Idaho’s ban on gender-affirming care for adolescents was overturned last week by a federal judge in BOISE. On January 1st of the new year, that regulation was scheduled to go into effect.
- The parents of Eve Devitt, a trans activist in Idaho, were interviewed by Idaho News 6’s Michael Deviatt. He related the story of his family.
- Although the injunction was successful, Michael claims that there is still much work to be done regarding the moratorium because Idaho’s attorney general has stated that the state may appeal the decision.
(The full broadcast story is transcribed in the paragraphs that follow.)
Eve is awesome, whip-smart, and a very devoted friend, according to Michael Devitt.
Devitt describes his child Eve using these initial adjectives.
Devitt told Idaho News 6, “Her transgender identity is the least exciting thing about her, yet it’s the thing that our government and our governor have decided to sort of break her down into.”
Eve is a trans Idaho activist who has strongly opposed House Bill 71, which would have made it illegal to provide minors in Idaho with gender-affirming treatment.
The State’s Trans community won last year. The bill’s policy was halted by a federal judge on January 1st, when it would have become law.
Related: A federal judge in Idaho lifts the ban on gender-affirming treatment for minors.
Eve is now 18 years old, so the new law wouldn’t have had a significant impact on her. However, she received gender-affirming medical treatment in the state when she was a minor.
Michael remarked about the law’s injunction, “My reaction was well, of course. The law is very clear. One party cannot be disadvantaged over another simply because you dislike them.”
Judge B. Lynn Winmill ruled that Idaho violated the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause by depriving citizens of access to healthcare based solely on their gender identity.
Ral Labrador, the solicitor general of Idaho and a defendant in the case, challenges the decision. Yet comparing this decision to federal court decisions regarding the eugenics movements in the 1920s, he claims that these treatments are dangerous to Idaho’s youth.
“Judge Winmill’s decision puts kids at risk of permanent injury. This decision will not age well,” Labrador wrote in a statement last week.
The common criticism of gender-affirming care for minors is that children may wait until they are adults to make these decisions about their bodies.
Michael claims that in some situations, including those involving his family, it’s a life-or-death choice.
Like efforts and instances of suicide, suicide rates for children who are not given access to gender-affirming treatment are incredibly high, according to Michael.
According to research from the American Academy of Pediatrics, when trans and non-binary youth receive gender-affirming care over the course of a 12-month period, their rates of moderate to severe depression decline by 60% and suicidality by 73%, respectively.
Though his child is no longer a minor, Michael claims that he and his family will continue to fight for the cause.
“Even though Eve is now 18 years old,” Michael said, “we’re in this for the long haul. Neither Eve nor we have a problem with that. We will use every resource at our disposal to fight for children who are not our children but very well could have been if the circumstances had been different.”
