Three Republican lawmakers in North Carolina this week filed a controversial bill banning doctors from performing gender reassignment surgery for transgender youth under the age of 21.
Senate Bill 514, tabled Monday by state legislators Ralph Hise, Warren Daniel and Norman Sanderson, would make it illegal for people under 21 to receive transitional health care. The bill replaces the North Carolina law that designates people over the age of 18 as adults and is able to act without the consent of their parents.
The bill also requires civil servants to notify parents immediately in writing if their children show a “non-matching gender or otherwise show a desire to be treated in a way that is inconsistent with the gender of the minor. “SB 514 goes on to prevent doctors from offering sex reassignment hormone treatment, puberty blockers or surgery to transgender people under 21. All three senators did not respond to Yahoo News’ request for comment.
Critics of the bill call it part of a “coordinated attack” on youth across the country.
“The real goal is to drive people out of public life and non-binary people,” North Carolina ACLU executive director Chantal Stevens said in a statement to Yahoo News.
“This year, we see more than 100 pieces of legislation, including bills, aimed at youth and transgender people,” Raquel Willis, a black transgender activist and author, told Yahoo News. “These bills are policing the trans community similarly to other legislation that marginalizes other populations that include black and colored lives.”
Under the bill, medical professionals treating trans patients under the age of 21 who are in a way inconsistent with a “conflict with the sex of the minor” may be subject to fines and the loss of their medical license.
At least 24 states have introduced bills banning transgender girls from participating in sports this year, according to the ACLU. In Kansas, lawmakers are likely to pass such a bill this month, but LGBT advocates hope Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly, or perhaps the courts, will reverse such a ban.
“We want to protect all female athletes, K, through college,” said GOP Senator Renee Erickson, the main sponsor of the bill and a former basketball player.
Including SB 514, 16 states have introduced bills banning sex affirmative care of trans youth.
“Not only are these bills rooted in lies, hatred and anxieties, but they also intrude on the private interactions between each of us and our medical providers,” Stevens said.
Nearly 2 percent of all youth nationwide identify themselves as transgender, according to the Trevor Project, the world’s largest organization for suicide prevention and crisis intervention for LGBTQ youth. And overall, transgender youth report higher rates of depression, suicide, and victimization than young men. Just in 2018, one in three transgender youths reported suicide attempts. Bills like SB 514 exacerbate these issues further, say advocates of trans and queer.
“SB514 is an extreme and dangerous bill,” Casey Pick, senior fellow for advocacy and government affairs at the Trevor project, told Yahoo News. “Denying medically essential care and turning the school into a place where transgender and non-binary youths cannot trust the adults around them to act in their best interests will only contribute to social isolation and stigma, which can contribute to suicide risk. “
On Tuesday, Arkansas became the first state to ban sex reassignment treatments or surgeries for transgender youth under 18, despite Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a Republican, who knew the bill the day before and said it was “going too far.” The legislature violated the governor’s veto.
“The bill is broad, extreme and does not exclude the young people who are currently on hormone treatment,” Hutchinson said. “In other words, the young people who are currently under a doctor’s care will be without treatment when this law comes into force.”
Advocates for transgender say enough is enough.
“Gender-based health care is life-saving care and the ban on care will have devastating and in some cases fatal consequences,” Ann C. Webb, senior policy adviser to the American Civil Liberties Union in North Carolina, told Yahoo News.
“These bills send a heartbreaking message to the transgender youth who are watching in fear throughout our country,” she added. “Trans youth are loved, they are seen, and we will never stop fighting to defend their dignity, their rights and lives.”
Lillian Lennon, a transgender activist, was 14 when her parents sent her from Alaska to Utah for two years of successful treatment.
“Trans people live among you, we are like you and unlike you, and we deserve the basic rights that the rest of our community offers,” Lennon told Yahoo News. ‘I know first-hand what it’s like to be a trans teenager without support, protection and reluctantly spending with my friends and family. It feels hopeless. But there is hope, and we can do better by strengthening our LGBTQ + youth by our communities and resources, not by tearing them apart. ”
SB 514 must first be heard in committee before being brought to the floor of the North Carolina General Assembly for a final vote. Another bill, HB 358, which would ban transgender girls and women from athletics, will be heard next Wednesday. If one of the bills becomes legal, the ACLU and its partners will try to stop it with legal action.
Meanwhile, Democrats are urging to expand the rights of transgender youth.
Democrats in North Carolina on Tuesday tabled four bills aimed at increasing protection, which include a full repeal of House Bill 2, or the state’s ‘bathroom bill’ passed in 2016 and partially repealed a year later . Progressive lawmakers are also urging to ban gay conversion treatment.
Democrats across the state say they are hopeful that they, along with Republicans, can work to ensure transgender youth are positioned for success and not set for failure.
“I believe we, regardless of the party, can come together to protect our children,” said Senator Natasha Marcus, a Democrat.
Trans-activists believe it is the task of legislators to facilitate the trans youth, not more difficult.
“Our research shows that half of all transgender and non-binary youths who wanted mental health care in the past year could not get it, and one in three said they did not feel a provider would change their sexual orientation or gender identity. do not understand, “Casey Pick of the Trevor project said. “Therefore, legislators should expand opportunities and support services for this group and not make life more difficult than it already is.”
Cover Thumbnail Illustration: Yahoo News; Photos: Drew Angerer / Getty Images, David Silverman / Getty Images
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