When Texas State Rep. Shawn Thierry lost her seat to challenger Lauren Ashley Simmons, she blamed her support of Senate Bill 14, which went into effect Sept. 1, 2023. It bans transgender youth from taking puberty blockers, receiving hormone therapies and having transition-related surgery, the latter of which is rarely performed on minors. Such medical interventions are used to treat gender dysphoria, a medical term for the distress someone experiences when their gender identity doesn’t match their body. The Texas Supreme Court recently upheld the controversial law despite legal fights from critics.
What is Senate Bill 14?
Senate Bill 14 prohibits “procedures and treatments for gender transitioning, gender reassignment, or gender dysphoria.” Health plans may also not provide coverage for any services “intended to transition a child’s biological sex as determined by the child’s sex organs, chromosomes, and endogenous profiles,” according to the bill language.
Medical providers are prohibited from performing surgeries that sterilize minors or “provide, prescribe, administer, or dispense” prescription drugs “that induce transient or permanent infertility.”
Several states across the country have laws banning gender-affirming care. Some of those state’s laws will go into effect in the coming months. Texas officials have criticized other states that allow such medical procedures.
For and Against
Supporters of the bill, like Thierry, say children shouldn’t be allowed to make life-altering decisions.
“Some things should be illegal,” Thierry said. “Would it be a choice to cut off a child’s foot? Of course not. We have laws that prevent parents from making harmful decisions for their children, like giving them a tattoo at a young age. Similarly, we shouldn’t allow parents to make irreversible medical decisions, like double mastectomies or castration, for minors.”
Thierry, who took up the mantle for this fight and has been very vocal – to the point that she believes it cost her her job – says Black boys and girls are hit hard in these gender-affirming surgeries.
“These procedures are not reversible, and there is a dark history in this country of castrating Black men. Now, because of the influence of white liberals and progressives, we’re seeing a push to allow these kinds of procedures on children. But they’re not being honest with the Black community about it. If they were upfront, I believe most people would reject these policies,” she said.
Opponents of the bill argue that it violates parents’ fundamental right to make health care decisions for their children and violates the rights of transgender youths.
“There is no mass castration of Black kids. That’s a lie,” said State Rep. Jolanda Jones. “I’m a Black mama with a Black son. The Democrats do not have a party platform where we’re castrating Black boys and sterilizing Black girls. That’s a lie. If they were trying to castrate Black men, I’d be the first person standing in the gap. It comes down to parents and doctors making decisions for their children. The government should not be doing that. The government should not have the right to know what my medical care is for me or my kid.”
Jones adds that this issue still remains a small fraction of the population, despite Republicans trying to make it seem otherwise.
“It’s no different than Trump’s lies. In fact, it’s very Trump-like. If you scream loud enough, people will believe it. If you say it enough, people will believe it. That doesn’t make it true.”
