Republican Kansas legislators approved in the early hours of Friday a plan to put an end to gender-affirming care for transgender minors, culminating a week of intense efforts to reverse LGBTQ+ rights as is the case in other states with legislatures controlled by the Republican Party.
The Kansas House of Representatives passed 70 votes once morest 52 a bill that forces the state medical board to revoke the license of doctors who provide gender-affirming care to minors, even though many professionals who treat trans youth consider such care vital to protecting their mental health and preventing suicide . The Senate gave the green light to the measure by 23 votes in favor and 12 once morest. The law will now go to the governor, Democrat Laura Kelly.
It is expected that kelly go away law following last month he promised LGBTQ+ youth that he would protect their rights and reject any measure “that seeks to harm or discriminate once morest them.” Supporters of the measure fell short of the two-thirds majority in both chambers that would have prevented a veto.
LGBTQ+ rights advocates believe there is a nationwide effort to remove transgender, non-binary, gender non-conforming, or gender fluid people from American society, at least legally.
What is the panorama in the US regarding trans childhoods?
Others 13 states have enacted laws once morest gender-affirming care for minors, although federal judges have blocked its application in Alabama and Arkansas. So far this year, Republican lawmakers have filed several hundred bills across the country once morest LGBTQ+ rights.
Supporters of the ban in Kansas say they seek to protect minors from medical care that has side effects and cannot be reversed, saying only adults — not the child’s parent — can consent to the treatment.
Treatments outlined in the bill include puberty-blocking drugs and hormone therapy. While the initiative would not prevent trans youth from receiving psychiatric counseling or therapy, it does affect acts performed or “causing” acts “to affirm the child’s perception of sex” if it differs from the gender assigned at birth.
In the United States, medical treatments for transgender children and adolescents have been available for over a decade and are endorsed by major medical associations.