Musk says those who sterilize minors should get life in prison

Twitter CEO and Tesla founder Elon Musk on Friday said that parents or doctors who sterilize underaged minors ought to receive life in prison.

"Any parent or doctor who sterilizes a child before they are a consenting adult should go to prison for life," he tweeted. Musk made the remarks in response to a right-leaning political commentator resharing an MSNBC article and contrasting its critical take on Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis with the governor's policies.

The Redheaded Libertarian account presented the outlet's take on the governor's approach as a wild exaggeration.

"Governor DeSantis: you can’t [get a] sex change for your child in Florida," she wrote. "MSNBC: Ron DeSantis' desperation for power is destroying an entire state."

The article painted a picture of a Florida sliding into authoritarianism, a development the author attributed in part to DeSantis and his policies seeking to eliminate "woke indoctrination." The MSNBC editorial followed the state Senate's approval in early April of legislation that would ban gender surgeries and hormone treatments for individuals under the age of 18. Such treatments have come under scrutiny for their potentially permanent, adverse effects.

Republican state Sen. Clay Yarborough, who sponsored the plan, said at the time that "[w]e need to let kids be kids and our laws need to set appropriate boundaries that respect the rights and responsibilities of parents by protecting children from the very serious health and safety concerns associated with these treatments."

The Sunshine State has enacted sweeping conservative policies, especially addressing LGBT matters in public schools. The state has attracted considerable scrutiny from LGBT advocacy groups for its so-called "Don't Say Gay" law. Officially dubbed the Parental Rights in Education Act, the law restricts the discussion of gender and sexual topics with younger students.

Earlier this week, the state's largest LGBT advocacy group, Equality Florida, issued a travel advisory warning gay individuals from visiting the state.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on Twitter.