Georgia Gov. Kemp Bans Gender-Affirming Care For Transgender Youth
Do you support the growing bans against transgender youth?
What's the story?
- Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has signed a bill banning most gender-affirming care, including hormone replacement therapies and surgeries, for transgender youth under 18.
- Lawmakers gave their final approval to Senate Bill 140 with a 31-21 vote. The bill became one of the most controversial and divisive of Georgia's 2023 legislative session, and Kemp signed the bill in private.
- The law takes effect on July 1, but minors who are currently receiving gender-affirming care will not be impacted by the law. The bill does not explicitly prohibit puberty blockers but focuses on more permanent hormone therapy.
- Kemp said:
"As Georgians, parents and elected leaders, it is our highest responsibility to safeguard the bright, promising future of our kids — and SB 140 takes an important step in fulfilling that mission."
A nationwide effort
- This bill is part of a nationwide effort by conservative lawmakers to restrict transgender athletes, drag shows, and gender-affirming care.
- Florida, Mississippi, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Utah have passed similar bills recently. Judges have temporarily blocked laws limiting gender-affirming treatment for transgender youth in Arkansas and Alabama.
- More bans are on the horizon. Missouri’s Republican attorney general said he would seek to implement an emergency regulation restricting gender-affirming care, while Kentucky’s Republican-led legislature passed a ban earlier this month.
- About 15% of the proposed bills that limit transgender rights have become law.
Criticisms
- LGBTQ+ advocates have criticized the bill, with some opponents saying it infringes on parents' rights and impacts transgender children's mental health.
- The American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia said it would "use every legal means at our disposal" to stop the law from taking effect.
- The bill was amended to remove a clause that shielded physicians from criminal liability so that regretful patients could later sue their doctors.
- Rep. Nikema Williams (D-GA) said:
“SB 140 will outlaw the care necessary to save children’s lives. It is not only cruel, but it flies in the face of medical science, standards of patient care, and the lived experiences of those whom it impacts.”
“Kids will commit suicide. Kids will feel like they’re not being heard, that their basic existence is being invalidated and erased."
"This phenomenon of states just ... churning out legislation as it's struck down is one that has a long history in civil rights. And it can really stymie efforts for people to actually experience what the courts have said should be their constitutional rights."
Do you support the growing bans against transgender youth?
—Emma Kansiz
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The Republican Party has endorsed more and more autocratic policies. One of the first thing that most autocrats do, is to find some group of people to suppress who are not able to easily politically fight back. They can use these acts to appeal to the emotionalbases of the ignorant to generate fear that this group is somehow quite dangerous and needs to be suppressed.
The Republican Catel is taking similar actions around the country and are risk causing lasting long term psychological harm to an already stigmatized group of our youth. And for what, exactly? For political expediency and their re-election.
Politicians make these momentous decisions that deeply effect people without the knowledge, experience nor the credentials to safely do so. It is a disgusting abuse of the people who have granted these politicians extraordinary influence for the sole purpose of protecting the interests of all of the people that they represent.
This is bigotry made into law-period. No one has the right to tell a child what to do other than their parents. Being a member of the LGBTQ+ community I can tell you this much : While I did not have the vocabulary to explain what I was and how I was different, I damned sure did know how and that I was! I have known since I was 5 years old. A bunch of hetero, cisgender people have no buisness legilstaing this horrific example of bigotry into law! They are the one that have no idea what they are talking about-NOT the other way around!
This matters to me because I have children. Recent push for all this gender ideology and hyper sexualization in schools is very disturbing. Puberty can already be a confusing and Sometimes difficult to navigate as a teenager . They are gaining life experience and learning About themselves. They Are gathering information and Developing Character traits that will help them be know who they are and what they stand for.there is A lot of trial and error Druring those developing years and it's not a time to make such a permanent decision. People say that teenagers should be able to make these decisions on their own..ok then while we're at it lets take away age restrictions on cigarettes. how come they can't decide whether they want to smoke or not at 14 or 15? In most States you have to be at least 18 to get married,why?How abouta tattoo ? 10 year old goes into a tattoo shop and Want's his favorite fortnite character tattooed on this chest...what?That doesn't sound reasonable ?? How bout Gentlemen clubs? Why not make them all ages? Hopefully you catch my drift. These conversations need to be had with children's parents not with government or governmental agencies or schools. It's not appropriate it's confusing and it's demoralizing, none of the government's business. This is just another Saying that the ruling class is using to divided and conquer.
Children are aware of gender by age 2, and transgender children are aware of dysphoria by age 7. Not addressing this leaves children & young people in a state of distress (depressed, suicidal, etc) just to satisfy those that want to impose their belief systems in others instead of providing counseling through these transformative years when needed.
"Around age two: Children become conscious of the physical differences between boys and girls. Before their third birthday: Most children can easily label themselves as either a boy or a girl. By age four: Most children have a stable sense of their gender identity."
"The Cedars-Sinai study, published recently in JAMA Network Open, a journal of the American Medical Association...study findings revealed that 73% of the transgender women and 78% of the transgender men first experienced gender dysphoria by age 7"
"Federal and state population studies from 2016 estimate that 1.4 million to 1.65 million U.S. adults – or 0.6%-0.7% of the U.S. population – identify as transgender, according to the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law."
“An estimated 55% of male and female teens have had sexual intercourse by age 18 …per the report, “Sexual Activity and Contraceptive Use Among Teenagers in the United States: 2011-2015,” features the most recent data from the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG), conducted by NCHS, and compares the new data to past NSFG data. The data represent all teens in the U.S. and were derived from interviews with 4,134 male and female teens 15-19 years of age over the period 2011 through 2015.
From American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines, Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) from 2017, 40% of high school students reported they had ever had sexual intercourse (defined as penile-vaginal penetration), 29% reported they were currently sexually active, and 10% had sexual intercourse with 4 or more partners in their lifetime.”
“New cases of STIs increased 31% in the United States from 2013 to 2017, with half of the 2.3 million new STIs reported each year among young people 15 to 24 years of age.”
https://watermark.silverchair.com/peds_2020007245.pdf
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/nchs_press_releases/2017/201706_NSFG.htm
https://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/gradeschool/Pages/Gender-Identity-and-Gender-Confusion-In-Children.aspx
https://www.cedars-sinai.org/newsroom/most-gender-dysphoria-established-by-age-7-study-finds/
Our youth are too young and too immature to be making such huge decisions. I have never in my life thought our world would go bat crazy! But then again, Covid was allegedly derived from bats.
There should be strict regulations and psychological guidelines before a decision like sexual reassignment are made. Once a transformation takes place, you basically can't reverse the decision.
I do sympathize with someone who believes they are something they're not. But I also think society is pushing these children into identifying with something they're not.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender-affirming_surgery_(male-to-female)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender-affirming_surgery_(female-to-male
https://thefederalist.com/2019/01/03/30-transgender-regretters-come-closet-new-book/
Under 18 it is the parents discretion, over 18 it is totally up to that person.
Once again, this is a state issue, so if Georgia pass this law im ok with it and if California doesnt pass this law, then im ok with that to.
Let kids be kids. Don't force them into something they don't want to be in their later life.
The LGB are sexual choices while the TQ+ are mental issues according to one lesbian who gave her opinion on the subject. I agree with her assessment. There is absolutely no reason why children should be taught this in school. God did not make a mistake when he created you.
This treatment has been around since the 80s. There has been no risk to young people. It is supported by every medical body and all the people who are banning. It have no medical licences, no medical experience and have no experience in this community and should not be regulating people's medical choices. Is complete rhetoric to attack the transgender community. There is no reasoning for it whatsoever and there's loads of scientific research that backs this up. What they're doing is causing children harm. It's just not the children they care about so it doesn't matter. This is already caused a lot of suicides. This is harming and killing children. They don't want to take responsibility for it so they want to create a monster that doesn't exist. And if you support it, you're doing the same thing. Most people have been around all throughout history all the way back to ancient Egypt. We're not going anywhere and it's not going to change anything except put a lot of people at harm. This happens in a cycle about every 80 years. You pick up a book you would be able to know. Is not going to make trans people not exist. It's just going to cause a lot of people harm and give an excuse for people not to take responsibility for that harm. That is it. That is the truth. You don't want to admit that to yourself well fine but anybody who's supporting these bills are responsible for the harm and the death of all of these kids. Thanks
Everyone has the right to live their personal lives free of governmental interference. As on gas people are not a detriment to society at large, let them live their own lives. There are certainly other things that the GOP could be focusing on such as the economy, healthcare, and more specifically gun violence which is the number one leading cause of death among children in the United States of Ameica.
The religiously inspired prove once again their ignorance makes them the worst people on the planet.
The rest of us understand transgender isn't something you choose, any more than choosing to be right or left-handed. The rest of us understand we all live along the spectrum in both natal and gender identity, where girls like the Williams sisters are not excluded from playing women's Tennis just because they lie closer to the male end of the spectrum. The rest of us understand that treating transgender girls and boys as though they are somehow damaged is no less vile than those who treat people of a different skin color the same way. The rest of us understand we are not going to allow the religiously inspired to feed on their ignorance at the expense of others.
We know that when a gender mismatch cannot be treated medically, either due to inadequate medical opportiunity or ill conceived laws, suicides and social issues such as homelessness explode. Restricting medical care is murder. Block such crimes wherever possible.
It is time for Republicans to STOP the assault on transgender youth.
The Grievance Over Policy party is just a cult of hate. What happened to the Bible reading people who follow it's teachings, none of which espouse hate.
Too many yourh later regret being allowed or pushed into gender reassignment s when their brains and emotions are still evolving. Forbid perment choices until 18. Gender assigments are an Adult decision need to be made by adults not children.
All surgeries should wait until the individual is an adult and can pay for it themselves instead of wanting the government to pay for their changes and meds. Being adults they should take responsibility for their own actions.
The GOP is completely nuts
Hey, let's make kids feel like there's something fundamentally wrong with them in a state where it's easy to buy a gun. What could possibly go wrong?
I support children allowed to be who they were created to be. This transition idea does not work. We are who we are regardless of physical appearance. I am against the mutilation of children who often grow to regret any of the procedures used on them. The chemicals, hormones, and surgeries have permanent effects that cannot be reversed.
The Nazis always pick on the LGBTQ+ commmunity.
The horrible governor Kemp is kissing his masters ass by signing this awful bill that will result in great harm shame on Kemp the sob
This is a mental illness being pushed by the elitists in government and the extremely wealthy.
They create confusion among the younger generations.
They're also grooming our children to think that pedophile is normal.
Give them an inch and they'll take a mile.
Unfortunately to many people are afraid to speak up against this grotesque mindset.
You all better get back to basics. A man is a man and a woman is a woman.
I do not support the bans on transgender youth.
Nazi shit...more Nazi shit..
republicans want parental rights, but the take the rights away from parents if they don't want to cause harm to thier child. Its not about anything but a scapegoat distraction from the lack of real legislation from republicans. even if you don't like gay, or trans people, surely you see how this is just a way to ''other'' a group of people. teen suicide among trans kids is far higher when they are denied the basic right to be themselves. trans people have been here, and will not go away. this is Nazi shit.