The desperate manner in which conservative lawmakers try to withhold gender-affirming health care for trans kids continues to astound me. And now that we’re over a year into President Donald Trump’s second term and many anti-trans laws have actually been put into action, the reality on the ground is starting to reveal how they not only hurt queer kids, but all kids.
In 2023, Texas passed a mandate making it illegal for doctors to provide gender-affirming medical care to anyone under the age of 18. That law, Senate Bill 14, specifically prohibits doctors from prescribing hormone therapy to minors in need of gender-affirming treatment. Consequences have been far-reaching; for one, doctors have become increasingly concerned about legal consequences (the bill threatens to revoke the license of a doctor who violates it) and have scaled back all services that involve hormones, even when the treatment is unrelated to the patient’s gender identity.
Here’s the ironic part: There are many medical reasons cis children might need the same treatments that conservative lawmakers have so feverishly targeted. Hormone therapies and puberty blockers are used to treat many conditions, including endometriosis, growth hormone deficiencies and certain genetic disorders, the Texas Tribune reports.
