Medical Bans

Across the country, hundreds of anti-trans bills are in process in state legislatures. “Medical bans” criminalize treating a transgender child under the age of 18, imposing penalties on parents and health care providers. Families need to be free to access care that is in their child’s best interest. Doctors and therapists need to know they can make medically necessary and sound decisions without putting patients’ health or their own practice at risk. These bills do nothing to protect the health and well-being of youth or anyone who needs access to medical care.

You can view Equality Federation’s up-to-the-minute tracking of legislation affecting LGBTQ+ people.

Action Request:

• Discuss the issues using the talking points below
• Build a Coalition
• Learn how to share your story and even submit testimony
• Reach out to Sr PR/Press Manager Laura McGinnis for Support in Discussing With The Press
• Post on social media
• Send emails and tweets to lawmakers

Talking Points:

• It is important to protect the public from harm, but this bill does exactly the opposite. It criminalizes the treatment of transgender people, and in some cases encourages potentially unnecessary medical procedures on intersex children.
• These legislators need to get out of the doctor’s office and leave medical decisions to be made between families and medical providers.
• “I don’t believe in it,” is not a defense for preventing your child from accessing safe, affirming, and best-practice medical care.
• When you hear someone say they want to “de-transgender” a person, the word they mean is “de-humanize.” That is exactly what this bill would do to kids by removing access to safe and life-affirming medical care.
• It is just as clear to parents as it is to the American Academy of Pediatrics that a child already has a strong sense of their gender between the ages of 3 and 5. Working with a doctor closely throughout childhood and puberty to help a transgender child continue to live their authentic and full life is safe, medically sound, affirming—and can be life-saving.