Political commentator and comedian Jon Stewart is being praised for his recent interview with the Arkansas attorney general debating her anti-trans laws.
Stewart’s interview follows Arkansas’ March 2021 ban on gender-affirming care for minors – a law currently being legally challenged with the trial set to begin this month.
The interview with Arkansas attorney general Leslie Rutledge features on Stewart’s Apple TV+ show The Problem with Jon Stewart, with clips and highlights of the discussion going viral across social media.
Rutledge, who tried to claim that, for every expert who believes in gender-affirming care, there’s another who believes it’s harmful, was met by scepticism from Stewart saying: “But you know that’s not true. You know it’s not for everyone there’s one.”
Rutledge also claimed that 98 per cent of gender-diverse young people stop experiencing gender dysphoria without any treatment.
“Wow, that’s an incredibly made-up figure. That doesn’t comport with any of the studies or documentation that exist from these medical organisations,” Stewart replied.
Stewart then questioned Rutledge on where her figures had come from, to which Rutledge explained that she didn’t know “off the top of my head.”
Stewart then elaborated further and drew comparisons with cancer treatment, highlighting that Arkansas follows all accepted guidelines on cancer care for minors. Yet, in contrast, the state does not follow medical guidelines on treating trans youth from the same organisations.
“If your child is suffering from paediatric cancer and the state comes in and says to you, ‘They recommend chemotherapy, but we’re not going to let you do that. You can’t. We think you should get a different opinion, and here’s the organisation we think you should get the opinion from. They’re not the mainstream, but they’re an organisation, so that’s who you have to be treated by …’ Does that sound like something you would accept?”
Rutledge described Stewart’s example as “extreme” and “not in line” with the discussion on gender-affirming care and added that she had friends who had lost children to paediatric cancer.
Stewart replied: “I’ve got some bad news for you. Parents of children who have gender dysphoria have lost children to suicide and depression.”
“And so these mainstream medical organisations have developed guidelines through peer-reviewed data and studies, and through those guidelines, they have improved mental health outcomes.”
“So I am confused why you follow AMA guidelines … for all other health issues in Arkansas – because we checked – but not for this?”
During the same episode, Stewart is reported to have apologised for past jokes he had made at the expense of the trans community.
“We are in a new dawn of gender and sex complexity, where those who don’t fit in a simple binary are meant to be seen with humanity,” he said.
“It wasn’t always like this, people. As recently as, let’s say, the 1990s, early 2000s, people were making s**tty jokes, reductive jokes, about the subject.”
Watch the clip on express below!
Jon interviewed Leslie Rutledge, Arkansas Attorney General, about why her state banned gender-affirming care for minors – ignoring the guidelines of major medical organizations and taking the decision out of parents’ hands. Watch the full interview on @AppleTVPlus pic.twitter.com/4SoH3orWa6
— The Problem With Jon Stewart (@TheProblem) October 7, 2022
