Legislation banning gender-affirming surgery for minors was promised this week by Colton Moore, Georgia state senator-elect for Northwest Georgia, matching a bill from U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Rome.
"This is about protecting kids, and I think for the Republican Party, if we can do anything, this one is critical to do," Greene said of the Protect Children's Innocence Act, a bill she submitted in August.
Speaking at the monthly meeting of the Walker County Republican Party on Tuesday night in Chickamauga, both elected officials spoke to a crowd of nearly 100 on a wide range of local and national issues, including the opioid crisis, inflation and the war in Ukraine.
Greene represents the Georgia counties of Catoosa, Chattooga, Dade, Floyd, Gordon, Murray, Paulding, Polk, Walker, Whitfield and a portion of Cobb. Moore has been elected to represent Catoosa, Dade, Walker and part of Chattooga County.
Greene, a Repubican in her first term, is defending her seat against Democrat Marcus Flowers in the Nov. 8 general election. Moore won the May Republican primary and, because he does not have a Democrat challenger, will be sworn in Jan. 9, one day before the 2022-23 Georgia General Assembly session begins.
Representatives from the Flowers campaign could not be reached for comment. But in a debate with Greene on Monday, Flowers said Greene was using "extreme examples and lies" to misrepresent him when she asked if he supported gender-affirming surgery and puberty blockers for minors.
Flowers said he supports human rights and that people in the LGBT community and children feel attacked by Greene.
(READ MORE: Colton Moore wins Republican nomination in close District 53 Georgia Senate primary)
In her speech to the county party, Greene criticized Democrats, saying they have not secured the border and have allowed a fentanyl crisis in Georgia and the rest of the country.
Voting against funding for Ukraine in the House was another position Greene touted to the crowd.
"Funding a war kills more people in Ukraine than urging them to get to the negotiating table to get a peace deal. That's what they (the Biden administration) should be doing," Greene said, adding that Washington, D.C., has a "never-ending lust" for foreign wars.
If Republicans win the House, Greene said she wants to serve on an oversight committee, to bring accountability -- especially when it comes to federal spending.
In February 2021, the House voted 230-199 to strip Greene of two committee assignments, with 11 Republicans voting with the Democrats, over several controversial posts on social media.
Greene praised Moore and Walker County Commissioner Robert Blakemore for doing what she called the right thing for Georgians, and Blakemore specifically for his determination to avoid raising the county commission's portion of property taxes.
(READ MORE: Blakemore and McDonald vie for Walker County Board of Commissioners seat)
"This has been a really hard time with inflation going up. People are really struggling," Greene said. "And so what a wonderful job you have been doing on behalf of your constituents."
Blakemore is defending his commission seat against Democrat Bobby McDonald in the Nov. 8 general election.
The first issues Moore addressed were local: He said he wants to connect Rossville to Walker County's sewer and water system instead of Chattanooga's and that his No. 1 issue is to abolish the state's certificate of need system for health care facilities. Georgia's certificate of need system requires pre-approval for new health care facilities to prevent redundancy.
"That hospital can pack everything up and leave without the government's permission, but it takes the government's permission to build it," Moore said, calling the certificate of need system a legal monopoly.
Local politicians want to promote economic development, but Moore said that's not possible without quality health care that includes a proper hospital. Hospitals in Georgia are closing, but few are opening because of bureaucracy, Moore said.
Moore repeated his call for legislation in Georgia to prevent minors at drag shows, based on a Chattanooga incident last month that made national news. Despite criticism from the left, Moore said it's not anti-gay to oppose what he called child molestation at a drag show.
(READ MORE: Georgia state Sen.-elect Moore calls for legislation against child-focused drag shows)
Reflecting Greene's legislation banning gender-affirming surgery in Georgia is also a legislative priority, Moore said. He said he also wants Georgia to have more power to deport immigrants and allow school choice vouchers for parents.
Scrutinizing the state budget is another priority, and Moore said he wants to split the state budget into parts to prevent subsidies for private companies to be added to the larger omnibus budget.
Moore also credited Greene for demanding roll call votes to put each representative's vote on the record -- and, Moore said, to put the brakes on a lot of bad legislation. He said he wants to do a good job like Greene in representing Northwest Georgia because if the federal government fails, the state is the people's last hope of governance.
Contact Andrew Wilkins at awilkins@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6659. Follow him on Twitter @tweetatwilkins.