Lauren Boebert whines that “the media” is OK with kids being transgender but not conservative
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) complained that “the media” says that kids can “be whatever they want to be,” but not conservative.
“The media tells you we should let children be whatever they want to be no matter what,” she tweeted, in a not-at-all-subtle reference to transgender kids. “Unless that child wants to be conservative.”
Many conservatives believe that children who do not want to conform to gender stereotypes associated with their sex assigned at birth should be forced to do so.
The idea that children will grow up to be people that their parents don’t approve of is something many conservatives fear, and that includes having an LGBTQ+ child. Boebert was speaking to that fear and has in the past referred to children as their parents’ property, an idea that makes many parents believe they’re entitled to control the type of adult their child grows up to be.
“We are raising our four boys to be men before liberals teach them to be women,” she said this past March at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). “There are schools that are teaching worse than just gender ideology. I mean, they have comprehensive sex-ed. They’re teaching kids how to have and enjoy sex – and even same-sex sex.”
Just after ranting about sex education in schools, she happily announced that her minor son had gotten his minor girlfriend pregnant.
Moreover, her point about “the media” somehow preventing children from becoming conservative flies in the face of reality. A child growing up to be more conservative than their parents is possible but is not as common as the opposite: a child growing up to be more liberal than their parents. According to the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research at Cornell University, younger people in the 2020 election were much more likely to vote for President Joe Biden while older people in their parents’ generation were more likely to vote for Donald Trump.
On Twitter, people disagreed with Boebert.
