comes as Sweden pulls back from its own gender-affirming care for minors.
Sweden’s National Board of Health and Welfare recently updated its treatment guidelines for children exhibiting gender dysphoria, acknowledging “care has been characterized by both deficiencies in accessibility and a lack of knowledge about the results of the care.”
The announcement came months after the board officially ended the practice in May of prescribing puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to those under 18 years old. Most recently, the NBHW halted its previous decision to provide mastectomies to minors, too.
“Young people who suffer from gender dysphoria need to be able to quickly receive an investigation and be offered adequate care measures, based on the health and medical services’ assessments of the care needs,” said Thomas Lindén, head of the department at the National Board of Health and Welfare. “Good psychosocial care is fundamental.”
In the past, Sweden was reportedly providing cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers to girls as young as eight years old.
Wesley J. Smith, a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute’s Center on Human Exceptionalism, said the U.S. should consider Sweden’s approach to transgenderism and gender dysphoria.
“It is most unfortunate that our government and most social-media platforms continue to stifle these important discussions — just as they did, with catastrophic results, during the COVID pandemic,” he wrote in a column for National Review. “What is really needed now is not the suppression of opinions but open and robust debate in the medical community and among the public as to how we might best treat children for what might be an essentially psychological condition.”
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