Louisiana lawmakers debate banning gender-affirming care for children; bill advances
BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) - On Tuesday, Louisiana lawmakers joined the national debate over allowing gender-affirming care for transgender youth.
HB463 would ban doctors from giving minors hormone treatments, gender reassignment surgery, and other gender-affirming care. Doctors could even be disciplined for prescribing them.
Already kids need their parent's permission to receive any of this care before they are 18. Some argue anyone under 18 is too young to determine their gender assignment.
State Rep. Michael "Gabe" Firment is the author of HB463 and he started off the hearing by talking about what he says the bill is not about. Firment said, "This bill is not about hate, or fear, or sexual orientation. It's not about race, or particular religion or party affiliation. This bill is about protecting innocent children."
According to Firment, the bill would "protect kids from harm by ending the use of unproven, experimental and irreversible chemical and surgical procedures on children in Louisiana suffering from a condition called gender dysphoria."
Firment continued by saying, "This bill will make it illegal for a health care professional to prescribe or administer drugs or to perform surgeries on children experiencing distress or discomfort over their biological sex."
The bill would make it so doctors would have their licenses revoked for performing this care. Firment concluded by saying, "Join me in saying, stop harming our kids."
Matt Sharp, senior counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom, stepped to the microphone and said that the bill "regulates solely based on age and procedure." For the next hour, members of the committee heard from individuals who support the bill.
Those who oppose the bill have begun to give their thoughts on the bill in front of the committee. A pediatrician who is against the bill said that patients coming in are suicidal and they fear how the state is targeting them.
State Rep. Jason Hughes proposed an amendment that would require a two-year period before hormones could be recommended and it has to have parental consent. It would continue to ban surgery for minors.
Firment objected to the amendment, saying, “The gender industry can only survive by promoting this issue." He's claiming the suicide rates being brought up are fabricated to "socially engineer non-industry people."
The amendment failed 11-6.
Hughes moved to involuntarily defer the bill. That motion failed, 14-3.
After over five hours of testimony, the bill advances, 14-3.