Idaho House Passes Bill To Criminalize Gender Affirming Care for Trans Youth

thegailygrind.com:

The Idaho House approved legislation Tuesday to make it a felony for a doctor to provide age-appropriate, medically-necessary, best practice gender-affirming care for transgender children.

House Bill 675 would place a ban on surgery, puberty blockers and hormone treatments that are used to assist in gender transition. “It is so disappointing that some politicians in Boise have decided to follow Texas and Alabama down the path of imposing felony criminal penalties upon doctors who are simply doing their jobs,” said Human Rights Campaign State Legislative Director and Senior Counsel Cathryn Oakley in reaction to yesterday’s vote. “By making it impossible for doctors to provide care for their patients, transgender youth are denied the age-appropriate, best practice, medically-necessary, gender-affirming care that a new study just found reduces the risk of moderate or severe depression by 60% and suicidality by 73%.” “Every kid in Idaho deserves the chance to grow up feeling safe and respected for who they are.

Denying someone medically-necessary health care simply because you don’t approve of who they are is textbook discrimination.

Decisions about what kind of care is appropriate for young people should be left up to the young person and their parents, in consultation with health care professionals, not by politicians looking to score political points at the expense of the well-being of transgender youth.