In the Montana state legislature last month, Democratic Rep. Zooey Zephyr stood up to oppose a bill banning gender-positive care for transgender youth in Montana. “If you vote YES on this bill and YES on these amendments, the next time the convocation is held, when you bow your head in prayer, you will see blood on your hands. I hope so,” said Zephyr, the first transgender woman to be elected. state legislature. The conservative Montana Freedom Caucus said:Immediate condemnation of transgender lawmaker Zooey ZephyrRepublicans voted to keep her off the floor of the Montana House of Representatives. The American Civil Liberties Union of Montana is currently suing the state for the return of Zephyr.
Zephyr is one of many legislators and transgender advocates across the country who are spearheading efforts to protect access to gender-positive care. So far this year, 49 states have submitted more than 500 anti-trans bills, according to the data collection website Trans Legislation Tracker. Like the anti-abortion movement, “a lot of these movements are just moral panic,” says Alejandra Caraballo, a clinical lecturer at the Harvard Law School Cyberlaw Clinic who tracks transgender law. It “includes mass distortion of medical evidence and outright lies.” [and] operation. ”
In contrast, states such as California, Colorado and Minnesota have passed laws to protect transgender people and their families seeking gender-affirming care. For example, a bill in Colorado allows people from other states to travel to Colorado for this treatment without fear of prosecution.
Many parents of transgender children agree that gender-affirming care is essential. “This is literally lifesaving medicine for children,” says Amber Briggle, mother of a transgender child in Texas who is involved in the ongoing lawsuit against Governor Greg Abbott. Briggle’s family was investigated by the State Department of Family and Protective Services after Mr. Abbott directed it to begin a child abuse investigation into families providing gender-affirming care to children, at least One of 15 people. “I’m fighting not just for my child and my rights, but for all families,” Briggle said.
Numerous studies have shown that gender-affirming care is essential to the health and well-being of transgender people. A study conducted at the Seattle Children’s Hospital Gender Clinic found that such care was associated with a 60 percent lower risk of depression and a 73 percent lower risk of suicidal ideation among transgender youth ages 13 to 20. found.Another study published in pro swan Transgender people who received hormone therapy during puberty were much less likely to experience severe emotional distress in the past month than those who did not receive hormone therapy until adulthood. showed that.
Not only does this care reduce the negative impact on mental health, it also allows transgender people to live their authentic selves and brings incredible joy. “Being transgender can be tough at times, but every day I’m relieved that I don’t have to live as a man…” tweeted Ari Drennan, LGBTQ program director at Media Matters for America. “I can see my life clearly, and how it could have been in more brutal times. I am so grateful I had the choice.”
Briggle’s son is also doing well. The now 15-year-old is one of the school’s most popular kids and a talented musician who plays the cello, ukulele and piano, according to Adam Briggle, the boy’s father and husband of Amber Briggle. and. But his son’s greatest passion is creative writing. “Everything about him is thriving,” says Adam Briggle. “I can’t even imagine if we were saying, ‘No, you’re not who you say you are.'”
These benefits are why major American medical societies such as the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Psychological Association endorse access to gender-affirming care.
Jack Turban, director of the Gender Psychiatry Program at the University of California, San Francisco, said continuing to publish research on the benefits of such care is a necessary step toward evidence-based public policy. I’m here. Mr. Turban has co-authored several studies demonstrating important psychological benefits of gender-positive care, including: pro swan.
But most people don’t spend time reading thick journals, so publishing the data is only part of the battle, he said. Another key component is talking to journalists who can shatter misinformation about transgender people and healthcare, or, as Turban did, writing about the dangers and falsehoods of anti-transgender rhetoric. be. His work has appeared in publications such as: washington post, new york times and Scientific American. “These Republicans have simply repackaged old anti-gay rhetoric and intimidation to target transgender people,” he wrote in his latest opinion piece to CNN.
The number of anti-trans bills has more than doubled since 2022, and many of the battles to protect access to gender-affirming care take place inside the state capitol. For months, Nebraska Democratic state senator Makaela Kavanaugh has been filibustering a bill that would ban doctors from providing gender-affirming procedures and medical care to people under the age of 19. “It’s not the government’s job to be in the doctor’s office,” Kavanaugh said. “I don’t think it’s appropriate for Congress to target minorities and try to ban them from getting health care.”
And anti-trans laws don’t just stop at transgender children. Legislators currently have bills to ban the use of state funds for medical benefits that cover gender-matched care for all ages, or to ban such care for minors, particularly family planning in Tennessee. Targeting trans adult health care through bills calling for clinics. Known as one of “the state’s largest custodians” of adult gender-affirming hormone therapy and other treatments. “Unless we strongly oppose it, I worry that this will become an issue in future presidential campaigns,” says Amber Briggle. “Transgender children are just canaries in a coal mine.”
She would rather spend her time doing normal things, like learning how to grow the best heirloom tomatoes, than continuing to fight an unprecedented flood of anti-trans legislation. But she won’t rest until transgender care is safe. Adam Briggle hopes the day will come when transgender people are seen as normal, fun people.
But Carravallo believes it will be a 10-year battle. She compares the situation to the onslaught of same-sex marriage bans passed in 2004, 11 years before the Supreme Court made same-sex marriage a national right. But she thinks she will succeed in the end. “In the end we will win,” said Carravallo.
