Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie, who has centered his 2024 campaign on attacking former President Donald Trump, switched his focus to attacking GOP governors who have banned child sex-change procedures.
The former New Jersey governor spoke out against state governments banning transgender surgeries for children and called out a Republican governor by name while speaking to Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade on Thursday. Christie, who launched his 2024 bid earlier this month, said he believes the issue of sex-change procedures should stay between parents and their children without government intrusion, Mediaite reported.
“I just don’t want to see our government getting more and more intrusive in everybody’s life, getting bigger,” Christie said, adding, “I don’t think anything can replace parents when you’re talking about major decisions that are needs to be made by our children.”
“So if a 14-year-old comes home and says, I really want to start switching genders, that’s the parent’s decision?” Kilmeade pressed.
“I’ll tell you, it’s more of a parent’s decision than it’s a governor’s decision, for goodness sakes, Brian, you really think that Sarah Huckabee Sanders should be making this decision for children in Arkansas?” Christie replied. “I love Sarah. I think she’s a great person and a really good governor. But I don’t think she would ever allow the government to substitute her judgment as a mother for their judgment.”
The Arkansas law was enacted by the legislature in 2021 over the veto of then-Republican Governor Asa Hutchinson. Sanders signed legislation to effectively restore the 2021 law by creating an avenue for individuals who received “gender affirming care” to pursue civil litigation against medical providers who perform sex change procedures on minors. Earlier this week, an Obama-appointed federal judge struck down Arkansas’ ban on sex-change surgeries and treatments for minors as unconstitutional.
Other Republican governors, such as Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis, Tennessee’s Bill Lee, and Mississippi’s Tate Reeves have signed similar legislation. DeSantis, who has positioned himself as Trump’s greatest threat from within the Republican Party, signed a package of five bills into law in May banning sex-change procedures for children.
Christie’s latest remarks double down on comments he made to CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday that placed him at odds with many of his fellow Republicans. The presidential candidate’s opposition to laws against child sex-change procedures isn’t the only issue he will have a difficult time convincing hardline conservatives on. Christie’s constant negative comments about the party’s frontrunner will also pose challenges to his campaign as was shown on Friday when he was booed during a speech at the Faith and Freedom Coalition Conference after he attacked Trump.
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