‘Please Contact Our Office’: Dem Lawmaker Tells Kids That She’ll Help Them Undergo Gender Procedures

In a TikTok video on Monday, a Michigan Democratic legislator offered to help children access “gender-affirming” care if they contacted her office.

Michigan State Rep. Carrie Rheingans said in the video that she was specifically talking to “trans kids here in Michigan,” adding that life-altering gender procedures are still legal in the state. Wearing a “Protect Trans Kids” sweatshirt, the Michigan Democrat posted the video Monday in response to the University of Michigan’s hospital network ending gender procedures for minors under pressure from the Department of Justice.

In her video, Rheingans told children that they could still get “care” at other places in Michigan.

“I want you to know, as trans kids here in Michigan, that this care is obviously safe and effective. That’s why it’s been approved and why it’s been used all across the country and continues to be used,” she added. “So if you need to find a new place to get care it is still legal here in Michigan, and reach out to our office, we’ll be able to connect you to what might still be available in our community.”

Rheingans, who represents Ann Arbor, urged children to “please contact our office” and provided contact information.

“We love you. We are really supportive of you as kids, and we want to make sure that you can grow up and thrive here in Michigan,” she added.

@reprheingans ????️‍⚧️ #TransKids in #Michigan: we live you and want to see you grow and thrive here ???????????? #GenderAffirmingCare ♬ original sound – MI State RepCarrie Rheingans

The federal government and medical establishment previously pushed gender procedures for children as an effective way to treat gender dysphoria, but the practice has come under intense scrutiny as new research highlights the dangers of performing life-altering gender surgeries and puberty blockers. A Health and Human Services review released earlier this year, shortly after President Donald Trump took office, stated, “These interventions carry risk of significant harms including infertility/sterility, sexual dysfunction, impaired bone density accrual, adverse cognitive impacts, cardiovascular disease and metabolic disorders, psychiatric disorders, surgical complications, and regret.”

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Even before Trump stepped into the White House, the federal government was changing its tune on gender procedures for children. Last summer, the Biden administration opposed lowering the age minimums for hormonal treatments, mastectomies, breast augmentations, facial, and genital surgeries, The New York Times reported.

The Trump administration has threatened to cut federal funding to hospitals that continue to perform gender procedures on children, resulting in many large hospitals such as Kaiser Permanente and Children’s National Hospital ending the practice.

Michigan Republican state Rep. Brad Paquette, who is leading an effort in the Great Lakes State to protect children from gender procedures, told The Daily Wire that he has a “good relationship” with Rheingans and has discussed the issue with her “pretty extensively.”

“So here in the state of Michigan, one of the unfortunate aspects is my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are completely captured by this ideology, this gender theory,” Paquette said. “So I’m trying to do my best to figure out how to get my colleagues informed as to what these procedures are.”

“She has this mentality that she carries — that the trans activists carry — that there are safe spaces, that you’re an ally or you’re not,” Paquette added. “And this causes an extreme divide among families and in the political arena.”

Rheingans did not respond to a Daily Wire request for comment, but she did address some criticism of her video on social media.

“Horrifying because I told children that I love them. Calm down,” she replied to one post from conservative communicator Steve Guest, who said it was “one of the most horrifying videos that I’ve ever seen posted by a politician.”

“Kids need to see that some grownups love them, and not all are bullies,” she wrote in another post.

Rheingans has made LGBT issues a significant part of her political agenda, saying earlier this year that she was “proud to vote YES to expand Michigan’s civil rights law,” which added sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of protected classes.

????️‍????????️‍⚧️???????? Thank you to our many constituents and advocates from @equality_michigan for sharing your stories and being your beautiful selves! I was proud to vote YES to expand #Michigan‘s civil rights law … 1/2 pic.twitter.com/2M3mtsfooo

— Rep. Carrie Rheingans (@RepRheingans) May 16, 2025

In 2024, Rheingans spoke at the Ann Arbor Pride Festival and urged gay people to run for office.

“If you have never thought about running for office, we need more gays in office, go run for office,” she said. “We need to have a bigger LGBTQ caucus.”