The Supreme Court in Texas will now allow a ban on gender-affirming care for minors in that state, which will make it the most populous state in the U.S. to allow such a ban.
A host of new bills affecting the LGBTQ+ community are set to take effect by Sept. 1 after being major agenda items for lawmakers of the 88th Texas Legislature, Scripps News Waco reported.
Over 20 states have approved similar legislation that would ban minor gender-affirming care, which would include "procedures and treatments for gender transitioning, gender reassignment, or gender dysphoria and on the use of public money or public assistance to provide those procedures and treatments," as legislation in Texas reads.
In some states, the laws either have not taken effect yet or have been put on hold by courts.
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The controversial bill SB 14 in Texas aims to stop patients under 18 from seeking hormones, surgeries and puberty blockers.
The American Civil Liberties Union has joined other advocates in calling the legislation cruel, saying, “Transgender youth and their families are forced to confront the start of the school year fearful of what awaits them. But, let us be clear: The fight is far from over.”
States that permit gender-affirming care for minors now find a new challenge in taking on patients from other states that don't. Those "refuge" states include California, Connecticut, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Washington and Vermont, plus Washington, D.C.
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