One activist claimed that these hatemongers would gleefully use children’s lives as their social playthings.
West Virginia passed a law on January 1 prohibiting trans adolescents from obtaining gender-affirming services like hormone therapy and puberty blockers.
Gov. Jim Justice (R) signed the bill into law in March. West Virginia joins 22 other states to limit or outlaw transgender youth’s access to life-saving medical care.
Robb Livingood, a transgender lawyer in West Virginia, told Truthout, “Once again, the group that tells us that it is for ‘smaller state’ and is ‘pro-life’ is blocking children from lifesaving care while attempting to ‘play doctor’ from the legislature.” “The fact that the American Psychological Association and numerous medical providers have unanimously condemned these misogynistic proposals means nothing to them. These hatemongers would gleefully use children’s lives as their social creations.
More than 30 top health organizations have endorsed gender-affirming care, and research has shown that such care lowers depression and suicide rates for transgender children.
“Children wouldn’t be obstructing life-saving care if their wellbeing were a consideration. How can a child be ‘too young’ to receive evidence-based suicide prevention?” Livingood told Truthout that these legislators would prefer to see a dead child than one who is healthy, transgender, and alive.
The ban on gender-affirming care is incredibly unpopular. Just two of the 79 attendees at a public hearing in February supported the bill, and in March, trans rights activists gathered outside the state courthouse to oppose the ban.
Ash Orr, a co-founder of the West Virginia Transgender Coalition, stated on social media in March, “It’s time to show our politicians that the LGBTQ+ group of WV did not bear these assaults on our rights and freedoms.” “We’ll keep up the good work, take care of one another, and coordinate ourselves.”
The state Senate changed the act in response to activist managing, adding an article that enables transgender minors to get gender-affirming treatment with parental consent if the child is at risk of self-harm, suicide, or has been given a gender dysphoria diagnosis by two or more providers.
The exception was welcomed by transgender advocates, but they also noted that many transgender youths won’t be able to jump through the necessary hoops to get care. In West Virginia, poverty affected 25% of children and 17% of adults in 2022. As a result, 14.6 percent of adults in West Virginia were unable to afford necessary medical care in the previous year, and almost one-fifth of all adults there do not have specific doctors. Accessing gender-affirming care in West Virginia is extremely challenging due to more barriers, such as a lack of health care providers who provide it and transgender bias in the medical field.
The validity of bans on gender-affirming care is now up for debate in courts. The ACLU asked the U.S. Supreme Court to act on the matter in November.
“Our legislators shouldn’t meddle in transgender youth families’ and their healthcare providers’ private medical decisions. They violate the fundamental freedoms and rights of parents to raise and support their own children by doing this,” said Orr. “Everyone should have the right to make decisions about their own bodies.”
