Chris Lieberman, FISM News
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Wednesday marked a major victory for opponents of so-called “gender-affirming care” for minors, with legislation in West Virginia and Kentucky becoming law on Wednesday that would ban the practice for children under 18.
AMENDMENT MAY NEUTER WEST VIRGINIA LAW
In West Virginia, Republican Gov. Jim Justice signed House Bill 2007, which bans the use of puberty blockers and hormonal therapy for minors. The law also prohibits gender reassignment surgery for anyone under 18.
The law passed both houses of West Virginia’s legislature earlier this month. However, the bill’s final version included an amendment introduced by West Virginia Senate Majority Leader Tom Takubo (R) that could severely hamper its effectiveness.
Takubo’s amendment applies to minors exhibiting severe gender dysphoria diagnosed by at least two physicians when it is believed that the patient is at risk of suicide or self-harm. Under those circumstances, with parental consent doctors may prescribe hormonal therapy at the lowest possible dosage. The rule does not apply to children who have not yet hit puberty.
“These kids struggle. They have incredible difficulties,” Takubo, a pulmonologist, said on the Senate floor earlier this month. “When it comes to medical stuff, I listen to the medical community.”
Due to Takubo’s amendment, some expect the bill to have little impact on teens’ abilities to receive treatment, claiming these conditions could apply to most patients.
“Nobody is just starting somebody on these hormones when they’re a kid without getting psychiatry input,” Dr. Kimberly Becher, a West Virginia physician, told the Mountain State Spotlight. “There’s already a behavioral health and a medical provider involved no matter what.”
KENTUCKY LAWMAKERS OVERRIDE GOVERNOR’S VETO
Meanwhile in Kentucky, Republicans in the legislature successfully overrode Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s veto of Senate Bill 150 on Wednesday. A Senate supermajority voted 29-8 for the override, as did the House by a vote of 76-23.
In addition to banning gender reassignment surgery, hormonal therapy, and puberty blockers for minors, Kentucky’s law prohibits the discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in schools with students of all ages, requires students to use bathrooms consistent with their biological sex, and allows teachers to refuse to use a student’s preferred name and pronouns. It also requires doctors to de-transition any patients under 18 who have begun medical gender transition.
The veto override was met with massive protests at the House gallery, with Kentucky State Police reporting that nineteen people were arrested Wednesday and charged with third-degree criminal trespassing.
Opponents of the bill framed the issue as a civil rights violation, with Democratic Rep. Sarah Stalker saying, “Kentucky will be on the wrong side of history.”
But David Walls, executive director of the Family Foundation, hailed the veto as a victory, saying in a statement, “Today’s vote to override Gov. Beshear’s veto of SB 150 is a win for children and their parents in Kentucky. SB 150 will protect the lives of Kentucky children by setting policy in alignment with the truth that every child is created as a male or female and deserves to be loved, treated with dignity, and accepted for who they really are.”
Kentuckians overwhelmingly support SB 150’s commonsense student privacy protections in restrooms and locker rooms, along with the right of parents to have a say in their child’s education. The off-label use of puberty blockers, along with cross-sex hormones and surgery, in experimental gender ‘transitions’ has no place in children’s healthcare – the irreversible harms that de-transitioners have suffered testify to that.
AROUND THE US
West Virginia and Kentucky now join the list of 11 states that have enacted bans on gender reassignment surgeries, hormonal therapies, and puberty blockers for minors, a list that also includes Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa, Mississippi, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Utah.
Opponents of the laws in both West Virginia and Kentucky have vowed legal action to block their implementation. Federal judges in Alabama and Arkansas have already blocked their states’ bans.