U. S. Republicans worry about Transgender youth at legislative level
2023.02.16 08:40
U. S. Republicans worry about Transgender youth at legislative level
By Kristina Sobol
Budrigannews.com – In some cases, Republican legislators in the United States are attempting to accuse parents and doctors of child abuse if they provide treatment, escalating their campaign to restrict transgender youth’s access to certain healthcare options.
Measures to prohibit trans girls from participating in girls’ sports, prohibit teachers from using pronouns that match a student’s gender identity, and require trans people to use the bathroom according to their assigned sex are also included in this year’s legislative agenda, which is unprecedented in both number and scope.
Gender and sexuality issues are increasingly being debated in U.S. classrooms, courts, and political campaigns, prompting the aggressive legislative push. Before the 2024 election for the White House, Republicans, including the former President Donald Trump, have supported restricting transgender rights. Transgender advocates are concerned that this move will harm transgender children.
Jay Richards, a senior research fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, said, “This issue will be a national debate in the next presidential election.” It actually benefits politics if Republicans in the relevant states handle this properly.
Although Richards stated that some bills, such as those seeking criminal liability for doctors and parents, might be “overly draconian,” the think tank backs the legislation that has been proposed in several states.
According to Erin Reed, Alejandra Caraballo, and Allison Chapman, a trio of transgender rights advocates tracking the legislation, Republicans have introduced more than 300 bills in 33 states aiming to limit transgender and wider lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) rights this year. This is more than double the number of such bills filed in 2022.
This year, in addition to the usual legislative efforts to ban sports and bathrooms, the goal of 97 bills in 27 states is to ban gender-affirming care.
Treatments that fall under the umbrella of gender-affirming care include hormone therapy, puberty blockers, and, in extremely rare instances, surgery for transgender minors. Medical associations claim that such healthcare can save lives and label the bills transphobic.
Even though federal courts blocked bans passed in Arkansas in 2021 and Alabama in 2022, transgender children and their parents have testified against the proposed legislation in many states, describing how gender-affirming care changed their lives and fearing the impact of the bills.
However, a lot of people who oppose transgender rights think that the sex that is assigned at birth cannot be changed, and they also don’t trust the opinions of medical associations that focus on pediatrics, endocrinology, and mental health. They argue that the government needs to step in to stop parents and doctors from causing long-term harm to children.
Gender-affirming care bans that were passed by state legislatures this year have already been signed into law by governors in Utah and South Dakota.
While measures in Tennessee and Texas would classify it as abuse under family law, bills in Idaho, Missouri, and Wyoming would make providing such care a felony.
On Monday, the Republican-led Senate of Tennessee approved a bill that would prevent doctors from providing gender-affirming care to anyone under the age of 18.
Advocates for transgender people contend that such actions are punitive, particularly in light of the difficulty of obtaining treatment due to financial constraints, a lack of family support, or difficulty locating a provider.
Chase Strangio, an ACLU lawyer who has litigated against the laws in Arkansas and Alabama, stated, “The idea that we have a social contagion encouraging people to be trans in a climate that is this hostile to trans people is so unbelievably offensive.”
According to a data analysis conducted by health technology company Komodo Health Inc. in conjunction with Reuters last year, fewer than 15% of the 121,884 minors who were diagnosed with gender dysphoria between 2017 and 2021 received puberty blockers or hormone therapy. This amounts to an average of approximately 3,500 patients per year.
