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Oct 23, 2023

Whoopi Goldberg Delivers Strongly

WHITE HOUSE ANNOUNCES LGBTQ+ INITIATIVE: As the LGBTQ+ community continues being

WHITE HOUSE ANNOUNCES LGBTQ+ INITIATIVE: As the LGBTQ+ community continues being targeted in state legislatures across the country, #TheView co-hosts weigh in after the Biden administration pledged their support for the community. https://t.co/cVclFZQmjA pic.twitter.com/N3OU1qsO2Y

— The View (@TheView) June 9, 2023

You know things are tense when Whoopi Goldberg starts pointing directly into the camera. During this morning's episode of The View, the longtime moderator addressed Republicans directly in an impassioned speech about protecting the LGBTQ+ community.

In the opening Hot Topics segment, the panel played a clip of White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre announcing the Biden administration's "initiatives to back the LGBTQ+ community" in light of more than 600 anti-LGBTQ+ legislation — "a few hundred" of which target transgender youth — appearing throughout the country.

"This is all for political gain and political purposes. Republicans do this all the time — have done it very effectively," Ana Navarro said of the GOP using "wedge issues" to get ahead in political races.

She continued, "It's this idea of driving people to the polls through fear, through anger, through angst, through the stress, through the paranoia and hysteria that drag queens are coming for your children," before joking that "drag queens don't even like children."

Sara Haines then brought up the "obsession with gender-affirming care" — which she said is an "umbrella term" for getting children the help they need whether that be through psychologists or licensed doctors.

"None of this is anybody's business!" Goldberg chimed in. "This is the part that I don't understand. You are telling me that I don't know my family. You are telling me that I don't know my kid. I’m telling you, ‘You don't know my kid. You don't know what I’m going through. You don't know what I need. And you’re not asking me!’"

She continued, "You’re not helping me. You’re scaring my kids. You’re making them feel like they don't deserve to be here and that they don't deserve to live. This is on your hands!"

To follow up, Sunny Hostin brought up actor Elliot Page — who was a guest on the show earlier this week — and his new book Pageboy, which she believes is going to "save lives." The co-host honed in on the part in the book when Page recalled getting his period for the first time when he was skiing with his dad.

"Imagine being in the wrong body," Hostin said. "Imagine being born into a girl's body when you are a boy and you are experiencing that and you could’ve had blockers. And you could’ve had that and avoided that experience."

Goldberg went on to wrap up the segment with one more fervent message to lawmakers coming after the LGBTQ+ community.

"You are killing our children. You are telling our kids they don't belong, they are not welcome," she said. "I am going to fight — we are gonna fight — for everybody's right to be themselves here in America because that's the promise in America. Be who you are."

The View airs on weekdays at 11/10c on ABC.