The governors of Idaho and Indiana signed laws in the last week protecting minors from body-altering gender procedures, including harmful puberty blockers, hormone therapies and genital surgeries. And in Kansas, lawmakers overrode their governor’s veto to pass a law seeking to protect the integrity of women’s sports by preventing biological males from competing against females in women’s athletics.
They join a list of 31 states, according to a report by Liberty Counsel, that have either passed laws or are considering bills banning “gender-affirming” treatments on minors or biological males competing in women’s sports.
“These legislative victories are encouraging, and the momentum needs to continue in fighting to keep our nation’s children’s well-being, health and privacy safe,” Mat Staver, an attorney and Liberty Counsel’s founder and chairman, said in a statement.
Idaho’s law, which is scheduled to go into effect Jan. 1, 2024, will make it a felony for a health provider to provide puberty blockers, transgender hormone treatments or transgender surgeries for patients under age 18.
“This bill is aptly named the Vulnerable Child Protection Act because it seeks to protect children with gender dysphoria from medical and surgical interventions that can cause permanent damage to their bodies before they are mature enough to make such serious health decisions,” Idaho Gov. Brad Little, a Republican, said in a statement.
Indiana’s law, Senate Enrolled Act 480, bans for anyone under 18 “any medical or surgical service that seeks to surgically alter or remove healthy physical or anatomical characteristics or features that are typical” for that person’s biological sex for the purpose of helping that person with a “gender transition.” The law includes “prescribed drugs” used for gender transitions.
Signed by Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb, the Indiana law goes into effect July 1.
In overriding the veto of Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat, conservative lawmakers passed a law that prohibits biological males from competing against females in state school-sponsored sports from kindergarten through the college ranks, and mandates that the Kansas high school sports regulating body as well as the state’s Board of Regents and related governing boards adopt rules to implement the law.
The law covers “all interscholastic, intercollegiate, intramural, and club athletic teams” sponsored by the state public institutions.
With the signing of the Idaho and Indiana laws, there are now 13 states with statutes protecting minors from radical gender treatments. They are: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee, Utah, South Dakota and West Virginia. Federal courts have blocked the Arkansas and Alabama laws from being enforced.
In Florida, the state’s Board of Medicine passed a rule governing health care professionals that prohibits transgender procedures for minors. Florida lawmakers are trying to codify that rule through legislation.
Photo: Alamy.com