Anti-Trans Laws and Child Welfare

            Recently, the governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, issued a directive encouraging the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services to investigate families and medical professionals allowing transgender minors to medically transition for child abuse. Though this directive has not become law, it goes only a step further than a bill that was passed into law in Arkansas last year banning gender-affirming healthcare for those under 18 years old (including puberty blockers, which is a completely reversible form of treatment). Additionally, in the last year, there have been tons of bills introduced with the aim to limit trans students’ participation on sports teams that align with their gender identities, some of which have been passed into law. 2021 broke the record for the number of anti-trans laws introduced in one year, but it was not the first wave of anti-trans laws we have lived through. Several years ago, there was a wave of anti-trans bathroom bills, and much like the subject of trans people participating in sports, whether trans people should have the right to use the restroom aligning with their gender identity became a hot button topic.

            With this background in mind, I would like to use the rest of this blog post to discuss something that conservative lawmakers claim every time bills like these are introduced, which is that trans people are harmful to children. During the nation-wide bathroom frenzy, people claimed that trans people (specifically trans women) would go into women’s restrooms and SA children (and women), and the main excuse for the trans sport bills in schools has been that the participation of trans athletes on their desired teams would be unfair to their cisgender team members because of “inherent biological differences.” The Texas and Arkansas laws, however, frame trans identity itself as harmful to kids and aim to strip trans minors of their identity. I read a quote from a congressman recently (I can’t remember or find who) that literally said that “kids should be kids” and that “they can decide to be trans later.” This gross misunderstanding of what it means to be trans is the driving force behind all of these laws, as well as the idea that children need to be protected from transness.

            But in trying to “protect” kids, these laws are putting trans kids in harm’s way. Not only do these laws take a huge toll on many trans peoples’ mental health, but they actively put trans people in dangerous situations. Many trans people need to medically transition for their own safety due to their environment, and laws forcing trans people to use their undesired public facilities put them in situations in which they are more likely to face harassment or violence. Additionally, just the existence of these bills and the attention they get empowers people in their transphobia. In reality, trans kids (and all trans people for that matter) are the ones who need protection under the law, and this protection does not come at the expense of anyone else.