CNN National Correspondent Lucy Kafanov has a rainbow flag emoji in her Twitter handle and was wearing rainbow gloves on Wednesday, but CNN Newsroom still thought she was an appropriate choice to send to the Supreme Court to cover oral arguments in U.S. v. Skrmetti, the case that seeks to answer whether Tennessee’s ban on so-called “gender-affirming care” violates the Constitution. In addition to some horrifically one-sided reporting, Kafanov also sought to shame Tennessee and its supporters by rolling out 10-year-olds who identify as transgender to claim that they are in danger of being murdered.
To anyone unaware of Kafanov's activist stance, she quickly made it clear which side she supported simply by how she described the two sides’ supporters, “At this moment, it's a bit of a battle of the loudness of the microphones. We're sort of closer to the group that is denouncing this kind of gender-affirming care for minors. Further down, you see a much larger, more colorful group of people who are supporting the kids who are at stake in this case.”
She then lamented, “Americans who identify as transgender make up less than 2 percent of the entire population. But especially in this electoral campaign, they have taken on this outsized role. They’ve become caught in the crossfires of this culture war and we’ve actually been spending time with some of the families and the teenagers and the kids who are-- be impacted by these bans, by these laws.”
Kafanov then set up an interview session she recently conducted, “We spent time with three families who traveled on their own dime, missing school, missing work to be here in D.C. all the way from Arizona to have their voices heard because they feel that there are a lot of politicians, lawyers, talking heads, discussing their rights, they’re not being heard from themselves, and I want to give you a sense of what one 10-year old Violet DuMont told me when I asked her what it feels like to be a transgender kid in America today. Take a listen.”
In a clip, Kafanov asked, “What concerns have you had about speaking out?”
DuMont replied, “That I'm going to be, like, murdered. Like one day I'm going to be walking down the street and somebody's going to come up and, like, shoot me or something.”
Back live, Kafanov continued to bat for those seeking to overturn Tennessee’s law, “And one of the things that all of these families emphasize is gender-affirming care, things like hormones, puberty blockers, these are deeply personal, intimate decisions that they are making with their pediatricians, with their psychiatrists, with the children over the course of many, many years.”
Most people would say that 10-year-olds having passionate opinions is not the same thing as possessing wisdom to make profound life decisions, but Kafanov is not most people, “These are not, you know, willy-willy decisions that they're making carelessly and for these children, it's a chance to be who they truly are. These 10-year-olds told me they have no doubts about their gender identity. They are exhausted about having to continuously defend who they are and to argue for their very right to exist, Jim.”
Host Jim Acosta agreed, “Yeah, your heart goes out to those kids when you listen to those comments.”
The whole thing was a reckless bit of “journalism” from CNN. There are legitimate questions and concerns about giving minors gender-altering care. Raising those does not mean you favor shooting anyone and citing children as experts is just an intellectually lazy way of demanding people shut up.
Here is a transcript for the December 4 show:
CNN Newsroom with Jim Acosta
12/4/2024
10:28 PM ET
LUCY KAFANOV: At this moment, it's a bit of a battle of the loudness of the microphones. We're sort of closer to the group that is denouncing this kind of gender-affirming care for minors. Further down, you see a much larger, more colorful group of people who are supporting the kids who are at stake in this case and, look, transgender Americans, Americans who identify as transgender, make up less than 2 percent of the entire population. But especially in this electoral campaign, they have taken on this outsized role. They’ve become caught in the crossfires of this culture war and we’ve actually been spending time with some of the families and the teenagers and the kids who are-- be impacted by these bans, by these laws.
We spent time with three families who traveled on their own dime, missing school, missing work to be here in D.C. all the way from Arizona to have their voices heard because they feel that there are a lot of politicians, lawyers, talking heads, discussing their rights, they’re not being heard from themselves, and I want to give you a sense of what one 10-year old Violet DuMont told me when I asked her what it feels like to be a transgender kid in America today. Take a listen.
What concerns have you had about speaking out?
VIOLET DUMONT: That I'm going to be, like, murdered. Like one day I'm going to be walking down the street and somebody's going to come up and, like, shoot me or something.
KAFANOV: That's a really scary thing to be worrying about at ten years old.
DUMONT: Yeah, that should not be a worry.
KAFANOV: Michelle, what's going through your mind as you hear your daughter say this?
MICHELLE CALLAHAN-DUMONT: It's just hard to hear her say that.
KAFANOV: And one of the things that all of these families emphasize is gender-affirming care, things like hormones, puberty blockers, these are deeply personal, intimate decisions that they are making with their pediatricians, with their psychiatrists, with the children over the course of many, many years.
These are not, you know, willy-willy decisions that they're making carelessly and for these children, it's a chance to be who they truly are. These 10-year olds told me they have no doubts about their gender identity. They are exhausted about having to continuously defend who they are and to argue for their very right to exist, Jim.
JIM ACOSTA: Yeah, your heart goes out to those kids when you listen to those comments. Lucy, thank you very much.
