Transgender Youth: Arkansas wants to deny medical treatment

No drugs and no authorization for surgery. If the governor of Arkansas passes the law passed by a large majority by the US state Senate, doctors they will no longer be able to prescribe or propose interventions to transgender minors. It would be the first such extensive prohibition in the United States.

There would therefore be no cure hormonal, but not even the possibility of being referred to others for specific treatments. This could also lead insurance companies not to cover hormone treatments for those who started or made the transition for any age.

This measure is just one of the many proposals and approved in different states this year. At least 80 laws restricting the rights of transsexuals arrived in 2021. Arkansas, Mississippi e Tennessee have put in place measures that prohibit transgender girls from participating in team sports: in Tennessee, students must indicate their sex at birth to play sports at school, and in Arkansas the law requires a person’s gender identity to match the sex assigned at birth. According to lawmakers, allowing transgender girls to play with others would be discriminatory for them.

With the new Arkansas law, health care is added to the front already open for rights in the world of sport. The Save Adolescents from Experimentation (Safe) Act it would prevent the use of puberty hormone blockers and also ban cross-hormone therapy.

Doctors and rights associations said they were against it. Such a denial would lead to serious mental health problems especially in the most vulnerable children. In the Missouri Chamber, a few weeks ago, Brandon Boulware, father of a transgender girl for years forced by her parents to dress like a boy, told about his experience. He said he thought he was protecting her and her siblings, “but in the end I was doing it just to protect myself, so as not to have to answer questions, explain why my son didn’t behave like other boys; our actions had reduced her to a painful state, she no longer trusted anyone, she had no friends, she no longer smiled ».

Brandon Boulware, a lawyer, spoke out against Resolution 53, under discussion in Missouri, which would like school teams to be formed based on gender of birth. His speech was relaunched on Instagram by Dwayne Wade, NBA basketball player whose 13-year-old daughter, Zaya, is transgender. “I don’t know Brandon Boulware, but I know we have something in common. There is one thing we cannot do: silence the spirit of our children ».

You may also like