My name is Matt Walsh, I'm here as a husband, father and concerned citizen of
the state of Tennessee and I wanna thank the committee for allowing me to speak and
for all of you on the committee who support this important legislation.
The Daily wire's Matt Walsh testified before the Tennessee House of
Representatives to share his views on a bill known as House Bill One that
could ban gender affirming care in the state of Tennessee.
Now, I don't think he was prepared for the Democratic lawmakers to ask
him the questions they asked him, which was amusing to say the least, but
I will say I watched the entirety of the hearing and it was a fascinating hearing.
There was testimony from people who wanna ban gender affirming care.
There was testimony from individuals who are transgender themselves and obviously
they talk about how gender affirming care positively impacted their lives.
There were even individuals who testified to say that they thought they
were transgender.
They went through some of the process to transition,
including things like hormone blockers and then they later regretted it.
And I think that that kinda testimony's important to kind of get a robust idea of
what's really transpiring and how people feel about this.
With that said,
we'll show you some of the clips of Matt Walsh floundering in just a moment.
But here are a few more details about HB One.
It would put a hard stop on any gender-affirming care that would
help minors identify with or
live as a purported identity inconsistent with their sex assigned at birth.
It's essentially the same type of bill that other conservative states have either
proposed or passed recently.
The bill was proposed after Matt Walsh and others attacked
Vanderbilt University Medical Center for providing gender-affirming care to minors.
And, guys, it's really important to know this because when they talk about
gender-affirming care, I think oftentimes the left responds with, we're not doing
surgery on minors, but there are instances of surgeries being done on minors.
And Vanderbilt University Medical Center has admitted as much.
So the gender-affirming care program was founded in 2018.
The university has stated that it did perform five gender
affirming surgeries a year on minors in the years since
the program was founded, but none were genital procedures.
So when we talk about the surgeries is probably top surgery that they're
referring to, okay?
Yeah, so with that said, according to the Tennessee and
the hearings for this bill, have been pretty packed and
just watching it, you can tell how much interest it's generating.
One transgender teenager testified and said this,
you think that you're protecting people like me, but you aren't.
Taking away our medical care won't prevent us from being transgender, but
it could prevent us from being safe, healthy and happy.
I wanna also note there was another individual who had
again started the transition process, had top surgery,
meaning a double mastectomy and then regretted it.
And so that testimony is just as important, right?
So I don't wanna minimize what that person went through with.
That said though, let's go to Matt Walsh, let's start with him getting called out on
his past comments in regard to minors and how at 16 they're old enough to have kids.
Let's watch.
>> I found it interesting one of our people testified today that they had their
gender affirming surgery at 16 and I know you and former comments mentioned this
on your blog, about 16 year, an adult who's mature and can make decisions.
You're that at 16, I don't care what anybody says, even going so far as to say
when you're 16, you should be married and could be pregnant or should be pregnant.
So I'm curious if 16 is an adult in your view,
why does this bill have the minor defined as 18?
>> So that's a hit piece you took from media matters from something
when I was a radio host 13, 14 years ago in my early 20s.
It's also not an accurate reflection of what actually said.
>> Ever since the beginning of time, teenage girls have been getting pregnant
but all of a nag like this phenomenon of girls getting pregnant at a young age have
been considered young 16 or 17 to act like it's a new thing, it's ridiculous.
It's always been that way.
Recently in the last 30 years or so,
we decided that that's way too young to start a family.
Why?
>> Oops, okay.
And by the way, and this from the guys who call everyone else rumors.
Okay, so if they weren't calling everybody else rumors and you haven't, I wanna have
a conversation about what happened in history, that's a different thing, okay?
But you go out there and smear everyone, then all of a sudden we find tape of you
saying like 16 year olds, I mean, shouldn't they get pregnant?
You know what I'm saying?
Well, all right, well, that's on you brother.
Yeah, so, okay.
Look, in terms of the hearings, I love that the democrats actually bothered to do
their research and more aggressive and challenging.
We're gonna show you more tape of that in a second.
That's wonderful.
In terms of the bill that they're discussing,
something a little shocking happened where they change the part of the bill.
And so that is very rare these days cuz people are so entrenched in their camps.
So this is to block, not just surgery for minors, but
it's also to block gender affirming care that relates to hormone therapy, okay?
And so the Democrats try to get them to split the bill,
the Republicans would not split it.
And they said, no, we're gonna block it all.
And even though they heard all the testimony from people who are transgender
said they really needed, they got it earlier in their lives and
it made a giant difference, they saw the data about how much at least the suicides,
if you don't allow, and they're like, we don't care.
But they did actually change one part of the bill.
I mean this is such a low bar.
This is the lowest bar in history, but they were gonna call any gender-affirming
care child abuse and maybe arrest the parents.
>> What? >> Yeah, of course, they're Republicans,
don't get like, come on, right?
But to be fair to them, because we're the fairest show in America,
after hearing the hearings, they did take that portion of the bill out.
Wow, okay.
>> So there's one other thing I wanna just quickly mention because again, even though
I'm sure just saying this and it's true, it's gonna lead to backlash, I don't care.
It's really important to get you guys the facts.
And I feel terrible when I've said something that isn't 100% accurate.
So previously when we've talked about hormone therapy or the puberty blockers as
it's called, I think I took what some on the left said about it at face value and
didn't do proper investigation into it because the idea is,
it's totally reversible, totally harmless.
There's no issue with it.
That's not entirely true.
Okay, so the problem is there's very limited research and
data and in the data that we have, in the research that we have,
there are some bad side effects, right?
So bone density, the impact on bone density is real and that's a real concern.
The other issue is, it has some problems with fertility potentially
if they're used to early in the person's life, okay?
With that said, I just think it's important for
you guys to know those details, but it's not up to me or Matt Walsh or
any person to make that decision on behalf of transgender individuals, right?
It's really in my opinion, if it deals with
minors because when you think about the mental health component and
how much it can improve their mental health, it's really up to the parents,
the doctors and of course the person, the minor in question,
to make that decision and go through that process themselves.
Like I'm not an expert on it.
You get what I'm saying?
I'm not a doctor.
>> Of course, look guys, look, if we lived in a rational world,
we could have a normal rational discussion about, hey,
wait, should we prevent surgeries before 18 and I might vote for that bill, okay?
But if you start getting into, no, I'm not gonna let the parents decide about hormone
therapy, I'm not gonna let them decide about therapy, I'm not gonna let them
decide about any of this stuff, I got a hell to the no on that.
No, that's not your goddamn business.
We believe in freedom.
You believe in oppression and we're not gonna stand for it.
Now, if you're a family and you make the decision to get the puberty blockers,
that's your call, okay?
I don't you know that I'd make the same decision.
I might, I might not, I'm not in that situation, right?
If your family and you decide, you don't wanna get it?
Great.
You wanna get it?
Great, okay?
And take your kids well being and their mental health as your primary objective.
And I hope that parents do that and we gotta trust the parents to do that, okay?
But the Republicans are saying, don't trust the parents,
this is a war on parents.
And remember the original bill was, hey, it's child abuse.
Let's arrest the parents, okay?
They hate freedom.
And, look, don't get it twisted.
Don't lose. Just because you can have a rational
discussion about this, that doesn't mean you should give an inch to monsters like
Matt Walsh who keep going around talking, it's mutilation.
They're chopping up kids and what happened?
They bomb threats the hospital where they could have actually gotten kids killed.
So I'm not buying anything Matt Walsh is saying,
I'm glad they kicked the living crap out.
>> Obviously, I'm not either.
I hope you guys are clear on that, but it is important to know the facts and
those are the facts as we know them now and
hopefully they're doing more research and we'll have more data.
But let's get back to the hearing itself.
He also got called out for not doing his research.
So let's watch that.
>> Well, the claim that doing the chemical castration drugs or surgery or
hormonal intervention, the claim that this prevents suicide or
has positive psychological effects down the line is utterly, totally baseless.
There are no credible long-term studies that bear that out.
>> You also stated there have been no studies?
Well, I'm sitting here holding a study from the American Academy
of Pediatrics from the University of Pittsburgh about the suicidal
disparities between transgender and cisgender adults and children.
So I think before you state things, you may need to know all the facts.
>> I gotta be honest with you.
I'm actually pretty shocked that Democrats in a red state.
>> No, they were great.
Take them over the national Democrats in the second.
So Matt Walsh, of course everything is victimhood with the right wing.
It was like, you guys are making fun of my education.
He didn't say it in those words, but basically he was implying that.
I don't know if he graduated kindergarten.
I don't know, I don't think he went to college.
I'm not sure if he finished high school.
I don't know what his story is, right?
But I don't care about that.
And guys, we've talked about this here before.
I've hired tons of people without ever asking what college they went to,
cuz I don't give a damn.
What I care about is the size of the fight in the dog, okay?
If you've got passion, you're smart.
That's what I care about.
So this isn't about education shaving, but dude, you're not a doctor, okay?
He's like, I kinda looked at the studies and I decided that they were chopping
people up left and right, because I'm so freaking smart, right?
No, you're not.
You're a moron.
And you don't know anything about science.
You didn't study any of it.
And so you coming in and going, yeah, but I eyeballed it, man, I eyeballed it,
is not really convincing.
>> Another representative went so
far as to accuse Matt Walsh of exploiting this very serious issue for clicks.
Let's watch.
>> Do you conduct your research and use this brain of yours?
>> Mr. Walsh, you're recognized.
>> I use it for the purpose of trying to protect children from being castrated and
mutilated.
That's one of the things I try to do.
>> You don't use it.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
You don't use it to get clicks on your stay vacation?
Well, I'm using it right now to try to get clicks with this interaction.
>> Yeah, okay.
He's not a talk show host.
You are, right?
So the thing about entitlement with Republicans is like whenever there's
a Democrat or a neutral party in congressional hearings,
the Republicans light into them.
Is it true that Twitter is shadow banning us?
You monsters.
We need to be put out front of everybody [NOISE], right?
And then the minute they get pushed back from a Democrat they're like, what?
What is this?
Are you trying to get clicks?
No, dude, your job is getting clicks.
>> Yeah, dude [LAUGH].
>> All right, anyway, but notice he said castration, which is a lie.
>> Yeah, yeah, exactly.
I mean that's the problem with honestly discussion about these
very real nuanced and complex issues, right?
You have demagoguing, you have extreme, ridiculous, comments that
are meant to demonize individuals who are trying to do the right thing and
to help people who are struggling with their gender identity.
It's just it's really frustrating because again,
we're not talking about some little issue here.
We're talking about people's lives and
having someone like Matt Walsh say the things he says in the way he says,
it doesn't actually lead to solutions or
policy that is obviously accommodating to people who need help.
>> Okay, I'm gonna say one more thing here, which is,
it is an irony you should know.
Remember, I used to be a Republican many, many decades ago, but I was.
It's not like I don't know, it's not like I'm not open minded.
It's not like I can't empathize with Republicans, okay?
But these guys that lie for a living, like Matt Walsh and
then inflame everything, they're castrating and mutilating and
chopping up babies, well, your goddamn monster, okay?
Cuz that stuff's not true and you're trying to get lunatics in your audience to
commit violence and you say it over and over and over again.
But now here comes irony.
What that does is get me to go if a Republican is talking,
a Republican is lying,
I'm not gonna listen to any of the trash that comes out of your trash mouth, okay?
So I'm not interested in a freaking conversation with
monsters like Matt Walsh.
So, hey, find people that aren't lunatics, find people who don't
lie every time they talk, then I'm happy to have a conversation.
I'm very happy to have it.
I'm so open minded.
I switch parties, okay?
So it's not like I can't do that.
It's not like I can't say, that's an interesting point or
that's a good point, right?
But when you lie 24/7, you've lost all credibility.
[LAUGH] Which person would talk to a right wing these days?
These guys like Walsh and Candace Owens is crowder and Alex Jones,
all these lunatics and go, [SOUND] I wonder what they have to say.
Well, that's so interesting.
It's not at all interesting.
>> Finally, we end with something that's unrelated, kind of unrelated.
Anyway, he gets asked about his comments on Singapore.
Let's watch.
>> I just have to question some of your public policy expertise when,
I'm reading here, Singapore is able to have nice things in part because
they execute drug dealers by hanging and arrest even petty vandals and
thieves and beat them with a cane until they bleed.
We don't have nice things here because we aren't willing to do what is
required to maintain them.
So with statements like that, I kinda have to question your public policy beliefs.
>> Man, they really came prepared.
I didn't even know he said that about Singapore.
>> Hey, national Democrats, go down to Tennessee, check
out the Tennessee Democrats cuz apparently they're willing to kick some mass and
take some names.
You guys could use a lesson or two.