85 anti-trans bills have been passed in the United States out of the 586 proposed this year. The only bill that has passed in Georgia was SB140, which prohibits licensed medical professionals from providing patients under the age of 18 with cross-sex hormone therapy. However, the changes in legislation on gender-affirming healthcare persists in Georgia and the rest of the U.S.
“Gender dysphoria can leave people in a state of extreme discomfort within their own body,” said Axel Hawkins, a junior political science majorjunior. “It’s important that people have access to medical care that makes them more comfortable within themselves.”
The National Library of Medicine published an article in February 2023 called “Association of Gender Identity Acceptance with Fewer Suicide Attempts Among Transgender and Nonbinary Youth,” which covers the quantitative data of suicide risk for transgender youth and how gender affirmation correlates to the decreased number of attempts. Concluding that, making gender-affirming care more accessible has been statistically proven to decrease suicide attempts.
Gender dysphoria is a medical condition, and there are many ways to treat it. Surgery, hormones and therapy are common treatments that are being affected by the laws that are being passed in the U.S..
“Politicizing gender-affirming care makes it more difficult for people who need treatment to be able to get it,” said Joanna Schwartz, a marketing professor at GC. “At its heart, it’s taking something that’s a medical issue and trying to reframe it through a political lens that is entirely unrelated.”
Gender-affirming care is an issue that many politicians have taken and created into platforms, either for or against, that many, including Schwartz, do not find fair to those who need care. This politicization has changed the way that people vote, making it so that they have to look at candidates to see if that specific candidate will pass bills that stop them from being able to live as their true selves.
Bills that are being passed in the U.S. are not only targeting hormone therapy and surgeries but also mental care that can give people the right to live as people.
“That the political argument is, is that we’re forcing surgery and medication on people, you know, that are very, very young, none of which happens,” Schwartz said.
Governor Kemp signed SB140, arguing that he was protecting the health and well-being of the children in the state of Georgia. Statistics, such as those from the National Library of Medicine, numerically prove that the children of the state are worse off without access to gender-affirming care.
“While we often think about hormone therapy and surgical procedures as the only forms of gender-affirming care, access to all types of care, especially mental healthcare, from professionals who affirm your identity is equally, if not more, important for helping trans people get through everyday life,” Hawkins said.
