GOP candidate for governor of Tennessee wants to execute the parents of trans kids

Tennessee Republican Monty Fritts has been widely condemned this week after he openly called for the state to execute the parents and guardians of transgender youngsters.

The 62-year-old gubernatorial candidate made the shocking remarks during a guest spot on a Christian Nationalist podcast earlier this week.

A clip shared by the anti-fascist group Right-Wing Watch on Thursday (29 January) sees Fritts not only call for the state-funded execution of trans and non-binary children’s parents, but of anyone who helps to provide life-saving gender-affirming care to under-18s, such as doctors.

“I think we need a law in Tennessee that would allow for capital punishment for those who commit an assault on the sanctity of life,” he said in the 40-second clip.”I think that anyone who would try to disfigure a child through hormones or surgery, you might be eligible to capital punishment.

“I know that’s gonna make people’s ears ring, but that’s a gross, great sin,” he said.

In the US, gender-affirming care for trans youth typically refers to puberty suppressant medication, commonly called puberty blockers. They are widely considered to be safe and, in some cases, life-saving among most major medical institutions.

Virtually no trans under-18s have undergone invasive gender-affirming surgeries, despite false claims from Republican lawmakers that they are common. A 2024 Harvard study found that cisgender minors are far more likely to undergo gender-affirming surgeries than their trans peers.

Fritts’ comments were made in reaction to backlash that arose earlier this month after he was heard in a leaked audio recording calling for capital punishment to be used against people who had undergone or provided an abortion.

He made the remarks last August while attending a Washington Country Republican Party meeting entitled “God, Guns, and Guts,” according to journalist Rachel Wells.

The GOP lawmaker has garnered numerous controversies since September last year when he announced his intention to run in the 2026 Tennessee gubernatorial election.

Less than a month following his announcement, Fritts faced backlash for opposing an expansion to the state’s private-school scholarship program to reach more applicants from lower-income backgrounds.

“If I get elected, I plan to suspend it or end it,” he said according to Tennesse Lookout, calling the move “fiscally irresponsible.”

Tennessee is a political stronghold for the Republican Party, which holds the vast majority of the state’s Congressional seats.

In June 2025, the US Supreme Court voted to uphold the state’s law banning gender-affirming care for trans youngsters. The decision was branded a “painful setback” by many within the community.

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