Laws against transgender youth more harmful than good | Opinion

Imagine your doctor calls to tell you that your life-sustaining medication, which is backed by scientific studies and trusted by major medical societies, is now illegal in your state. This is the reality transgender people are facing right now.

Lawmakers across the nation are proposing bills attacking a small, marginalized group of Americans: transgender youth. The Kentucky legislators passed such a bill in March, and now Ohio lawmakers seek to do the same. House Bill 68, a bill currently in committee at the Ohio House of Representatives, targets transgender youth in Ohio by blocking access to life-saving gender-affirming health care.

"Transgender" refers to someone whose gender does not align with the gender they were socialized as, often associated with their sex designated at birth. Gender-affirming care is any medical service that affirms and supports a person’s gender identity. For transgender youth, this can include pubertal hormone suppression, gender-affirming hormone therapy, and in rare, urgent situations, non-genital surgery.

Recently, Representative Gary Click of District 88 introduced "Save Adolescents From Experimentation," or HB 68, a bill similar to House Bill 454 that failed in the 2022 policy cycle. While it is framed as an attempt to protect youth, HB 68 ultimately causes unnecessary and discriminatory harm. Importantly, it seeks to ban access to recommended gender-affirming medical care for minors. The bill would also prohibit bans on harmful practices based on conversion therapy, require mental health professionals treating minors for gender dysphoria to report statistics to the Ohio Department of Health, and ban courts from denying parents custody if they refuse to affirm their child’s gender.

This bill unnecessarily inserts lawmakers into the physician-patient relationship and personal medical decisions of patients and their parents. It also contradicts the recommendations for the care of transgender patients established by medical organizations such as The Endocrine Society and the World Professional Association for Transgender Health. Many medical organizations have spoken out against bills banning gender-affirming care for youth, including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics. Additionally, the Ohio State Medical Association recently passed policy affirming its support for the administration of gender-affirming care and opposing efforts to ban it.

Strong scientific evidence from peer-reviewed journals with apolitical publication criteria supports practices for gender-affirming care for youth; it is not experimental. For example, a study of almost 3,000 transgender youth ages 13 to 17 found that those who received gender-affirming hormone therapy had lower odds of recent depression and suicide attempts in the past year compared to those who wanted gender-affirming hormone therapy but did not receive it. Another study of transgender youth associated gender-affirming hormone therapy with increased positive affect and life satisfaction and decreased depression and anxiety symptoms. Physicians treating transgender youth are using the best evidence they have available to make medical decisions with their patients.

Bills such as HB 68 ultimately draw unwarranted attention to transgender youth and their families and make transgender youth feel they don’t deserve respect. There are an estimated 5,900 transgender youth in Ohio who need to be supported and protected. The AAP found that among transgender youth, 50% of male teens, 30% of female teens, and 42% of nonbinary youth reported attempting suicide in their lifetime. Legislation targeting these youth does more harm than good.

For transgender Ohioans, HB 68 is incredibly disheartening. Let’s hope that this bill does not pass out of committee and that in the future, Ohio lawmakers focus on issues that make Ohio better, rather than seeking to restrict evidence-based medical care for a small group of citizens.

Many Ohio constituents showed up to oppose HB 454 last year, resulting in its failure to pass onto the House floor. It is encouraging to know that there are many people in this great state who fight for transgender youth. We all have a duty to stand by our transgender Ohioans.

Carson Hartlage is a Clifton resident and medical student who is proudly transgender. Delia Sosa is a transgender medical student, advocate, educator, and public speaker.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Laws against transgender youth more harmful than good | Opinion