Republican-led state legislatures are considering a new round of bills that would limit medical care for transgender youth and, in some cases, adults.
As legislatures begin their work for the year, lawmakers in several states have proposed enacting or strengthening restrictions on drug and hormone therapy for minors. Bills regulating the pronouns children can use in school, the sports teams students can play and the bathrooms they can use are also making a comeback, along with attempts to restrict drag performances and some books and school curricula.
LGBTQ advocates say most states that tend to pass bans on gender-affirming care have done so, and now expect them to build on those restrictions and expand them to adults. With state legislatures up for election this year, transgender youth and their families are worried they will be targeted again by conservatives. wedge issue.
Among them is Mandy Wong, a mother in Santa Barbara, California, who said she is tired of conservative politicians using transgender children as “campaign fuel.” While she doesn’t expect such a policy to pass in the Democratic-led state, Wong said, the boy and his friends feel emotionally drained.
“It was just heartbreaking to tell him … I don’t think it’s going to go away anytime soon,” she said. “The negative attention to trans kids, even to us as parents, doesn’t seem to be diminishing because of these proposals.”
in Ohio, House Republicans voted on Wednesday Overtaking Republican Gov. Mike DeWine veto legislation banning all forms of gender-affirming care of minors. The Senate is expected to take the same step this month. Despite his veto, DeWine signed an order banning the rare occurrence of gender reassignment surgeries before puberty. He also proposed rules mandating a care team for children and adults, which critics say could severely limit access for all patients.
South Carolina, one of the few Southern states without a ban on sex-affirming minors, A House committee voted Wednesday Send a ban to the house floor. The bill, sponsored by the state’s Republican House speaker, would also prevent Medicaid from covering such treatments for anyone under the age of 26. Last week, the New Hampshire House of Representatives voted to ban sex-reassignment surgeries for minors.
At least 22 states have enacted bans on sex-affirming child care, most of which were approved last year. Those who support the bans say they want to protect children and are concerned about the treatments themselves. Major medical groups including the American Medical Association American Academy of Pediatricsoppose prohibitions and endorse this type of care, saying it is safe when administered properly.
Last year’s restrictions included a Florida law that made it nearly impossible for many transgender adults to receive gender-affirming care in the state. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis touted the ban as one of his accomplishments when running for the Republican presidential nomination.
“They won’t stop at anything, so we don’t know what to expect (in 2024),” said Katy Erker-Lynch, executive director of PROMO, whose Missouri lawmakers have proposed more than 20 bills. LGBTQ+ people.
Bills introduced in Missouri include efforts to eliminate two provisions that are key to overcoming a Democratic filibuster. prohibition of the state on gender-affirming youth care. The Missouri Freedom Caucus favors a bill that would have made the ban on sex-affirming care for minors permanent, removing a provision that would have allowed it to expire in 2027. The legislation would also eliminate a provision allowing juveniles to appear before the law. entered into force to continue.
Republican state Sen. Mike Moon is also co-sponsoring the bill cancel the expiration date requiring the school to inform the student of medical restrictions and whether the student wishes to go by a name or pronoun other than the name or pronoun used by the parent to register the child, comparing transgender medical restrictions for minors to legal age limits for smoking; drinking and driving.
“Kids, especially young kids, don’t make good decisions, and they sometimes don’t know exactly what reality is,” Moon said.
LGBTQ+ activists are calling for laws requiring schools to inform parents of a student’s desire to change names and pronouns. “forced trip” said schools may be the only safe place for a transgender or non-binary student to express their sexuality.
A number of Missouri bills have drawn attention from activists, but Republican legislative leaders have said there is little appetite for revising the restrictions and are unwilling to prioritize them.
“We passed a strong and fairly broad bill last year,” Missouri Senate President Pro Tem Caleb Rowden said of the medical ban.
In Oklahoma, at least two bills targeting gender-affirming care for adults remain active from last year. One proposal would ban insurance coverage for procedures for adults, and another would prohibit public funds from going to any agency that provides such care.
Both measures stalled in the Republican-controlled Legislature last year, but could be revisited in the legislative session starting in February.
The Rules proposed by DeWine in Ohio Last week, it imposed new restrictions on adults that advocates say will make treatment difficult, if not impossible, for some people. These include the appointment of a team of persons consisting of at least one endocrinologist, bioethicist and psychiatrist. The regulations would also require departments to collect information provided by medical providers regarding gender dysphoria and subsequent treatment.
A number of bills have been introduced in Florida, including a measure to require employees at state agencies or any publicly funded institution to use pronouns that match their assigned gender at birth.
Legislation introduced Wednesday in West Virginia would ban gender-affirming care until age 21 and prohibit mental health professionals from endorsing what lawmakers call a “mistake” about a transgender patient’s gender identity.
which is in California offered asylum to transgender youth and families from states with medical bans, conservatives have long pushed to put a measure targeting the rights of transgender minors on next year’s ballot.
Last year, Nebraska State Senator Kathleen Kauth sponsored the state ban on gender-affirming care For those under 19, he said there is no partisan politics behind his push for bills aimed at LGBTQ+ people. This year, he is re-introducing a bill he introduced last year that would have restricted transgender students from participating in sports and restricting their access to bathrooms and locker rooms.
Kauth’s medical ban led progressive lawmakers to defeat nearly every bill last year’s session.
“I don’t think it’s a re-election thing because, you know, my district is actually half-and-half — a little more conservative than liberal,” Kauth said. “I’m trying to overpower and protect kids, no matter what the federal government looks like.”
Challenges to the laws already in place nationwide are headed to the US Supreme Court. The American Civil Liberties Union appealed to the court block restrictions About youth care in Kentucky and Tennessee.
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is also considering Arkansas’ request to overturn the decision. was shot the state’s first ban on gender-affirming youth care in the country.
So far, federal rulings against the bans have come from judges appointed by both Democratic and Republican presidents.