California (USA) is about to pass a law that would make it a “refuge state” and host for trans children unable to undergo treatment of gender change or surgeries in other parts of the country.
Gender-affirming practices through operations or through the use of hormones are illegal in states like Texas, Alabama, Louisiana, Arizona or Idahowith criminal consequences for parents who allow their children to access this type of treatment.
Since June, the bill SB-107 tries to make way to exempt from legal responsibility those parents from any part of the country authorize their children to access those services in Californiaalthough they later return to their states of origin.
If passed, this legislation would prohibit any state authority order the separation of children from their parents if they consent to any method of gender affirmation of their children in California.
Likewise, nor does it contemplate the arrest or demand transfer of an individual for allowing his child to receive this care on Californian soil. The initiative, which has been promoted by the senator from San Francisco Scott Wiener of the Democratic Partyhas been approved by the Appropriations Committee of the California State Assembly, and will be put to a vote in the full Lower House soon.
Organizations like Equality California o Planned Parenthood endorse this state bill, which describe as “hopeful” and they consider that it will put an end to the “criminalization of people just for being who they are”.
Organizations point out that the project will put an end to the “criminalization of people just for being who they are”
The measure also has detractors from conservative sectors in California and has generated great controversy in recent weeks. From the organization Parents with Inconvenient Truths about Trans (parents with uncomfortable truths about transsexuality) they affirmed that for them it is “a scandal”, because, in their opinion, “the majority” of minors who request gender-affirming treatments really suffer a temporary dysphoria “typical of adolescence”.
Dysphoria is a psychological disorder that causes anguish and anxiety in those whose gender identity is different from their assigned sex at birth. “Support, yes. Love, yes. A therapy that allows them to explore why they feel this way, yes. But these types of operations, no, because they suppose a real kidnapping of minors“said Gigi LaRue, representative of Our Duty USA, an association of parents against gender ideology, in an interview.
LaRue (a pseudonym used by this person, according to her, to avoid “retaliation”) emphasized the consequences of hormonal treatments and sex change operations, because “when testosterone and estrogen are administered to the opposite sex, they can cause lifelong health problems“.
Charlie Jacobs (also a pseudonym) of Our Duty USA wanted to emphasize that they are “pro-gay marriage and equal rights” and that their position is not politicized. “The human brain is not fully developed until the age of 25, so I would advocate extreme caution and raising the legal age to make the decision to undergo these treatments until age 25,” LaRue said.
According to a study by Detrans Awareness, another organization that opposes these procedures, 70% of the people intervened does not solve his mental health problems after the sex changeand some even regret it.
Other groups advocate extreme caution and raise the legal age to undergo these treatments
Some data that contrast with those of the academic journal The Journal of Sexual Medicinewhich with samples taken up to 2015, calculates the number of trans women who are not satisfied with their transition by 0.6%. A statistic that stands at 0.3% in the case of transsexual men.
For therapist Calista Termini, a member of the Los Angeles Gender Center, “there is great ignorance” on the part of many parents who “don’t really know” their children or how they feel. “It will be important that there is good communication because there are a large number of cases in which minors do not want to undergo a sex change operation and seek only hormonal treatments,” Termini explained, adding that for this reason “the most important thing is make them feel accepted.”
A position shared by Mariana Marroquín, program manager of the Los Angeles LGTB Center organization, from where she provides legal and psychological support to trans people who are in situations of extreme vulnerability.