This week, NPR reported that 25 states now have laws on the books protecting children from the dangers of so-called “gender-affirming” care.
While every state law varies, the legislation generally prohibits children from accessing puberty blockers, hormone therapy treatment, and irreversible sex reassignment surgery. Reportedly, South Carolina became the 25th state to enact a ban on this type of “care.”
The majority of these laws were passed in the past two years. Many of the laws and policies have faced roadblocks, such as lawsuits.
Many states have taken this a step further and have banned “transgender” athletes from competing on sports teams that do not align with their biological sex. These kinds of laws came after male athletes masquerading as women, such as Will “Lia” Thomas, began competing in women’s sports, robbing them of awards and opportunities.
Predictably, left-wing activists told NPR that these policies are harmful for kids who think they are transgender.
“There are new restrictions being proposed and enacted every day around how transgender people can move through the world, not just with regard to accessing medical care, but, for example, going to school, playing on a sports team,” Kellan Baker, executive director of the Whitman Walker Institute, a LGBTQ research and advocacy group, told the outlet.
Baker claimed that the state legislators passing these laws are “attacking kids to score political points and taking advantage of the fact that a lot of people might not know a transgender person.”
“There aren't that many transgender people — the best estimates we have are about 0.6% of the U.S. population identifies as transgender,” Baker said.
A 2022 study conducted by researchers at UCLA’s Williams Institute claimed that 0.5 percent of all American adults, 1.3 million people, and about 300,000 youth 13 to 17 years old identify as transgender, which Townhall covered. Despite this, pro-transgender advocates claim time and time again that social contagion and gender ideology curriculum do not play a part in these numbers.
A separate poll published last month by the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and the LA Times found that nearly half of Americans believe that young people are being influenced by culture to identify as LGBTQ+.
Forty-eight percent of U.S. adults overall agreed with, “Those aged 18 to 29 are influenced by current popular culture to identify with an LGBTQ+ identity even if it’s not their true identity.”
Late last month, Townhall reported how the United States Supreme Court agreed to take on a case challenging Tennessee’s ban on puberty blockers and irreversible sex reassignment surgeries for minors. The legislation allows lawsuits against health care providers who violate these restrictions. In addition, providers who break the law could lose their licenses to practice.
"We fought hard to defend Tennessee's law protecting kids from irreversible gender treatments and secured a thoughtful and well-reasoned opinion from the Sixth Circuit. I look forward to finishing the fight in the United States Supreme Court. This case will bring much-needed clarity to whether the Constitution contains special protections for gender identity," Tennessee AG Jonathan Skrmetti said in a statement.