Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie has come out against banning sex changes for minors, putting him at odds not just with the conservative base of the GOP, but with a large majority of Americans.

“I don’t think that the government should ever be stepping in to the place of the parents in helping to move their children through a process where those children are confused or concerned about their gender,” Christie said in a CNN interview Sunday. “The fact is that folks who are under the age of eighteen should have parental support, and guidance, and love as they make all the key decisions of their life, and this should not be one that’s excluded by the government in any way.”

Christie instead said that states should require “parental involvement” in gender transitions for children, presumably to mean that children cannot transition without their parents’ permission.

[The issue here is that there is no sound, replicable science supporting these pediatric sex-change therapies and surgeries. It’s not just a parent’s-rights issue. States can and should insist that therapies with permanent effects on children first demonstrate scientific necessity and efficacy before being allowed to be performed. — Ed]