Bans on gender-affirming care, especially for minors, have dominated much of the recent discourse surrounding trans rights. While these bans, with names like “Save Adolescents From Experimentation Acts,” are framed as protecting the health and safety of children, they actually take an anti-scientific approach to transgender health care, contrary to the current standard of medical care recommended by credible medical professional organizations.
The tone of these bills is becoming increasingly religious, such as in the proposed legislation in Oklahoma and South Carolina being titled “Millstone Acts” — a direct reference to Mark 9:42 (“whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea”). These bills represent efforts to ban gender-affirming care not just for minors, but for anyone under the age of 26.
Much like with reproductive rights, religious fundamentalists have targeted gender-affirming care in their quest to limit bodily autonomy and force people to conform to a primarily religious understanding of gender.
Learn more about FFRF’s efforts here:
‘Big Brother’ Gov. Abbott creates chaos in targeting parents of trans children
‘Show Me’ a gender-affirming care ban and I’ll show you why it’s wrong
