Wave of Anti-Trans Bills May Cost 45,000 Youth Gender-Affirming Health Care
On April 6, Arkansas became the first stateto pass legislation that would ban transgender youth from receiving gender-affirming care, despite the bill being vetoed by the state’s governor who called it “over broad” and “extreme.”
A study by UCLA’s Williams Institute published on Tuesday (April 13) reported that, with a wave of transphobic legislation spreading across the country this year, at least 45,100 trans children are at risk of losing access to their health care.
In response to the surge of anti-trans legislation this year, over 1,500 parents of trans children banded together with the Human Rights Campaign’s Parents for Transgender Equality National Council to release a letter on April 12 that demands politicians stand up and vote against transphobic bills in their states.
“Transgender kids all across the country are listening to what you say and watching what you do.
The act of writing bills like this, holding hearings, and later casting votes sends a direct message to them: ‘You aren’t real to us. We don’t believe you when you tell us who you are,’” the parents wrote. “Transgender folks are so tired, tired of fighting for their existence.
And parents like us are tired of begging you to see our kids and treat them as full and equal members of society.”
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