During the final stretch of former U.S. President Donald Trump's presidential campaign in 2024, a claim that attempts to tap into transphobia and U.S. parents' fears over what happens in schools without their knowledge or approval emerged as a recurring talking point.
On multiple occasions, Trump alleged — without citing evidence — that children have gone to school and returned home later having received gender-affirming surgeries, or that school officials somehow "changed the sex" of children.
For instance, while speaking to a crowd in Tucson, Arizona, on Sept. 12, 2024, Trump spoke of what he called "transgender insanity" occurring in the U.S., and then said, "Can you imagine your child goes to school and they don't even call you, and they change the sex of your child?"
The crowd's negative reaction suggested they believed he had described a documented scenario.
Trump: Can you imagine your child goes to school and they don't even call you and they change the sex of your child. pic.twitter.com/yuBORGBwY8
— Acyn (@Acyn) September 12, 2024
However, we uncovered no evidence of children going to school to receive any sort of sex-change operation or gender-affirming surgery. For this reason, and another we'll mention shortly, we rated this claim as "False."
Before the remark on Arizona, on Sept. 9, Trump said during a Wisconsin campaign rally, "Can you imagine you're a parent and your son leaves the house and you say, 'Jimmy, I love you so much, go have a good day in school,' and your son comes back with a brutal operation? Can you even imagine this? What the hell is wrong with our country?"
In an article that also debunked the assertion, NBC News reported:
About half the states ban transition-related surgery for minors, and even in states where such care is still legal, it is rare. In addition, guidelines from several major medical associations say a parent or guardian must provide consent before a minor undergoes gender-affirming care, including transition-related surgery, according to the American Association of Medical Providers. Most major medical associations in the U.S. support gender-affirming care for minors experiencing gender dysphoria. For those who opt for such care and have the support of their guardians and physicians, that typically involves puberty blockers for preteens and hormone replacement therapy for older teens.
Days before the Wisconsin speech, on Aug. 30, Trump uttered the same claim in slightly different words during a discussion with Tiffany Justice, co-founder of the conservative organization Moms for Liberty.
Justice brought up the subject of children identifying as transgender, telling Trump, "There's been an explosion in the number of children who identify as transgender, and children are being taught that they were born in the wrong body. It's an incredibly abusive message to send. So let's talk a little bit about some of the things that you might be able to do as president."
Trump answered, "Well, you can do everything. President has such power. It does. It has such power."
Moments later, he added, "But the transgender thing is incredible. Think of it. Your kid goes to school and comes home a few days later with an operation. The school decides what's going to happen with your child. And you know, many of these childs [sic] 15 years later say, 'What the hell happened? Who did this to me?' They say, 'Who did this to me?' It's incredible."
Readers can watch these remarks in this video from the LiveNOW from Fox YouTube channel beginning at the 38:11 mark:
There's No Evidence of Children Receiving Gender-Affirming Surgeries at School
CNN extensively reported on this claim about children supposedly going to school and receiving gender-affirming surgeries, as well as other statements Trump made during the discussion with Justice. The article featured interviews with medical professionals who refuted the idea of childrens' surgeries being secretly carried out by or with the involvement of schools.
For example, Dr. Meredithe McNamara, an assistant professor of pediatrics specializing in adolescent medicine at the Yale School of Medicine, told CNN, "Of course everything in this statement is false," in reference to Trump's remark about children going to school and supposedly coming home "a few days later with an operation." By email, we asked McNamara whether she had ever seen evidence of even one such surgery occurring inside a U.S. school. She answered, "No, I absolutely have not."
In CNN's reporting, the network also said Justice responded to its correspondence, saying in part, "Are kids getting surgery in school? No they're not." CNN further reported that Trump's campaign shared no evidence of any such activity occurring inside schools.
Snopes contacted other professionals in the field of pediatrics and the Trump campaign, but we did not yet receive responses.
We reached out to Moms for Liberty by email to ask further questions. In response, we received several statements, including one scolding CNN for not including part of the organization's correspondence that detailed five court cases involving lawsuits about schools assisting students in "socially transitioning" from one gender to another. To be clear, none of the five cases involved children undergoing medical operations inside of schools.
Trump Tied Olympic Athletes' Genders into the Claim
On at least two speaking occasions, Trump connected the false claim about surgeries taking place inside schools with references to Algerian female boxer Imane Khelif and Taiwanese female boxer Lin Yu-ting — who were accused of transitioning from male to female to cheat and win gold medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics. However, as we previously reported, Khelif was assigned female at birth, meaning she has always lived as a woman. Yahoo Sports published the same about Lin.
For further reading, we previously reported about a false rumor claiming 2024 Democratic vice-presidential nominee and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz signed a bill allowing "gender reassignment surgery for children" in his state.