More States Propose Trans Adult Bans: 3 States Propose Care Bans For Trans Young Adults

A new type of bill has proliferated in recent weeks. Three states now propose bans on transgender adults. More are expected to follow. We may see trans adults medically detransitioned by end of 2023.

2020-2022 was marked by anti-trans bills targeting transgender youth. These bills have always represented a major government overreach, seeking to put the government between doctors and families making medical decisions that are recommended by all medical organizations. Many of these bills forced medical detransition on trans teens and all of them are currently held up in hearings or in court. That was not enough for the anti-trans legislative forces, though. This week, we saw a new kind of bill: bills that would medically detransition transgender adults. These bills were proposed in Oklahoma, South Carolina, and New Hampshire, and they represent a new battle line in an ongoing attack on transgender rights in America.

From 2020-2022, anti-trans detransition bills were proposed in more than a dozen states. They mandated barring doctors from prescribing hormone therapy and puberty blockers to trans youth with penalties ranging from removal of licensure to life sentences. Idaho proposed a bill, for instance, that would have made it a crime to leave the state with a trans teen for the purpose of obtaining gender affirming care and included a life sentence. These bills were defeated in most states they were proposed: Missouri, Florida, Mississippi, Idaho, Indiana, Utah, West Virginia, and more. Some states passed their bills - Alabama did, for instance, but it was temporarily blocked in court.

All of these bills had one key piece of language in it - they would ban transgender minors under the age of 18. However, last year we began to see signs that organizations would start targeting gender affirming care in their entirety. The organization Transgender Trend stated that they would begin going after trans care up to the age of 25. We saw a representative in Missouri argue that “the brain is not developed until the age of 25 and so gender affirming care should possibly be banned up to that age.” Genspect, the organization behind detransition bills in many states and the organization who had members on the Florida Board of Medicine panel, is currently advocating for bans up to 25 years old:

Genspect tweet on 18-25 year-olds being banned from transition.

I anticipated that at least one state would ban gender affirming care for transgender adults this year and predicted as much multiple times. Now we know the first states that are attempting this push. Oklahoma was the first state to introduce an adult transition ban when it released a bill on December 1st that would ban gender affirming care for trans adults with felony penalties - loose language on the bill suggests that it could even be illegal to give transgender people hair removal if it is done to exhibit a gender that is not their biological sex. This bill also banned psychologists referring trans people to gender affirming care.

Then, yesterday morning, South Carolina proposed their version of an adult transition ban. This ban went further than even Oklahoma’s bill. It contained the same provisions around banning gender affirming care for people under 21 years old, but it had even more new features. It contained a provision that would make it illegal not only to “provide” the care but also to receive it. More alarmingly, though, it contained new provisions that affect ALL trans adults, even those older than 21. It would ban trans adults from getting gender affirming care without a psychiatric referral - this is a return to an archaic gatekeeping model that prevents poor people entirely from transitioning by requiring many hours of psychiatric appointments before gender affirming care could be provided. Transgender adults would be heavily gatekept from accessing gender affirming care even if they are over 18.

South Carolina’s section that would require psychiatric referral.

Late last night, we got news that a third bill targeting transgender young adults was being proposed in New Hampshire. This bill is only a draft bill - we do not know the full details of it yet. If the other two bills give us any insight, we can guess that it will be a ban up to the age of 21, although a ban up to the age of 25 is also possible given what we have heard from organizations. The bill would “prohibit gender transition procedures for minors and young adults” and also would change the definition of conversion therapy. We have see conversion therapy definitions come under attack internationally such as in the UK when transgender people were written out of conversion therapy definitions.

New Hampshire’s LSR 2023-0071 draft bill.

Where do we go from here? I have identified several new laws that we could see in the near future. I anticipate we will see more out of state travel ban bills like Idaho’s. Texas this year has already proposed a bill that would do similar for gender affirming surgeries. We’re already seeing proposals of social transition bans and more extensive don’t say gay or trans laws. Some bathroom bans are targeting trans adult teachers. Anti-drag laws threaten criminalization of being transgender in public.

The GOP and anti-trans advocates continue to attack trans adults above the age of 25 as well. Texas has drafted a resolution that expresses support to ending gender affirming care entirely for transgender adults and we will see if that passes this year. One political detransitioner that has advocated against gender affirming care has called for the new discussion to be for 18-30 year olds:

TullipR/Ritchie 🦎 @TullipR

18-30 year olds are extremely vulnerable to the pull of transition. A parent with an under 18 has options, but over that age, all they can do is sit back and watch in horror. Protect all young people, let's talk about this.

I intend to continue tracking the new iterations of anti-trans laws and helping people understand how these bills are progressing. Political forces are mobilizing against all transgender people, and it is clear that the right wing was never going to be content just targeting transgender people in sports. Sports acted as a trojan horse to release a torrent of anti-trans legislation across the United States. The political forces that started with trans sports bans are going to continue moving towards elimination of trans people entirely.