Who's really protecting children?

Far-right extremists and governors like Ron DeSantis use "protecting children" as their rationale for anti-LGBTQ laws. But in actuality they knowingly cause terrible harm to children in so many ways.

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Two stories this week, in two very different states with very different leadership, underscore the immense harm that anti-LGBTQ Republicans, pandering to a radicalized base in their party, are determined to cause to children and families—ironically all in the name of protecting children. And that harm plays out in greater ways than many might imagine.

In Louisiana, a top pediatric cardiologist is uprooting his family, leaving his job as director of Pediatric Heart Transplant and Heart Failure at Ochsner Hospital for Children in New Orleans for a new position in New York. He and his husband made the decision to leave, worried that their two children would be exposed to increased hate as Republicans overrode a veto by Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards to ban gender-affirming care.

It’s only a matter of time, they believe, before Republicans are able to pass their "don’t say gay" bill. That would ban their kids—should they, for example, be the target of homophobia by other kids—or a teacher from even discussing the fact that they have two dads and how that is part of the diversity of American families, to be respected and accepted.

Dr. Jake Kleinmahon, who spoke with CBS News about why he is fleeing, is one of only three such pediatric cardiologists in the entire state—in high demand for families and children who need him who come from all throughout the South.

"When people against the bill started talking, the Republican legislature just walked out. They didn't care," he told CBS News. "It really showed to us that they're not going to defend our family. They're not going to defend our children. And that, to us, was the moment that we decided it was time for us to leave and to search for a new future."

So the GOP in Louisiana, in addition to harming LGBTQ kids and their families, has also done something devastating to hurt countless children of all kinds in dire need of medical care from all across the South.

"We have poured our hearts, our souls—we planted roots in Louisiana. I have made such significant connections with my patients and the families that I take care of. I have supported them along the way, and I've had to give a lot of thought about this," he told CBS. "But Louisiana also has to give something back to us."

In Massachusetts, meanwhile, a state that, unlike Louisiana, has led the way on LGBTQ rights, anti-LGBTQ extremists are trying to strip away protections for children meant to make sure queer kids aren’t subjected to abuse and hate by potential foster parents or prospective adoptive parents.

A Massachusetts couple filed a complaint this week against the state’s health secretary and the Department of Children and Families after their application to become foster parents was denied. They’re being represented by the odious Becket Law, an anti-LGBTQ legal group that fights in the courts to get discrimination accepted as "religious liberty."

Michael and Catherine "Kitty" Burke began the application process with the DCF to foster or adopt a child in January 2022. That process involves interviews and screening, which is meant to ascertain, among many other things, how parents would help a child who is gay, bisexual, or transgender cope with his or her sexual orientation or gender identity. This is the state making sure that the welfare of children—all children—is first and foremost in the foster or adoption process.

And what was learned about the Burkes is that they are unfit parents who believe in dangerous ideas and would do harm to children. From NBC News:

A social worker’s report…said the couple was asked how they would feel if a child in their care identified as LGBTQ or struggled with their gender identity. Kitty Burke responded by saying "let’s take the T out of it" and called gender-affirming care "chemical castration," according to the report. She also said, "I’m going to love you the same," but that the child "would need to live a chaste life." Both Kitty and Michael Burke expressed hesitation around using a transgender or nonbinary person’s preferred pronouns, the social worker’s report noted.

Michael Burke told the social worker he’d been to gay weddings and would "likely attend" his child’s wedding if they were LGBTQ, according to the report, and the couple said they wouldn’t kick a child out of their home for being LGBTQ or subject them to conversion therapy.

Kitty Burke’s statements are horrifying, and, sorry, but Michael Burke’s claim that he’d "likely" attend his child’s gay wedding isn’t enough reassurance. I certainly don’t believe that they wouldn’t subject the child to conversion therapy.

It should not come as a shock that the Licensing Review Team, after being given the report by the social worker, which noted the anti-LGBTQ statements, denied the application. That is, after all, the job of the state: to protect children from harm. And yes, these parents are intent on doing harm if the child is gay or transgender. The state of Massachusetts, unlike Louisiana and too many other states, protects all children.

The Burkes’ attorney from Becket, Lori Windham, told NBC, "The Burkes were devastated to learn that they were denied a license to foster or adopt any child in the Massachusetts child welfare system" and are "asking the court to get rid of that discriminatory denial so that they will not be barred from fostering or adopting children in the future."

Think about that statement for a minute. Their concern is not about the children and what’s most important for their welfare. It’s about the couple and how they feel—"devastated"—because they supposedly deserve to be parents, no matter that they openly expressed beliefs that show they could engage in horrendous actions against a child.

This—like the outcome of the GOP efforts in Louisiana, forcing a vital, top pediatric cardiologist to leave the state— exposes the truth about anti-LGBTQ extremists and Republicans like Ron DeSantis. They claim their cause is about "protecting children," but their true agenda is about protecting homophobia and transphobia, even if it means many children will be harmed in so many ways.