Kansas lawmakers seek to criminalize gender reassignment treatment for minors
Kansas lawmakers are seeking to make it illegal for a doctor to help anyone under the age of 18 obtain gender reassignment treatment.
A bill sponsored by four Republicans and introduced to the House Wednesday would ban gender reassignment surgeries and medical treatments including hormone therapy and medication to halt puberty.
A doctor who provides such treatment would be guilty of a felony and face up to 18 months probation.
“I’m fine with adults making their own decisions, but I feel like we have an age requirement for a lot of other things,” said Rep. Brett Fairchild, a St. John Republican sponsoring the bill.
Fairchild said he believes people under 18 are too young to have the “mental capacity” to make the decision to seek out gender reassignment surgery. He believes often times, children are manipulated or forced by parents or other adults to have gender reassignment surgeries and regret it later in life.
“The way I view it is it’s a way to protect the rights of children,” he said.
Bill sponsors Rep. Randy Garber and Rep. Cheryl Helmer did not respond to The Star’s requests for comment Tuesday. Rep. Bill Rhiley, another sponsor, said he would respond at a later time.
Gender reassignment surgery is not currently performed on minors in Kansas, said Thomas Witt, Executive Director of Equality Kansas, but the medication treatments available are reversible and potentially life saving.
“In the past decade we’ve seen a lot of advancement in how to treat youth who aren’t gender conforming, who have gender dysphoria, who are transgender and that’s helped bring that number (of suicides) down,” Witt said. “Passing a bill like this would take away any available treatment for these kids and leave them vulnerable. We would end up with dead kids.”
Though anti-LGBT bills are commonly introduced in Kansas and seldom adopted, Witt said he wouldn’t rule anything out.
Speaking to reporters, Tuesday, Reps. Brandon Woodard, Susan Ruiz and Stephanie Byers, all LGBT members of the House, said the measure amounted to an attack on the LGBT community and an attack on children.
“The emotional stress, the emotional exhaustion that comes out of being trans when you think the whole world does not like you, when they think that you’re wrong takes its toll,” Byers, a Wichita Democrat who is the state’s first transgender lawmaker, said. “Being able to take that stress away by showing that you’re affirmed, that you’re believed in, that you’re somebody we value, this does just the opposite.”
“Give people the best shot at being their true self that they possibly can be.”
In a statement, Wednesday, the Kansas City Medical Society said it was unable comment on the specific legislation but “supports the right of patients and their physicians to make decisions in the best interest of the patient.”
The legislation comes amid a surge of interest in transgender issues by legislators, both in Kansas and nationally
At least 42 bills related to LGBTQ issues have been filed in state legislatures so far this year, according to Freedom for All Americans, an LGBTQ advocacy group. Several are related to transgender issues, including sports participation.
Legislation similar to the Kansas bill has been filed in other states. An Oklahoma proposal would ban anyone under 21 from undergoing gender reassignment surgery. An Indiana bill would prohibit doctors from performing such procedures.
On Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas was one of several Republicans to question Miguel Cardona, President Joe Biden’s nominee for secretary of education, over participation in youth sports by transgender individuals.
“I just don’t think it’s American that a genotypical male, a person with a Y chromosome, is competing against girls,” Marshall said, adding that sports had taught him about level playing field and “that we all had equal opportunity.”
“There’s nothing American about letting people with a Y chromosome compete against women,” Marshall said at Cardona’s confirmation hearing.
Cardona, who is Connecticut’s education commissioner, responded by saying the Supreme Court had ruled discrimination based on gender is illegal. The court last year extended protections from workplace discrimination to LGBTQ individuals, though it didn’t explicitly rule on the issue of youth sports.
“I commit to working with you and others to making sure that we can provide opportunities for all students in a non-discriminatory fashion, but also making sure that we respect the rights and beliefs of all of our students,” Cardona said.
This story was originally published February 3, 2021 at 4:27 PM with the headline "Kansas lawmakers seek to criminalize gender reassignment treatment for minors."
