Gender-Affirming Care Doesn’t Just Help Trans Youth Survive. It Allows Them to Flourish. (Slate)
By Alexander Chen, Founding Director of the HLS LGBTQ+ Advocacy Clinic
This year, more than half of all U.S. states are considering bills that would ban transgender minors from being able to access gender-affirming health care, being able to participate in school sports consistent with their gender identity, or both. On Tuesday, the Arkansas Legislature overrode the Republican governor’s veto to pass a bill banning gender-affirming care for trans minors. The state already passed a law prohibiting transgender women and girls from participating in school sports. A new bill sponsored by North Carolina Republicans would ban gender-affirming care for children and adults under the age of 21 and compel school officials to report students’ “gender nonconformity” to their parents.
Many doctors, parents, and transgender youth themselves have testified eloquently about how gender-affirming health care and school inclusion save the lives of trans youth by reducing their risk for suicide—and how, conversely, these bills will almost certainly cost lives by sending trans youth the message that society reviles and fears transgender people. These bills are opposed by major sports bodies such as the NCAA as well as every major U.S. medical organization, including the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Endocrine Society.