NBC’s Chuck Todd clashed with Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy on Sunday over whether gender is binary during an intense discussion on laws limiting a parent's ability to get sex-reassignment surgery for their child.
"There isn't a state in this union that allows you to smoke an addictive cigarette before the age of 18, that allows you to get a tattoo before the age of 18. That's a body-altering change that a kid may later regret in life," Ramaswamy said on "Meet the Press."
"So, I think it is perfectly reasonable to say that if you're after 18 years old, you're free to decide whatever you want to do. That's what it means to live in a free country," Ramaswamy continued. "But 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."
The NBC News host asked, "Are you confident that you know that gender is as binary as you're describing it? Are you confident that it isn't a spectrum?"
RAMASWAMY VOWS TO MAKE ‘MEANINGFUL INVESTMENT’ IN HIS CAMPAIGN
Ramaswamy said he was confident, but Todd still didn’t buy it.
Todd asked, "Do you know this as a scientist?"
"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 as Todd tried to speak over him.
"There is a lot of scientific research that says gender is a spectrum," Todd said.
"Chuck, I respectfully disagree," Ramaswamy responded.
"Gender dysphoria for most of our history all the way through the DSM-5 has been characterized as a mental health disorder," Ramaswamy said, referring to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, which was published in 2013.
"I don't think it's compassionate to affirm that. I think that's cruelty when a kid is crying out for help," Ramaswamy added. "What they're asking for is you've got to ask the question of what else is going wrong at home, 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 100 years."
Todd then suggested that the extreme decision would be a last resort for any parent.
Ramaswamy later tweeted, "If you have XX chromosomes, you’re a woman. If you have XY chromosomes, you’re a man. That’s the scientific truth."
He also wrote in a tweet referencing the exchange, "Facts are a wonderful thing."
Fox News’ Jessica Chasmar contributed to this report.
