Published: March 31, 2022 Noon EST
(2 minute read)
Yesterday, Governor Doug Ducey of Arizona signed SB1138, a bill that outlawed irreversible “sex-reassignment” surgery on those under the age of 18. Just as the Florida legislation banning perverted sexual content and cartoon pornography from being shown to some elementary-aged school children was labeled as an anti-gay bill, the Arizona bill is peddled as a “health care ban” and “gender-affirming care.”
BREAKING: Arizona Gov. Ducey just signed two anti-trans bills into law — one banning trans girls from playing sports and another limiting access to gender-affirming care.
This isn't leadership, it's cowardice. We won't stop fighting for trans kids everywhere.
— Human Rights Campaign (@HRC) March 30, 2022
From a CNN article, “Ducey’s approval of the health care ban…. Comes as GOP-led states are pushing laws that opponents say further marginalized members of the transgender community.” The “journalist” continues, saying:
“The laws are part of a larger movement by conservative lawmakers to impose restrictions on the lives of transgender youth in the US. LGBTQ advocates have strongly opposed the bands, arguing they further marginalize a vulnerable community and could cause serious harm to a group that suffers from uniquely high rates of suicide [emphasis added].”
Now, for a group that suffers “uniquely high rates of suicide,” doesn’t that indicate the demographic in question is suffering from mental illness or trauma? Thus far, the largest survey of transgender people in the nation is the U.S. Transgender Survey; the sampling found that 40.4% had attempted suicide in their lifetimes. Activists in the transgender movement chalks those numbers up to external factors, such as bullying or rejection. However, hard data proves that is not the case.
Sweden, a country that is extremely accepting (both culturally and socially) of the transgender community, conducted a 30-year follow-up study of “sex-reassigned” persons (the largest study to date). The researchers found that ten to 15 years after the surgery, the suicide rate among the subjects “rose to 20 times that of comparable peers.”
Legislation protecting minors from sexual mutilation is not a “health care ban.” Butchering the sex organs of children struggling with trauma or psychological issues is the appropriate and responsible course of action; every legislature and governor should be following suit.
