Democratic candidate for Mississippi governor Brandon Presley would not have signed legislation that outlawed gender-affirming care for transgender minors such as puberty blockers, he suggested during an appearance in Flowood, Miss., at the Mississippi Press Association on June 16.
In an earlier speech, Gov. Tate Reeves, who signed the state’s ban on care for young transgender Mississippians in February, accused Presley of dodging the issue. The Presley campaign provided the Mississippi Free Press with recordings of both speeches.
“Now, I don’t care if you’re the most passionate advocate in the world for LGBTQ policies or if you’re Ben freaking Shapiro,” Reeves said, referring to the anti-trans right-wing commentator. “If you’re a candidate for governor in the great state of Mississippi, you’ve got to take hard questions on policy.”
During a question-and-answer session with reporters after his own speech later, though, Presley, who is currently the public service commissioner for Mississippi’s northern district, said he had already answered questions from reporters about his views on the trans care ban to reporters at previous events. His campaign said the reporters who had previously asked him about trans issues did not report his responses, however.
“I trust families, I trust mamas and I trust daddies to deal with the health care of their children first and foremost, period,” Presley told those gathered at the Mississippi Press Association event on June 16. “Tate Reeves brings up this issue for one reason: It’s a smokescreen. Before this campaign is over with—if it will hide his record on corruption, if it will hide his record on $1.3 million to his personal trainer, if it will hide the fact that hospitals are shutting down—he will say that Martians have landed in Montgomery County to divert your attention. I’ll leave parents to control the health care of their children, period.”
The Democratic candidate was referring to two key issues his campaign has focused on so far: Mississippi’s hospital crisis as medical centers across the state have closed or cut services in recent years; and the state’s massive $77 million welfare scandal, in which officials diverted tens of millions
Read original article by clicking here.