Gender-Affirming Care for Trans Youth Now Banned in Most Southern States

Laws passed in recent years now ban gender-affirming care for trans youth in most Southern states, where conservative Republican lawmakers continue to push anti-LGBTQ+ policies.

Legislation in 12 of the 16 states that are considered to be part of America's South by the U.S. Census Bureau currently prohibit medical professionals from providing gender-affirming health care to young transgender individuals, the Hill reported on Sunday. 

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines gender-affirming healthcare as services that encompass a number of social, psychological, behavioral, and medical “interventions” designed to support and affirm a person’s gender identity. Medical "interventions" can include both both hormonal and surgical treatment.

A map by the Human Rights Campaign, which was updated last Tuesday, showed that a total of 21 states in the US have laws or policies banning gender-affirming care for those under 18. 

Those states include: Arizona, Utah, Idaho, West Virginia, Montana, Florida, Nebraska, Alabama, Louisiana, South Dakota, North Dakota, Texas, Oklahoma, Iowa, Arkansas, Tennessee, Missouri, Kentucky, Indiana, West Virginia and Georgia. 

Court injunctions, however, in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Indian, and Kentucky are still allowing trans youth to access gender-affirming care, according to the Human Rights Campaign.

In addition, some legislated bans are not yet in effect.

Law that were introduced this year in Virginia and South Carolina failed to advance in state legislatures, according to The Hill. 

Logan Casey, a senior policy researcher at the Movement Advancement Project, told The Hill that gender-affirming care bans in Southern states aren't surprising given that most of the legislatures are made up of either Republicans or have a conservative majority.  

“Many of the states in the South are effectively a single-party government,” he said, adding that gerrymandering and voter suppression in the South made it hard for voters who support LGBTQ+ rights to elect officials who reflect their views. 

“We’ve seen a long history of the South being used as a laboratory for anti-[LGBTQ+] legislation,” Adam Polanski, director of communications at the Campaign for Southern Equality, told The Hill. “There’s some level of experimentation that’s going on in the South because it’s so easy to pass things.”

Those state bans could force trans youth to travel hours to other states to receive gender-affirming care, leaving behind those who can’t afford to make the trips.

Earlier this year, the Campaign for Southern Equality launched a program called the Southern Trans Youth Emergency Project to help transgender youth access the care they need. The program distributed over $250,000 to families to cover travel costs and expenses, according to Polanski. 

“When your state legislature can just steamroll over you, despite your honest sharing of your story and expressing the needs of your family, it can feel really demoralizing. It’s important to note that [LGBTQ+ people] are here and they’re fighting back,” Polanski said.

More than 490 anti-LGBTQ+ proposals were introduced in state legislatures across the US since the beginning of 2023, according to data by the American Civil Liberties Union.