Gender-affirming care ban for transgender minors has second hearing
Transgender teens, parents and medical professionals blasted that characterization, instead portraying a gradual process with many layers: social transitioning, puberty blockers to temporarily delay pubertal onset, and potentially hormone therapies to address longstanding gender dysphoria.
“It is typically a long, slow process with many professional evaluations over months and sometimes years to determine which medical options are best for each individual adolescent,” said Dr. Kathryn Lowe, a Bozeman pediatrician representing the state chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. “These medications cannot be prescribed without both parents consenting.”
Another member of the pediatrician group presented lawmakers on the committee with a list of 20 state medical organizations and hospitals that are also opposed to the bill, including the Montana Medical Association, the Montana Psychological Association and the Montana Association of Pediatric Psychiatrists.
Other of the roughly 40 opponents with personal experience of gender-affirming care expressed frustration and anger at lawmakers for considering a bill that would risk destabilizing the medical care that their families have come to rely on.
Phoebe Cross, a 15-year-old from Bozeman, said they were part of the “target demographic” for SB 99. They recounted being severely depressed when they hit puberty but eventually started taking testosterone, an intervention they said has helped them be able “to look in the mirror and smile.”
“This bill is going to be taking away my right to health care and essential medical care,” Cross said. “I have gone through so many medical professionals to go on testosterone. I have the approval of multiple therapists, gender-affirming care specialists and general physicians, all of them in strong support of me going on testosterone as it has saved my life.”
Parents of transgender children testified to the Republican majority committee about similar themes. Some described conducting painstaking research and seeking myriad medical opinions after their children expressed gender nonconformity or dysphoria. Others pointed out that, if the bill becomes law, breast reductions or enhancements and other significant surgeries would still be accessible to families with cisgender children, while such procedures for transgender kids would be illegal.
“Let’s face it, we are here today because some of you are uncomfortable looking at transgender people. So you are trying to make it harder for them to exist,” said Jessica Vangarderen Weingarten, a Belgrade mother with a transgender daughter. “If you vote for this bill, you will be taking away the only treatment we have found that has offered any sort of relief for my daughter. I cannot believe you would even consider that. You’re not even offering any other options.”