DeSantis says he's willing to 'take away lunch money from poor kids' for anti-transgender crusade

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) vowed to continue his anti-transgender crusade on Wednesday even it it means taking away "lunch money from poor kids."

At a press conference about addiction on Wednesday, DeSantis began by saying doctors should be sued for providing gender affirming treatment to children.

"They wanna castrate these young boys - that's wrong," the governor said. "I think these doctors need to get sued for what's happening."

Later at the event, DeSantis complained about a USDA decision to add gender identity to its sexual discrimination policies. The USDA is responsible for administering the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which provides funding for school lunches.

The Biden administration has not moved to take action against states based on the decision but DeSantis claimed that the president was "threatening to take away lunch money from poor kids as punishment from us protecting women’s sports."

“They’re so intent on destroying the competition of women’s athletics that they’re going to use school lunch money for poor kids as a cudgel to try to get us to submit to what they want," he added. "We’re not backing down one inch on this!”

In June, DeSantis signed a bill that prevents transgender girls from competing with other girls on public school teams.

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