Yesterday, Nikky Haley’s in-person campaign stop in Dubuque, Iowa, was livestreamed instead on account of bad weather. Meg Storm at The Megyn Kelly Show reports that during the call, Haley was “asked a very direct question by a caller who identified himself as ‘John’” — i.e., Can a man become a woman?

Haley gave a long answer (which you can read here), but nowhere in it did she say that a man cannot become a woman.

Instead, she repeated her view that children should not be allowed to “permanently change their body until they’re 18. And that includes puberty blockers, that includes any sort of hormones that would do that.” Adding that, after age 18, “I don’t think government needs to be in control of anybody’s life. You go live the way you want to live.”

This is a weak answer. Most college students are over 18. Does Haley think there’s nothing objectionable about their being able to start cross-sex hormones after a first visit to Planned Parenthood? I doubt it. And yet her answer suggests that she does.

Republicans may not be in the business of banning adults from the high-risk medical regimen of so-called “gender transition,” but they neither should they be promoting it or pretending it’s no biggie.

Transgenderism is harmful because it is false. You cannot change your sex. And attempting to do so — even if you’re “living the way you want” — is a recipe for unhappiness. What Haley should have said is: No, men can’t become women. And pretending otherwise is seriously harmful.