Trump repeated transgender surgery lie in Dalton. It’s wrong and it’s harmful.
No child leaves for school as “Tim” and comes home from surgery as “Tammy.”
President Donald Trump just accused the healthcare and teaching professions of a crime.
At his Oct. 16 rally in Dalton, Georgia, Trump told a cheering crowd that “we have five states where your child goes off to school as Tim and comes back as Tammy three or four days later.”
He described a frantic parent asking, “Where’s my son?” and being told the boy was in the hospital. Then he added: “They don’t even need approval.”
Yet, as CNN’s fact check of those remarks reported, the White House could not identify a case of a school sending a child for gender surgery without parental consent.
I practiced medicine for over 30 years. I want every parent to hear this from a physician: That story is false. No documented case has been produced to substantiate that story.
And I am angry. Angry because that claim is not a vague jab at “the system.” It is an accusation that doctors, nurses and hospitals across this country are secretly operating on children without their parents’ consent, and that teachers are in on the crime.
Here’s what professionals actually do
Consent is a foundation of medical ethics. In every state, a doctor who performs non-emergency surgery on a minor without a parent’s or guardian’s permission risks losing his or her license, being sued and facing criminal charges.
Hospitals verify guardianship. They keep signed consent forms. A school nurse cannot hand a child medication without a permission slip on file.
The idea that a teacher could take a third grader out of math class and sign them up for surgery is not just wrong. It is absurd.
The Endocrine Society’s clinical guidelines recommend against puberty blockers and gender-affirming hormones for children who have not reached puberty.
For adolescents, they call for assessment by qualified medical and mental health professionals, informed consent and specific eligibility criteria.
They recommend delaying genital surgery involving removal of reproductive organs until at least age 18. This is carefully evaluated medical care — not a decision a teacher makes between classes.
So where does the story come from? Some school districts have policies on whether teachers must tell parents when a student asks to be called by a different name or pronoun.
Parents have every right to debate those policies. We should welcome that debate. But classroom privacy policies are not permission for surgery. When PolitiFact investigated Trump’s earlier version of this claim in 2024, it found no evidence that schools were providing or arranging such operations and rated the claim “Pants on Fire.”
1 / 25
Harmless talk undermines trust in medicine
This is not harmless rally talk. When a man who seeks and holds the highest office says doctors are cutting into children behind their parents’ backs, people believe him.
Some of those people are parents who will now hesitate to bring a sick child to a pediatrician. Some will doubt a doctor’s advice on vaccines, mental health or a frightening diagnosis because they have been told we lie.
Some will decide that children’s hospitals and the people who work there are enemies. Trust in medicine is earned slowly, one patient at a time. It can be destroyed with a single line at a rally.
Parents deserve the truth. Here is a simple test for any politician who repeats this story: Name the school. Name the hospital. Name the child. If they cannot, and they cannot, voters of every party should reject the claim and the contempt behind it.
My colleagues and I took an oath to do no harm. Mr. Trump should hold himself to at least that standard.
Dr. Matthew Hine is a retired physician with over 30 years of practice, living in Georgia. He supports the rights of parents to be involved in healthcare decisions for their children.
Send letters to the editor of 250 words or fewer with your name, city or town and contact information to letters@ajc.com.