Recently, the Georgia House and Senate voted to ban gender-affirming care for transgender youth in the state. While some lawmakers opposed the bill, such as state Rep. Karla Drenner (D), others like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R) have criticized the proposed legislation for not going far enough. In fact, Greene’s primary concern is that the bill contains “vague language” that can be used to overturn it and challenge other states’ trans healthcare bans.
Greene’s objections to the bill, S.B. 140, include its failure to ban the use of puberty blockers for trans youth, which she argues permanently alters their bodies. However, puberty blockers are reversible, and their use is an essential life-saving medication that allows trans kids, their families, and medical professionals to better understand their identities and needs. In fact, the majority of states that have banned gender-affirming care for trans youth do include puberty blockers.
Greene also claims that the bill “includes a dangerous loophole that will be exploited by profiteering doctors who are ready to cut off the breasts of girls and castrate boys.” However, such surgeries are not performed on minors, as she suggests. Furthermore, the notion that doctors are forcing gender-affirming care on minors to make money is unfounded.
Although the law allows for hormones or procedures used in gender-affirming care if they’re for cisgender and intersex minors or in the case of “medically necessary” treatments, Greene believes that allowing doctors to decide what is or isn’t “medically necessary” is too much of a risk. Instead, she believes that politicians should be the ones to decide.
Greene’s opposition to gender-affirming care extends beyond Georgia. She has introduced federal legislation called the Protect Children’s Innocence Act that would ban transgender youth from accessing gender-affirming care, make it harder for trans adults to access it, and ban medical schools from teaching about it. Despite medical associations like the American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics rejecting claims that gender-affirming care is harmful to transgender individuals, Greene continues to push her anti-trans agenda.
