New state bills restrict transgender health care — for adults

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Patricia Marie Allen's picture

Republican state Sen. Jack Johnson stood on the Tennessee Senate floor last month to open the discussion on a bill he is co-sponsoring. The measure would limit gender-affirming care such as puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgeries for minors.

“Let’s put children first and look out for them first and let them make those decisions as adults,” he said. “I support your right to do so, when you’re an adult, not when you’re a child and you do not have the mental capacity to do so.”

But Johnson is also backing another bill, HB1215, that would effectively cut off access to gender-affirming care for low-income people, including adults. The measure prohibits Tennessee’s Medicaid program from working with health insurance companies that cover gender-affirming care.

As of late February, Republican lawmakers in at least five states have introduced legislation that would limit such care for adults. Until this year, most proposed restrictions on transition-related care targeted people under 18. Some of the new measures prohibit it for individuals up to age 21, while others block Medicaid from covering for it for all ages.

“It’s interesting that initially we heard that this was a thing to protect youth, but now we are seeing that it’s really about all transgender people,” Rep. Gloria Johnson (D-Knoxville) said while HB1215 was being discussed on Feb. 21 in the Tennessee House.

“Last year, the rhetoric was to protect kids, but now they are going after adults,” said Allison Chapman, a legislative researcher and transgender rights advocate based in Virginia.

In Oklahoma, House Republicans also approved a bill Tuesday that would prohibit any facility that receives public funds from offering gender-affirming care for minors or adults, as well as blocking insurance coverage for it. Another bill would make it a felony for a physician to provide transition-related hormone treatments or surgeries to anyone under the age of 26. In Kansas and Mississippi, legislators wanted to ban gender-affirming care for people up to age 21. In South Carolina, a measure would block the state’s Medicaid program from covering any transition-related medications or procedures.

Tennessee Rep. Tim Rudd (R-Murfreesboro), who supports HB1215, said on Feb. 21 that the bill was not making transgender health care illegal because people could still obtain it privately. Instead, it was “simply taking away a service” that does not align with the “values of most Tennesseans.”

But Angel Luci Pellegrino, a 38-year-old transgender man based in Chattanooga, Tenn., said the measure, if passed, would probably end his access to gender-affirming care. “My doctor informed me that if this bill passes, insurance will no longer cover my medicines, my doctor’s appointments and my laboratory tests,” he said, adding that he is on disability and “can’t afford private health care.”

Transgender advocates said the push to extend restrictions to those over 18 should not come as a surprise. They view bans on gender-affirming care for minors as part of a broader attack on transgender rights.

“Both kinds of legislation [for minors and adults] are equally detrimental for the overall health of trans people,” Chapman said. “First, we were fighting for the kids; now we will fight for ourselves.”

Terry Schilling, president of the conservative American Principles Project, said his organization wants gender-transition procedures for minors and adults to be unthinkable in the future. “I want transition care to be thought of as horrific medical practices that happened in the past,” he said.

Focusing on protecting children first was obvious, according to Schilling, because “they are so vulnerable.” But when it comes to adults, he said, he doesn’t want to ban gender transition care but rather use the threat of malpractice suits to discourage health-care providers from offering it. He said he wants to make it so that “anyone who is forced into these surgeries can become a millionaire later.”

The American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, the Endocrine Society and other major medical organizations oppose restrictions on gender-affirming care. The American Academy of Pediatrics released a statement in August that called such care “medically necessary and appropriate” for some minors and criticized the “rampant disinformation” spread by those seeking restrictions.

Supporters of bans on gender-affirming care for youths have argued that minors are not capable of making decisions about gender transition, even though those decisions are made with parents and health-care providers. They cite the potential long-term effects of and possible regret over treatments such as taking hormones and breast-removal surgery. Some legislators argue that the concerns about adolescent judgment also apply to young adults.

Oklahoma state Rep. Jim Olsen (R), who wrote a bill that prohibits health-care professionals from providing referrals for puberty blockers, hormones and gender-transition surgeries to trans youths and adults up to the age of 21, said he wanted to match the age limit for drinking alcohol.

“It’s a very big, big decision, so people are realizing that you should be older when you make it,” Olsen said. The legislator also wrote a bill to lower the minimum age to carry a firearm from 21 to 18.

Olsen is aware that Republican legislators in Oklahoma introduced three bills last year to restrict transition care, two focused on adolescents and minors and one aimed at restricting gender assignment medical treatment until age 21. All three bills were dead by May. But he said his measure is likely to have more support because House and Senate leaders and the governor are more favorable toward it than for previous efforts. “All this gives us cause for hope,” he said.

So far, Republican legislators in four states have passed bans on gender-affirming care for minors: Utah and Mississippi this year and Arkansas and Alabama last year. (Utah, Mississippi and Arkansas define minors as under 18, while in Alabama, a minor is under 19.) The laws in Arkansas and Alabama are tied up in court. In Florida, the state Board of Medicine has approved a ban on gender-affirming care for minors, and the state no longer allows Medicaid to cover it for anyone, regardless of age.

The Endocrine Society has called the Florida ban on gender-affirming care for minors “blatantly discriminatory” and said it “contradicts medical evidence.” Major medical groups have also filed an amicus brief in support of Medicaid recipients in Florida who are challenging the state’s ban on Medicaid coverage for gender-affirming care in court. Despite the lawsuit, a judge has allowed the policy to take effect.

Transgender advocates say laws that prohibit or limit access to gender-affirming treatments will probably require transgender people to stop or delay transition-related care.

“A transgender woman who is cut off from her hormones may experience facial hair, increased testosterone and a deepening voice,” said Erin Reed, a D.C. area researcher who tracks transgender legislation. “This could be deeply traumatic for her.”

In Tennessee, Pellegrino is watching what is happening at the state Capitol with growing apprehension.

A suicide survivor, he said he can’t imagine how it will feel if the state “forces him out of transitioning.”

With his limited resources, he said, he can’t afford to leave Tennessee. So he is searching for a legal recourse to access gender-affirming care in case the bill becomes law.

“Transitioning was not a cosmetic procedure for me; it was lifesaving treatment,” he said. “I am in a really dark place with this news right now.”

Hugs
Patricia

Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
Ich bin eine Mann

Not Going to Set Well with Some

BarbieLee's picture

For all those who have been tossed to the wolves by the laws our politicians are trying to pass, there are alternatives. Many of the nations I once purchased hormones from have stopped shipping due to threats from the U.S. gov. There is also Canada if one can get a prescription or Mexico if one has connections or drive across the border they will sell hormones without a prescription. Be diligent and DO NOT send a money order or any funds which may not be retrieved. The con artists have grown exponentially in the last fifty years. I haven't done it but think of a reshipper if one must. A shipping company in the nation one wishes to purchase hormones picks up the order and reships it. If one is paying more than fifty dollars for a five ml vial of injectible estradiol, four cents for sublinqual estradiol tablets, etc. then keep searching. For all my sisters in kind, I have not purchased hormones overseas in ten years. The last time I tried I met up with nothing but con artists. I didn't need the hormones but was testing for research if it was still as easy as it once was and still safe. The answer is no!

Responded to a very nice lady who was working with me on designing and placing a headstone on my grave site. I met the lady in person. We exchanged email later as I needed to send to her the location and authority to place the marker.

> Barbie,
> I am a little slow at times. After reading your email again. I understand what you have been saying in ALL your emails now. (I thought you were interjecting excerpts from some of your writings). As I said, I can be a little slow.
> I pray that you will find God's peace in this life. We will proceed with the addendum to your life and let you know when it is placed in the cemetery.
> My apologies for not being more perceptive in your earlier emails.
>
> God Bless you,
> Brenda

Brenda
There is nothing to forgive. You didn't say or do anything wrong either in person nor any any of your emails. Unless you have been studying the Scientific Medical Journals, your perception of those like me is wrong. Bad news sells, really risque news sells even better and that is what the tabloids and most all news articles publishes about transgender. They take pictures of the most outrageous, write stories about the voyeurs, killers, and the worse they can find. The majority of those people aren't transgender. They found a niche where they can walk into women's restrooms, dressing rooms, gyms and claim they are female, one of the women. The boys and men joining in women's sports are no more transgender than my goats. They couldn't make it in men's sports so they call themselves transgender and start taking scholarships, ribbons, medals, and sports endorsements away from genetic girls and women. One of the few things I agree with Gov Stitt on is those with M on their birth certificate can not compete in women's sports nor enter girls or women's areas where privacy is the normal.

Transgender is or it isn't. One can't be transitioned to trans if they aren't. It can't be removed if they are. As easy as it is for everyone to see and know there is a difference between males and females in their body and the way they think; yet society as a whole can't comprehend anything other than male and female. Even though they accept those with birth defects they see as human. I hesitate to call transgender a birth defect but it seems the only way to get people to comprehend. Dr. Shadid looked at me and told my parents I was a boy. He didn't ask me my opinion. In the almost billion things that must go right for the sperm and egg to make a perfect girl or perfect boy, sometimes things don't go according to the design plan. Females and males are different and so is the design structure of their brains. It's why females think and act different than males. Very rarely does the blueprint for making a boy or girl go wrong but it happens and the wrong brain gets inserted into the wrong body on the assembly line. I happened to be one of the lucky ones. Not a life I would wish on my worse enemy. Eighty two percent of transgender have considered suicide. Over forty percent have attempted suicide. Thirty one percent commit suicide in this smallest minority. Those numbers will go up. Gov Stitt along with several other governors have made it illegal to support transgender individuals either medically or professionally with psychiatric help. And I thought growing up in the fifties was tough. Thank God I'm ex military. All my doctors, and medicines are Federal and not restricted by what laws Oklahoma or any state passes.

You've been most kind and courteous and treated me with respect. The odds of you meeting another one is pretty thin. There aren't that many of us. We are less than zero point six percent of the population. However if you do you will probably never know. We are doctors, lawyers, husbands, wives, sons, and daughters. We are electricians, mechanics, scientists, engineers, NASA scientist, movie stars, and the family next door. Despite what is wrote or said about us, the only thing most of us want is to be ourselves and be a part of society.

Hugs Brenda, thanks for understanding and taking care of my wish as the girl finishes this life.
Barb
When we finally know and understand everything, we realize we know nothing.

Oklahoma born and raised cowgirl

Grrrrrrrrr

How can ANYONE proudly call themself a Republican?

Some of my best friends over the last seven decades once called themselves Republicans. My spouses uncle was Republican Majority leader of our state house. One of my best friends and business partner was a Republican governor.

Yet - I don't know anyone today who is a Republican who doesn't either disavow their membership or strongly qualify it with "Not the Republicans of today."

I believe in small government. I believe in conservative fiscal policies! I believe in individual rights. I believe most issues should be handled at the state level.

I don't believe in banning books. I don't believe in telling women what they can do with their bodies. I don't believe in turning our backs on people in need. I don't believe people have the right to own weapons designed for war.

And, I believe trans people have the same basic rights as all other people, no matter their age.

My beliefs are not far left. They are middle of the road. Republicans are in the far right of the ditch.

If you get your news on FOX and have not kept up on the Dominion case, you probably aren't aware how FOX has publicly admitted to a corporate climate of lying for ratings.

Tucker has been transphobic for years.

What will it take to get you to understand that the Republican party and FOX have you in their assault rifle sights?

Jill

Angela Rasch (Jill M I)

By Liberal Definition

BarbieLee's picture

Jill, you know I love you hon but the 2nd is there to protect me from people who wish to hurt me. I've been threatened by individuals with guns. I never was frightened. That assault weapon is always three tenths of a second from protecting me and or my livestock. AND for me to protect people like you.
I have been carrying assault weapons for over sixty years according to liberal definition. As I write this one is on my hip now. As far as I know, in all the years I've carried no one seemed threatened or intimidated by me. Even in the big cities it isn't always in my purse. Quite the opposite as I've received a lot of positive comments.

The CDC removed stats on defensive gun use over pressure Dec 15, 2022 · The stats sourced from a CDC-commissioned study finding that instances of defensive gun use occur between 60,000 and 2.5 million times a year.

If you would, read about some of the instances women, men, kids are still alive because they had a gun. https://www.nraila.org/gun-laws/armed-citizen/ These are the stories the liberal news won't print because it doesn't fit the narrative they want. The gunman who killed three people in a shopping mall near Indianapolis would likely have taken many more lives if not for the "heroic" actions of an armed bystander who shot the suspect dead and stopped the attack, police said

The real definition of an assault weapon. An assault rifle is a rapid-fire, magazine-fed rifle designed for military use. It is a shoulder-fired weapon that allows the shooter to select between semi-automatic (requiring you pull the trigger for each shot), fully automatic (hold the trigger and the gun continuously fires) or three-shot-burst modes. By definition, an “assault rifle” generally refers to a military weapon that is fully automatic. A firearm designed to feed cartridges, fire them, eject their empty cases and repeat this cycle as long as the trigger is depressed and cartridges remain in the feed system.

When Constitutional Carry was passed in Oklahoma liberals cried the state would turn into Dodge City again with gunfights on every corner. CDC Data Shows Constitutional Carry States Have Fewer Total and Gun-Related Homicides. The Democratic controlled states and cities with the most stringent gun laws have the highest number of gun violence and homicides.

Love how did this blog get away from transgender rights, and transgender being regulated by politicians to a non person? You believe in individual rights but not the right to carry an assault weapon. No one in any of the mass killings by individuals in the U.S. has been killed by an assault weapon. That's a fully automatic gun. If one wanted to own one of those they would have to promise their family and their first born to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms. Toss in they would probably have to be someone's sex slave the rest of their life. Or purchase one from the Mexican Drug Cartels.
Love you Jill
Barb
This is what our forefathers wrote when considering the Second Amendment
https://www.buckeyefirearms.org/gun-quotations-founding-fathers

Oklahoma born and raised cowgirl

Don't Misquote Me

I said assault "rifle" and "weapons designed for war."

If you had shown me where blue states are passing anti trans legislation are even trying to pass anti trans legislation you would have been making a point.

You can't and didn't.

My state is passing legislation to be a safe haven for trans in the sea of Republican hate. Google Minnesota safe haven trans .

It really is that simple.

Jill

Angela Rasch (Jill M I)

This is just blatant discrimination…….

D. Eden's picture

And hate mongering by a minority of idiots who have no clue what they are speaking about.

Rather than dealing with the known and proven scientific and medical facts, they make up misinformation and create false truths to support their beliefs.

And how can anyone realistically think an 18 year old is mature enough to purchase and own a firearm, but not mature enough to determine that they are truly suffering from gender incongruency? At 18 you can vote, you can serve in the military - even be drafted, but you can’t determine your own medical future?

This is scary, and it makes me glad that I live in New York State. This is also why even though I previously worked in SC and NC, I maintained my residence in New York. It is why I commute weekly from New York State to Pennsylvania rather than move permanently. I would rather drive 280 miles one way to my office, spend the week in a townhouse which I rent, and then drive back to New York for my weekends than move to a place where my rights, civil and medical, are not protected.

We are truly pilgrims in an unholy land.

D. Eden

Dum Vivimus, Vivamus

Intolerance

Pick a state, pick a party, everywhere you look somebody is trying to abridge our rights. And every one insists they are interpreting the Constituation correctly. Can't even count on the Supreme Court's "interpretation" anymore, they (the justices) vote their party or their religion, or something else equally prone to second-guessing. Robert Heinlein once said "No civilization has survived past the point the masses discover they can vote themselves bread and circuses." And if whats going on now isn't a circus I don't know what else to call it.

Do I have a solution? Sorta. It's for everybody to mind their own effing business! Another quote from Heinlein, "An armed society is a safe society." Maybe not always, but what we have now isn't working. One thing I'm pretty sure of, those trying to restrict LGBTQI+ rights aren't afraid of being held accountable for their actions. Yeah, I know, I know, this way lies anarchy. Anymore, I'm begining to think so what? Nothing else seems to be working, and there don't seem to be any answers left in my magic 8-ball.

No matter what, in a year or so it won't matter anymore to me. I wish the rest of you luck.


"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin