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I'm Syd, and I am a senior and WT Woodson HS. I am transgender. I am interested in the banning of gender affirming care.

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Gender and sexuality

ideas

Laws banning transgender care

Laws banning sexuality speech (don’t say gay)

Discrimination and lack of healthcare

representation in media

How transgender or LGBT portrayal in media can affect their mental health and how people view them.

Question:

How does access to gender-affirming care impact the mental health of transgender people?

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Notes:

a transgender high school student from oklahoma simply wanted the name and gender correctly displayed on his so his classmates would not know he was trans

worried about the backlash it may cause but the school refused to honor his identity.

Kingkade, Tyler. "A transgender teen wanted to update his school records.

Oklahoma created a rule to stop him." NBC, 9 Jan. 2024, www.nbcnews.com/

news/us-news/

oklahoma-ryan-walters-transgender-teen-school-records-rule-rcna130816.

Accessed 12 Jan. 2024.

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Notes:

Alabama can enforce a ban on gender affirming care

"Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed the Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act into law in 2022, making it a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison for doctors to treat people under 19 with puberty blockers or hormones to help affirm their gender identity."

felony to try and be your authentic self

many families have challenged the law with no avail

more than 22 states have enacted laws similar to this one barring trans youths from life saving gender affirming care

PBS. 11 Jan. 2024, www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/

alabama-can-enforce-a-ban-on-gender-affirming-care-for-transgender-minors-appeals

-court-rules#:~:text=At%20least%2022%20states%20have,face%20lawsuits%20or%20block

ed%20enforcement. Accessed 12 Jan. 2024.

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Notes:

Ohio governor rejected a bill that would ban youths from gender affirming care.

many believe that young people don't know themselves well enough to make decision that are permanent

though some of the care included can be as simple as therapy or not having to do with transgender people

gender affirming care can go as far to cis people with ED or menopause treatment. All of these conditions will be more difficult to treat with the restrictions

this can also have a decline in trans mental health

where does it end? you ban minors then you can easily ban adults from being who they want to be.

"Transgender Minors." Issues & Controversies, Infobase, 17 Aug. 2023,

icof.infobase.com/articles/QXJ0aWNsZVRleHQ6MjMzOTA=?aid=17464. Accessed 8

Dec. 2023.

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Notes:

States like South Carolina and Texas have proposed bills that ban gender-affirming care completely under the age of 26

Similar to Kansas which is 21 and Oklahoma at 18

Many of these are put in place by conservative lawmakers that have turned this right into politics in the form of protecting children

"Gender-affirming care is medically necessary, evidence-based care that allows trans people to transition to the gender that matches their lived experience, according to the leading medical organizations in the U.S., including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, which have condemned legislative attacks on this care."

Jones, Alexandra Mae. "Gender-Affirming Care Bans Expanding, Access Being Cut."

CNN Wire Service, 28 Mar. 2023. SIRS Issues Researcher,

explore.proquest.com/sirsissuesresearcher/document/2799251901?accountid=1861.

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Notes:

there are more than 1.3 million transgender people in the US

history has shown many people to have been transgender in the past and been extremely influential

transgender people are some of the most persecuted and attacked group within the US mostly targeting black transwomen

there is a rich history within the transgender community that is widely ignored and forgotten, though LGBTQ people changed the world many times over

"Transgender Rights." Issues & Controversies, Infobase, 26 Oct. 2023,

icof.infobase.com/articles/QXJ0aWNsZVRleHQ6MTY0Nzc=?aid=17464. Accessed 8

Dec. 2023.

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479 anti-LGBTQ+ bills are currently being tracked by the ACLU

Interactive map by state and the specific bills are listed

connected to the Congress website in order to see where they are in the legislative process as well as what the proposed bills entail

shocking number of bills and they increase each year

need for legislation of overall protection for LGBTQ people because they are in increased danger

Web Page

"Mapping Attacks on LGBTQ Rights in U.S. State Legislatures in 2024." ACLU, 15
Mar. 2024, www.aclu.org/legislative-attacks-on-lgbtq-rights-2024?state=.
Accessed 21 Mar. 2024.

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Detransitioning

the small portion of people that detransition can have a major impact on gender affirming care

many against gender affirming care, use detransitioners as an argument to stop all people from getting life saving gender affirming care

many articles like this one can be extremely harmful because of the uneducation of people and the statistics of the actual situation

Cerundolo, Aida. "Gender transitions aren't always right. Medicine must
officially recognize detransition." The Hill, 15 Feb. 2024, thehill.com/
opinion/healthcare/
4468358-gender-transitions-arent-always-right-medicine-must-officially-recognize-
detransition/. Accessed 21 Mar. 2024.

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the NIH states that the detransition rate is largely unknown but based on surveys and date collection that they do have there is very few cases in which a person regrets their decision

many medical professionals have stated that regret surrounding gender affirming care is very rare and over exaggerated by those advocating to stop gender affirming care.

Cohn, J. "The Detransition Rate Is Unknown." Archives of Sexual Behavior, vol.
52, no. 5, 12 June 2023, pp. 1937-52, https://doi.org/10.1007/
s10508-023-02623-5. Accessed 21 Mar. 2024.

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most people agree based on the data that there should be anti-discrimination laws for trans people

but many people also believe that they should not go to the bathroom of their gender identity or be able to transition at a young age.

goes into depth on the different viewpoints of Americans towards trans issues.

Baronavski, Chris. "How Americans view policy proposals on transgender and
gender identity issues, and where such policies exist." Pew Research
Center, 15 Sept. 2022, www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/09/15/
how-americans-view-policy-proposals-on-transgender-and-gender-identity-issues-and
-where-such-policies-exist/. Accessed 13 May 2024.

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transgender people are at higher risk of mental health disorders

this risk decreases significantly when given gender affirming care

those able to receive GAC cite that it saved their life and that they could thrive when given the resources

Digitale, Erin. "Better mental health found among transgender people who started
hormones as teens." Stanford Medicine, 22 Jan. 2022, med.stanford.edu/news/
all-news/2022/01/mental-health-hormone-treatment-transgender-people.html.
Accessed 21 Mar. 2024.

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in a data collection 58% of transgender people had a mental health disorder of some sort compared to 13% of the control population

transgender people consistently have worse mental health than the rest of the population

Trangender people go through a lot of discrimination and other hardships which leads to them developing more mental health disorders

Wanta, Jonathon W., et al. "Mental Health Diagnoses among Transgender Patients
in the Clinical Setting: An All-Payer Electronic Health Record Study."
Transgender Health, vol. 4, no. 1, 1 Nov. 2019, pp. 313-15,
https://doi.org/10.1089/trgh.2019.0029.

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source 11 - overall what it means to be trans

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source 11 - overall what it means to be trans

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trans people get discrimination on all fronts

we must try and help to make a serious change

trans people just want to be themselves freely and that effects no one.

HRC. www.hrc.org/resources/understanding-the-transgender-community. Accessed 13
May 2024.

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describes what it is and what it is not

also shows that most of the time minors are not allowed to get certain care but it goes beyond just hormones and surgery

also explains surgery and different paths that some people take.

"Get the Facts on Gender-Affirming Care." HRC, www.hrc.org/resources/
get-the-facts-on-gender-affirming-care. Accessed 13 May 2024.

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map of 2024 bills against trans people and their current status in the legislative process

"2024 anti-trans bills tracker." Trans Legislation Tracker,
translegislation.com/. Accessed 13 May 2024.