West Virginia’s Republican-majority Legislature passed a bill Friday banning health care for transgender minors in the state, joining a growing national trend of anti-transgender legislation and rhetoric in largely red states.
The state Senate bill is headed to the desk of Republican Gov. Jim Justice, who has not taken a public stance on the legislation — making it unclear if it will be signed into law. The bill follows more than a dozen states that have restricted or considered restricting access to gender-affirming care for youth, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
GOP lawmakers across the nation have alleged that gender-affirming treatments are medically unproven and could have dangerous long-term effects, calling it a symptom of “woke” culture. But gender-affirming care for youth has been supported by every major medical organization in the U.S., including the World Health Organization, American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Psychiatric Association.
West Virginia’s Senate vote came two days after protestors gathered at the state Capitol, where cries of “trans kids matter” were heard from the Senate chamber.
West Virginia is estimated to have more transgender youth per capita than any other state in the nation, according to a 2017 study by UCLA Law’s The Williams Institute.
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‘These kids struggle’: State Senate passes gender-affirming care ban
The bill would ban minors from being prescribed hormone therapy and fully reversible medication for suspending the physical changes of puberty, in addition to outlawing gender-affirming surgery.
Exemptions were added to the bill after Senate Majority Leader Tom Takubo, who is also a physician, cited 17 peer-reviewed studies showing a significant decrease in the rates of suicide ideation and suicide attempts among youth with severe gender dysphoria who have access to medication therapy.
According to research compiled by West Virginia University Medicine physicians, the rate of suicide ideation for transgender youth in West Virginia is three times higher than the rate for all youth in the state.
“These kids struggle, they have incredible difficulties,” Takubo said during a speech on the Senate floor late Friday night.
Under the amended bill, minors need to be diagnosed with severe gender dysphoria by at least two medical or mental health providers to receive access to medication therapy.
Other exceptions for the medication therapy ban include individuals born with a “medically verifiable disorder” and people taking treatments for infection, injury, disease, or disorder that has been “caused by or exacerbated by the performance of gender transition procedures.”
People also can access treatment if they are in “imminent danger of death, or impairment of a major bodily function unless surgery is performed.”
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Wave of anti-transgender legislation
West Virginia’s gender-affirming care ban bill is the latest anti-LGBTQ legislation to be introduced in statehouses across the nation.
More than 425 anti-LGBTQ bills have been introduced this year with more than 175 of those restricting transgender rights, according to the Human Rights Campaign. Four of more than 100 bills preventing transgender youth from accessing health care have already been signed into law.
Last month, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves signed legislation banning transgender youth from receiving gender-affirming health care. The Tennessee House also overwhelmingly passed a ban requiring transgender children to end their current medical treatment by March 2024.
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Contributing: Melissa Brown, Wicker Perlis, and Jeanine Santucci, USA TODAY Network; The Associated Press