A common saying about the beginning of a year is “new year, new me.” Perhaps Tennessee legislators took this a bit too personally when deciding the very first bill of the year they would create, pass, and send to Governor Bill Lee’s desk: a bill disallowing doctors from providing potentially life-saving care to Tennessee minors. These young people will not be allowed to decide for themselves whether to face the future with hope in their hearts, because that hope will be taken away from them on July 1, 2023.
I am speaking of House Bill 1, where all minors in the state of Tennessee will be banned from receiving, according to the bill, “certain medical procedures related to gender identity.” This bill clearly targets trans youth and specifically replaces previous legislation which only banned minors from receiving gender-affirming care before puberty, according to the wording of the bill. This means that now, Tennessee teenagers who would have previously been comfortable in their own skin after proper treatment will no longer be able to receive that treatment. With over half of the trans youth nationwide seriously considering suicide according to a Trevor Project survey, this bill could not come at a worse time.
Suicide is the third leading cause of death among youth in the United States, after homicide and accidents, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report. This is a fact. Another fact? A Trevor Project survey says LGBTQ+ youth who live in supportive homes and communities are significantly less likely to attempt suicide. I may not be a math major, but there seems to be a correlation here: trans youth who feel supported in their identities don’t die.
If the bill was simply about limiting minors from making irreversible medical changes to their bodies, it should have included mention of non-medically necessary plastic surgery done on minors. In the United States, a minor can get plastic surgery done so long as their parent or legal guardian gives consent, and tens if not hundreds of thousands of such surgeries are performed in the U.S. every year, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. Minors can get breast enhancements and nose jobs with no government interference. But Tennessee lawmakers only care to keep trans youth from getting surgeries that are clearly lifesaving for them. This begs the question: do these legislators really care about children, or are they simply interested in interfering in the lives of ordinary citizens for the sake of their own personal agendas?
I am particularly afraid for the children of these lawmakers, who will not have any say over their identities as long as they live under the roofs of such narrow-minded individuals. Still, there is at least some sense in allowing parents a say in what their children do, even if parents don’t always know best. Nonetheless, I would challenge our lawmakers to consider that while they legally can say what their own children may be allowed to do, they cannot and should not have a say in the personal decisions of families of trans youth.
