NBC’s Chuck Todd ridiculed for saying ‘gender is a spectrum’

NBC’s “Meet the Press” moderator Chuck Todd was pilloried on social media on Sunday for suggesting that “there is a lot of scientific research that says gender is a spectrum” and that sex is not “binary.”

Todd made the comment during a spirited interview on Sunday with GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who has argued for limitations on gender affirming treatments for those under the age of 18.

“Below the age of 18, I think it’s perfectly legitimate to say that we won’t allow genital mutilation or chemical castration through puberty blockers,” Ramaswamy, the biopharmaceutical mogul and author, told Todd during the interview on Sunday.

“You’re calling it that, but how do you know it’s that?” Todd pressed Ramaswamy.

“Again, how do you know? Are you confident that you know that gender is as binary as you’re describing it? Are you confident?”

“I am,” Ramaswamy replied.

“That there isn’t a spectrum?” Todd asked.

Ramaswamy answered: “I am.”

“Do you know this as a scientist?” Todd asked.

“Well, there’s two X chromosomes if you’re a woman, and an X and a Y that means you’re a man…,” Ramaswamy said.

The two men talk over each other before Todd says: “There is a lot of scientific research that says gender is a spectrum.”

“Chuck, I respectfully disagree,” Ramaswamy said.

The GOP candidate said gender dysphoria — which is characterized by the American Psychiatric Association as “clinically significant distress or impairment related to gender incongruence” — “has been characterized as a mental health disorder and I don’t think it’s compassionate to affirm that.”

“I think that’s cruelty,” Ramaswamy said.

“When a kid is crying out for help … you’ve got to ask the question of what else is going wrong at home,” the GOP hopeful said.

“What else is going wrong at school, let’s be compassionate and get to the heart of that rather than playing this game as though we’re actually changing our medical understanding for the last hundred years.”

Todd conceded that “the last thing [parents] want to do is consider something like [gender affirming treatments]” for their children.

“But if that is what they think could help their child pursue happiness or not to kill themselves … why take away that option?” Todd asked.

“Again, why shouldn’t it be up to the parent?”

Ramaswamy replied that “we’ve created a culture that teaches parents that they’re being bigoted or that they’re bad people if they don’t actually take those steps.”

“Gender dysphoria for the rare few people who’ve suffered it, is a condition of suffering,” he added.

“My question is why on Earth are we going out of our way to create even more of it?”

Todd’s comments sparked reaction on Twitter.

“Didn’t you know? Cable news pundits became the best TV scientists and physicians during COVID. The government talking points made them experts,” one Twitter user wrote.

Another Twitter user commented: “There is literally no real science suggesting there are more than 2 sex chromosomes.”

“This is very simple to resolve. Show us what the non-male and non-female chromosomes look like on these ‘gender spectrums’,” a Twitter user wrote.

Others on Twitter supported Todd’s assertion, citing a 2018 article by Scientific American which claimed that biologists “now think there is a larger spectrum than just binary female and male.”

Republicans have sought to curtail the availability of gender transitioning methods to youngsters while LGBTQ activists said the limitations could place children’s mental health in danger.

Bud Light, the iconic beer brand which is the property of Anheuser-Busch, came under fire for its decision to hire Dylan Mulvaney, a social media influencer who garnered a following of millions who watched as she transitioned from a male to a female during the COVID-19 pandemic, as a pitchwoman.

The Post has sought comment from NBC News.