A slew of anti-trans bills were just filed in SC. Some target an issue that isn’t happening

Transgender issues could prove to be a major topic in the South Carolina State House in 2024, judging by a slew of Republican-led bills filed ahead of the upcoming legislative session.

Nine bills pre-filed in the S.C. House pertaining to gender transition procedures, gender affirming care, gender-assigned bathrooms and other LGBTQ-related issues signal that the topic of LGBTQ+ care and access could be one of the major talking points among the state’s lawmakers this year. More than one bill has been filed pertaining to surgeries specifically, and one of them is championed by two of the most powerful Republican figures in the state.

LGBTQ+ advocates, however, say the nine bills are cruel and bully transgender youth.

“At a time when there are many other priorities that I wish our legislators were focused on, singling out transgender youth and young people is a political game, I’m afraid,” said Adam Polaski, a spokesman for the Campaign for Southern Equality.

A proposal dubbed the “Help Not Harm” bill, H. 4624, would prohibit anyone under age 18 from receiving gender reassignment surgery in South Carolina. Any form of puberty-blocking drug or procedure also would be illegal for minors under the proposal. The bill is sponsored by Republican House Majority Leader David Hiott and House Speaker Murrell Smith, along with Rep. John McCravy, Rep. Sylleste Davis, Rep. David Vaughan and Rep. Ashley Trantham, all Republicans.

In addition to banning any type of medically related gender transition care for minors, the bill also would require a nurse, counselor, principal or teacher to tell a minor’s parent if the child is dealing with any sort of gender identity struggle or “gender dysphoria.”

Lastly, the bill would prohibit Medicaid from covering transgender-related health care for people under the age of 26.

Hiott, who represents the Upstate’s Pickens County, said he believes it’s wrong to think there are more than two genders and that no doctor in South Carolina should be performing gender reassignment surgery on someone under the age of 18.

“I just think that you were born a male or you were born a female, and that’s the only two genders there are,” Hiott said. “What you were born as, that’s what God intended you to be, and I don’t believe it should be anybody’s right to change that.”

Hiott said he hopes this bill will be addressed “right out of the gate” in the upcoming legislative session, which begins Tuesday, Jan. 9. But he does expect pushback on the bill and said he has already received some.

Despite the target of Hiott and Smith’s proposal, it’s unlikely that gender reassignment surgeries are being performed on minors in South Carolina now, even without a ban.

In 2023, pediatricians testified to lawmakers that no doctors in South Carolina perform gender-transition surgeries on minors. And recent reporting by ProPublica found that due to political pressures surrounding transgender health care, the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) stopped performing gender affirming care for minors.

While Hiott and two other sponsors of the bill, Davis and McCravy, couldn’t say exactly where they had heard of gender reassignment procedures being performed, either way, they said they are pushing the bill as a precaution to ensure it wouldn’t happen in South Carolina.

“It was taking place to some degree, not a lot, but we had found a few statistics where it had taken place a little bit in South Carolina,” Hiott said. “But we don’t want it to take place in South Carolina. One is too many.”

Hiott said the bill models language from similar bills across the country that target gender-transitioning surgery.

“This bill would protect our children from child abuse, in this particular case, I mean, convincing or telling children that they can change their biological sex when that’s not physically possible,” McCravy, of Greenwood County, said. “We don’t let children smoke, we don’t let them drink alcohol, why would we let children decide to take drugs and have operations that are irreversible? The answer should clearly be no.”

McCravy added that he had full confidence this bill will be passed.

With the 2024 election looming, LGBTQ+ rights have been a major talking point among Republican candidates nationwide, especially transgender rights.

Berkeley County’s Davis said she is cosponsoring the bill because she had seen how much it was discussed at a national level over the last year.

“It appears to be an issue that people are concerned about throughout the nation and people here in South Carolina,” Davis said.

LGBTQ+ advocates have expressed concern not just about anti-transgender legislation but also the language used by Republicans when discussing these bills. This includes terms that advocates say don’t appropriately describe someone’s preferred gender, such as “biological boys or girls.”

Polaski said the bills that have been filed specifically in South Carolina are “cruel” and that the legislators are bullying transgender youth in the state to amplify their own political gain. The language in the bills “dehumanize” transgender youth, he added, and there will be major ramifications to eliminating gender affirming care for young people.

“My fear is that these legislators are using this issue and the lives, the very lives of these young people as a political tool to try to get votes and try to get reelected,” Polaski said. “The type of care that they are trying to ban with these bills is medically necessary and life saving, and they’re using their political agenda to put the lives of trans youth at risk when we know the vast majority of South Carolinians support LGBTQ+.”

The bills go against public opinion, Polaski said. Gender-affirming surgery is not happening on minors in South Carolina anyway, he added.

“This is a fake issue. This is not something that time needs to be spent on,” Polaski said. “Honestly, the issue we have in South Carolina is access to health care, just general health care. Not enough primary care doctors, not enough specialists in South Carolina.”

Aside from the “Help not Harm,” bill, eight others have been proposed relating to transgender health care, curriculum censorship of LGBTQ+ language in school materials, pronouns and DEI studies in universities. One of the bills would prohibit transgender students from using bathrooms, locker rooms or changing rooms that align with their gender identity.

Ivy Hill, the gender justice director for Southern Equality’s LGBTQ health initiative and a leader in the S.C. United for Justice and Equality coalition, said there are people who have moved out of South Carolina and other Southern states due to legislation targeting trans youth and other LGBTQ+ people. However, not everyone has the option to pick up everything and leave, Hill said. Organizations like Southern Equality help families and LGBTQ+ youth find states where they can receive care and are sometimes able to provide grants to help them travel.

“We are going to show up and fight back every step of the way,” Hill said. “It’s really important that we make sure that trans kids know that they’re not alone and that there’s nothing wrong with them, and there’s a whole bunch of people who love them and have their back.”