October 8, 2022

Watch Jon Stewart Calmly Excoriate the Arkansas Attorney General on Anti-Trans Legislation

TV Host Jon Stewart received a flurry of praise on Friday for his unyielding interview with Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, who fought for legislation denying anyone under 18 access to gender-affirming treatments. The law, passed last year, is the subject of a legal challenge by the American Civil Liberties Union. A trial on whether to permanently block the legislation is scheduled for later this month before a federal appeals court.

In the interview, which is part of the Apple TV series, The Problem With Jon Stewart, Stewart points out that the state law overrides guidelines developed by major medical associations. (The American Medical Association, for example, says that gender-affirming care is key to improving health outcomes for transgender individuals. The care is associated with dramatically reduced rates of suicide, depression and anxiety, substance use.) 

“It’s surprising that the state would say ‘we want to make a decision for your family and your child, to protect them,’ even though the American Medical Association, the American Association of Pediatrics, the Endocrine Society, the American Association of Psychiatrists all recommend a certain set of guidelines for children that are expressing gender dysphoria,” says Stewart. “So I guess my surprise is why would the state of Arkansas step in to override parents, physicians, psychiatrists, endocrinologists who have developed guidelines. Why would you override those guidelines?”

Rutledge claims that, for every expert who supports gender-affirming care, “there’s another expert to say we don’t need to allow children to take those medications.”

“But you know that’s not true,” Stewart says. “You know it’s not ‘for every one, there’s one.’”

A clip of the interview shared on Twitter received praise from many journalists, politicians, and celebrities on Twitter. 

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It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

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