BOISE, Idaho — The House Judiciary and Rules Committee pushed a bill forward on Tuesday to ban most gender-affirming care for minors after two hours of intense testimony.
H71, sponsored by Rep. Bruce Skaug, R-Nampa, and Sen. Lori Denhartog, R-Meridian, amends Idaho code regarding genital mutilation of a child to bar those who provide some forms of gender-affirming care to those under age 18. It would make providing the care for a minor a felony, the bill says.
This includes puberty blockers, hormones and sex reassignment surgery for those with gender dysphoria -- which is the feeling when one's sex assigned at birth and physical characteristics don't align with their gender identity, the Mayo Clinic states. The bill contains some exceptions for necessary medical procedures.
The bill passed on strictly party lines, a 14-3 vote, and will now go to the House.
'Confused'
Skaug said when introducing the bill that gender dysphoria is children being "confused" about their sex, and that providing some gender affirming care to minors is violating their right to procreate because some puberty blockers "can sterilize children." Skaug said sex-reassignment surgeries allow teens to "castrate themselves" and cut off healthy organs.
Blaine Conzatti, the Idaho Family Policy Center president, was a co-author of the bill. He said no parent should have the right to consent to what he called "harmful interventions" on behalf of their child with gender dysphoria. He said medical experts support the notion that some gender affirming care can harm children. Conzatti cited two religious medical associations that he said agree with the claim.
Medical professionals did testify in support of H71 -- but some of them were religion-based, like Hilber Nelson, who is a Christian counselor in Pocatello. Nelson said he believes gender-affirming therapy is driven by "woke ideology."
Rod Storey, a family physician in Moscow who is a member of Christ Church, also spoke in support of the bill. He said those with gender dysphoria should "hold on and hang in there," rather than seek gender affirming care. Some, like Skaug, testified that those with gender dysphoria should seek therapy instead and that the dysphoria is just a product of other mental illnesses left untreated.
It is unclear if any clinics in Idaho offer sex-reassignment surgeries for minors. Skaug said there's not exactly a list of reports regarding those surgeries, so he doesn't have specific numbers.
John Lyons, a 21-year-old that testified in favor, told the committee that this treatment is just a "massive cash grab" from doctors and pharmaceutical companies.
"I think we are in the fight of our lives," he said. "Children have an innocence about them."
'This saved my life'
But, those with personal experiences within the transgender community came forward to oppose the bill. Many said their transgender children or friends would be dead from suicide if it wasn't for the care they received.
Eve Devitt, a 17-year-old transgender girl, said since she started estrogen three years ago, her health has skyrocketed in a positive way. She feels more complete with herself, Devitt said. She told the committee that in the next 24 hours after her testimony, she would be getting on a plane for a consultation for sexual reassignment surgery.
"I see this as my final step into the body that I should have been born into," Devitt said. "This saved my life."
Chris Hunting is a transgender person raising a transgender child. Visibly emotional, Hunting told the committee, "my kid doesn't need to feel the way I felt here. My kid deserves to be here...It is my right to have medical discussions with my kid's doctor about their healthcare. I've seen many of you stand adamantly against the government getting in the way of parenting... Transgender youth belong here just as much as cisgender youth do... They need to know they're loved, and passing legislation like this makes them know there is a whole committee of you that think they're not."
Neil Ragan, a physician in Pocatello, said he's been providing gender-affirming care for over 10 years. Ragan said that patients he's had were able to successfully have children when pausing puberty and hormone blockers.
Ragan said he had a lot of patients under 18 who told him if they hadn't gotten the care they needed from him, they would have harmed themselves.
"There's a lot of nuance that gets lost in translation, it should be pointed out that they are a diverse population and I have had a number of kids who neither asked for nor need medications, their affirming therapy is more aligned with support," Ragan said. "We are not automatically jumping to surgeries and medications.”
Another opposer of the bill is the The Idaho Academy of Family Physicians, which represents hundreds of Idaho doctors. President Brandon Mickelsen testified that minors with gender dysphoria are in "severe pain" and the bill would take away doctor's ability to treat transgender patients.
The American Medical Association has continually voiced their concerns over similar legislation barring transgender care -- the AMA says in a press release from 2021, "Transgender children, like all children, have the best chance to thrive when they are supported and can obtain the health care they need."
Committee responds
Rep. Chris Mathias, D-Boise, called attention to the recent battle in the legislature for parental rights. Idaho Republican lawmakers have been consistently fighting for parents to have a voice over their child's vaccinations, sex education teachings and taxpayer funded private schooling.
Mathias told the committee that it makes the public hard for them to trust the Idaho Legislature if they continue to go back and forth on the issue.
Rep. Colin Nash, D-Boise, said that he has reservations over the conflict with letting parents help their children receive gender-affirming care, and still keeping faith-based medical neglect from parents on the books.
Nash also said he has a transgender sibling, and this bill was very personal to him.
Rep. Chris Allgood, R-Caldwell, said he thought there wasn't enough testimony that showed him gender-affirming care would slow down or change transgender children's attempts or thoughts of suicide.
“Are we losing children because of remorse for what happened when they were 16? We don't know, and that scares me,” Allgood said.
Rep. Julianne Young, R-Blackfoot, said that she spent a day with a "de-transitioned" person and that influenced her decision to support the bill. Young you can't "recreate" the "healthy function of the opposite sex."
Reactions pour in
Once the bill passed 14-3 onto the House floor, Donald Williamson, the director of Boise Pride, wrote in a statement that all the bill does is continue to demonize students of the LGBTQIA+ community.
"Idaho politicians, without any form of medical or mental health training, are attempting to pass legislation that interferes with parents’ rights to raise their own children. No one knows better, what support their children need at this crucial time in their lives, as the parents and their trusted medical professionals," Williamson said.
The ACLU of Idaho sent out a press release as well, saying the bill would infringe on the equal protection clause of the Constitution and violate the due process right of kids, families and doctors.
“Even though many medical and psychology professionals, transgender people and their loved ones, and concerned community members testified against this bill today, they were not heard by the committee,” Ruby Mendez-Mota, Campaign Strategist for the ACLU of Idaho, said in the release.
“We extend a sincere message to the transgender and LGBQ+ community that we hear you and we see you. We will fight this coordinated national attack and affirm our fundamental right to live and thrive in Idaho and across the country.”
The Idaho Family Policy Center (IFPC) sent out a release after the bill passed the committee, but instead celebrating its approval.
"Too many children are prematurely pushed into irreversible interventions at the hands of medical professionals and therapists who practice so-called 'gender-affirming care.' That is why five Republican-led states have enacted laws protecting children from these harmful, medically unnecessary drugs and procedures," The IFPC wrote.
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