South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem has signed a bill prohibiting people under 18 from accessing gender-affirming health care treatments into law.
Under the bill, which was passed by both chambers of the state legislature on party-line votes, doctors are prohibited from prescribing any health care treatment for gender dysphoria, or that would “alter the appearance of” a minor’s body or “validate a minor’s perception of” a gender identity that does not match their assigned sex at birth.
The bill makes South Dakota the sixth state to place some type of restrictions on gender-affirming health treatments intended to assist a person in transitioning.
That includes interventions like puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and gender confirmation surgery — although experts note that surgery is already rarely performed on minors.
Supporters of the bill say it’s needed to protect young people from making irreversible medical decisions that they may later come to regret once they “grow out of” their feelings of gender dysphoria.
But opponents of the bill, including health care providers and most major medical organizations, argue that some less invasive gender-affirming treatments are beneficial to trans-identifying youth and can reduce feelings of suicidal ideation.
“South Dakota’s kids are our future,” Noem said on Monday after signing the bill. “With this legislation, we are protecting kids from harmful, permanent medical procedures. I will always stand up for the next generation of South Dakotans.”
Opponents have also criticized the bill for overstepping and infringing on personal health care decisions and parental rights by inserting the state into private, family decisions.
They also accuse Noem of pushing divisive legislation to make herself a more appealing candidate to social conservatives ahead of a possible 2024 run for the presidency.
“This ban denies transgender and nonbinary youth crucial support and care. Even in the face of professional guidance from every major medical and mental health association in the country that supports this type of care, politicians are intruding into the private medical decisions best left to transgender young people and their families,” Casey Pick, the director of law and policy for The Trevor Project, the nation’s largest LGBTQ suicide prevention group, said in a statement.
“We are committed to keep fighting for the rights of young trans South Dakotans to access the best-practice, medically necessary health care they need to survive and thrive. We are here for you and we aren’t going anywhere,” Pick added.
According to The Trevor Project’s 2022 U.S. National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health by State, 53% of LGBTQ youth in South Dakota seriously considered suicide, with about 1 in 5 attempting to kill themselves. Nationally, about 7 in 10 transgender or nonbinary youth say they’ve experienced discrimination due to their gender identity — a factor that can affect a person’s decision to contemplate suicide.
Additionally, polling by The Trevor Project finds that 86% of trans and nonbinary youth say recent debates over anti-LGBTQ bills, like measures to ban gender-affirming care, have negatively impacted their mental health.
However, advocates point to a 2021 peer-reviewed study by The Trevor Project that indicates that gender-affirming care may actually reduce suicidal ideation.
The study, which examined 9,000 youth who received gender-affirming care, found that trans and nonbinary youth who received such treatments were 40% less likely to report feeling depressed or having attempted suicide in the past year than their peers who did not receive such treatments.
Over the chants of hundreds of protesters, Iowa Republicans passed a bill to eliminate the ability of transgender people to access public accommodations that align with their gender identity, as well as their ability to access credit, housing, and to obtain employment.
As the February 27 vote was taken, a spectator shouted, "Hope you're proud of yourself!" while another screamed, "Fascist scumbags, eat shit!"
The vote, which passed 33-15 along party lines, makes Iowa the first state in the United States to eliminate existing nondiscrimination protections for a previously protected group of citizens.
Sheriff's deputies accused Kalaya Morton of being a "man" due to her gender expression, demonstrating how cis women can be targeted by anti-trans restroom laws.
A Black 19-year-old cisgender lesbian from Phoenix says she was humiliated after Pima County Sheriff's deputies barged into a Walmart women's restroom in Tucson that she was using last month.
Kalaya Morton, who describes herself as a "stud," and is a masculine-presenting woman, says she believes the deputies were called by a store employee who assumed she was transgender.
Speaking with The Advocate, Morton said she had entered the store restroom on February 19, along with her ex-girlfriend, who had handed her a tampon, when two male deputies stormed in, shining flashlights into the stall where she was using the toilet. They demanded that she exit the restroom.
A grant helping to fund a study on the potential health risks posed by synthetic menstrual hygiene products was revoked after being flagged for including transgender men.
The $600,000 grant, "Farm to Feminine Hygiene: Enhancing the Textiles Lab for Research, Extension, and Scientific Instrumentation for Teaching at Southern University," was awarded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture in 2024.
It sought to "address the growing concerns and issues surrounding menstruation, including the potential health risks posed to users of synthetic feminine hygiene products," according to the project's documentation, which was publicly filed on the USDA website.
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