Republicans continue to isolate and target trans folks whenever possible, including already vulnerable and marginalized trans youth. As Daily Kos continues to cover, we’ve seen a number of conservatives across the nation push anti-trans sports bills aiming to keep trans girls from participating in sports teams that align with their gender identity, and we’ve covered discriminatory bathroom bills for even longer. A more recent—but incredibly disturbing and worrisome—trend of attack is going after safe, age-appropriate, and life-saving gender-affirming care for both trans youth and trans adults.
One recent example comes to us out of Oklahoma, where Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a bill into law on Tuesday attacking gender-affirming care for trans youth. Stitt also encouraged the state legislature to put forward a statewide ban on such care when they return in the winter, as reported by the Associated Press. So, Stitt—and Republicans in Oklahoma, period—have attacked one specific hospital providing care, and their next goal is to eliminate all such care for all constituents.
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What are the details? On Tuesday, Stitt signed Senate Bill 3, a bill banning the federal funds from going to a hospital in his state that provides safe, age-appropriate, gender-affirming to trans youth. This care includes things like hormone therapy, puberty blockers, and gender-affirming surgeries, which don’t typically happen before the age of 18 anyway. The law went into effect immediately upon signing.
The University of Oklahoma Medical Center offers gender-affirming care for people up to 24 years old. But thanks to Stitt, the health care provider was essentially held hostage into no longer providing said care—unless they wanted to sacrifice $39 million in federal COVID-19 relief funds.
"It is wildly inappropriate for taxpayer dollars to be used for condoning, promoting, or performing these types of controversial procedures on healthy children,” Stitt said in part in a statement.
Notably, the federal money wasn’t even going toward gender-affirming care.
Even still, the center released a statement saying it has stopped providing prescriptions for hormones and any gender-affirming surgical procedures for people under 18 since Stitt signed the legislation. Youth are missing out on valuable care, and Stitt still tells himself—and voters—that he’s protecting kids. In reality, every move like this hurts them.
“By signing this bill today,” Stitt added per a statement. “We are taking the first step to protect children from permanent gender transition surgeries and therapies.”
And here’s the thing: Republicans repeat the same fearmongering language every time discussions about trans health care come up. You’ll see words like “permanent” and “mutilation” and “irreversible” and “obscene” and “inappropriate” and “child abuse,” and you’ll likely start to notice the same sort of rhetoric comes up when looking at conservative efforts to ban books and Critical Race Theory… and that’s because demonizing and isolating anyone who is remotely “other” is the Republican baseline, especially around election season. It’s sick, and it’s painfully transparent.
Rep. Mauree Turner, who represents House District 88, called out Stitt’s evil move in a Twitter thread, where they point out in part that: “Our government hasn't just failed us, it is deliberately waging a war on us. And we cannot continue to pretend this is normal.” Whew.
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