Posts on social media falsely attribute a quote to Joe Biden in which he says that transgender children have a right to transition and there is no reason to deny them this right. In his recent town hall, Biden said there should be no discrimination towards children who identify as transgender but he made no mention of children transitioning. There is no evidence of Biden having made the exact remark that is quoted in these social media posts or having spoken recently about transgender children transitioning.
The posts ( here , here , here ) attribute the following quote to Biden: “If your 8 year old child says they want to be transgender to make life easier … they have a right to transition and there is no reason for you to deny it.”
At Biden’s town hall on Oct. 15 ahead of the Nov. 3 presidential election, visible youtu.be/9ZZzfrapNvo?t=8165 , a mother of an eight-year-old transgender daughter asked him how he would protect the lives rights of LGBTQ people under U.S. law, highlighting that the Trump administration banned transgender people from military service ( here ), lifted anti-discrimination protections under Obamacare for transgender people ( here ) and removed references to the LGBTQ+ community from the White House website ( here ). Biden responded: “I will flat out just change the law. Every …eliminate those executive orders, number one.”
Biden added that there should be no discrimination against transgender children but did not mention transitioning: “The idea that an 8-year-old child or a 10-year-old child decides, ‘You know I decided I want to be transgender. That's what I think I'd like to be. It would make my life a lot easier.’ There should be zero discrimination.” (A transcript of the event is visible here ) Biden did not comment on transitioning during this town hall.
On his campaign website, Biden lists the policies he plans to put in place to support transgender people, including several changes to support transgender children ( joebiden.com/lgbtq-policy/ ). He says he would ensure LGBTQ+ people have full access to all appropriate health care treatments and resources, including covering care related to transitioning and gender confirmation surgery. The page does not mention transitioning in children specifically.
Biden’s campaign did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
VERDICT
False. There is no evidence of Biden having made this remark. Biden has not commented recently on transgender children transitioning and this topic does not feature in the policies listed on his website.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work reuters.com/fact-check/about/ .
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