Transgender Youth Medical Care Bans

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Called to Move

A close look at the so-called Vulnerable Children Protection Act, HB-1365/SB1864, otherwise more appropriately known as the Transgender Youth Medical Care Bans, and what this bill means to the mental and emotional welfare of genderdysphoric youth who wish to receive gender-affi rming medical care, made illegal by the bill.

STORY BY

KRISIE BELL BSN, RN

It takes enormous courage to live unapologetically true to oneself. Likewise, the decision to transition to a gender other than the one assigned at birth is not one that is taken lightly by either the parents or the child. According to Stacy B., the mother of a transgender 17-year-old male, parenting a transgender child is a “long and complicated journey – and certainly not one that any parent would choose to hurdle. Ultimately, it is a commitment of love, respect, and acceptance for my child.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conducted the Youth Risk Behavioral Survey in 2017, which revealed that approximately 1.8% of youth identify as transgender. Alarmingly, the survey also recognized that transgender youth have a profoundly higher risk of depression, suicide attempts (>40%), and sexual victimization when compared to their cisgender peers. Although this survey was conducted in only ten states and nine large urban school districts across the U.S., it clearly supports a public health interest that should be further explored. HB-1365/SB-1864 was fi led in January 2020 by the Bill’s sponsors, Senator Dennis Baxley (Republican, 12th District) and House Representative Anthony Sabatini (Republican, 32nd District). Succinctly, this bill cites that any medical services provided by a licensed healthcare professional “for the purpose of affirming the minor’s perception of the minor’s sex, if that perception is inconsistent with the minor’s sex, commits a felony of the second degree.” Additionally, a felony conviction would result in a loss of their medical license for providing medical services that aid a transgender teen (under the age of 18) in gender affirmation care. Sadly, this bill is not unlike other present-day legislation fi led in other conservative states, including Kentucky, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Missouri, Colorado, West Virginia, and South Carolina.

Collectively referred to as Transgender Youth Medical Care Bans, Florida’s HB-1365/SB-1864 has been guilefully titled the Vulnerable Children Protection Act. Advocates for transgender medical care bans on minors proclaim that they are acting in the youth’s best interest, as they deem them not mature enough to comprehend the fi nality of their choices. Likewise, in an exclusive interview with Embrace Magazine, Senator Dennis Baxley has said that children need protection from “issues that the parents have, and imposed into that situation – they have to be protected from their own family in that setting.” Baxley goes on to reference the infamous scenario in Texas in which divorced parents disagreed on whether their 7-year-old child, born a male, was indeed a transgender female.

Opposingly, critics of this type of legislation cite the policy statements of professional medical associations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Endocrine Society. These medical organizations state that gender-affi rmative care that aligns with best medical practices should be provided to serious candidates, so long as it takes into consideration the individual’s physical and cognitive development. Not surprisingly, according to the AAP, prohibiting transgender youth from receiving hormone treatments has been shown to be detrimental to transgender youth’s mental health – yet those who underwent treatment to suppress puberty were less likely to ever consider suicide.

HB-1365 and SB-1864 were withdrawn from consideration in March 2020 due to the shortened legislative session resulting from the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, however it remains unclear if Senator Baxley and House Representative Sabatini will pursue the bill next session. In the end, LGBT supporters must insist that best practice medical care not be restrained because of the conservative anti-LGBT agenda looking forward. Fortunately, advocacy does not require picketing or organized marches; Letters written to politicians expressing your viewpoint, or joining advocacy groups, can go a long way toward the cause. Please visit advocacy organization websites, such as the Trevor Project and Equality Florida Action, Inc., for ways to support transgender youth – and prevent harmful legislation, such as HB-1365 and SB-1864, from being passed in the future. — KRISIE BELL has been a Registered Nurse in the Ocala area for nearly two decades. She is currently obtaining her Doctor of Nursing Practice degree through the University of Central Florida, and hopes to eventually specialize as a Primary Care practitioner for LGBT adults. She is married to her best friend, Andrew, and they share a blended (and chaotic) family of eight.

“We are not what other people say we are. We are who we know ourselves to be, and we are what we love.”

– Laverne Cox, transgender Hollywood actress

WHAT DO THE EXPERTS SAY?

The American Association of Pediatrics believes that youth who identify as transgender should “have access to comprehensive, gender-affi rming, and developmentally appropriate health care that is provided in a safe and inclusive clinical space.”

The Endocrine Society has announced their position on medical interventions for transgender and individuals as the standard of care, including hormone therapy and medically indicated surgery.

Stephen Rosenthal, Medical Director of the Child and Adolescent Gender Center at the University of California San Francisco, states there is ample research supporting the reduction or resolution of mental health comorbidities in gender-dysphoric youth who receive gender-affi rming medical care.