Anti-Trans Laws: How Are They Affecting Us?

by Mj Garcia reporter

illustration by | Sylvia Grimsley

Anti-transgender laws have increased in numbers country wide in recent years, a topic many are aware of but few are informed about. So, what is happening now and how will these laws affect people’s lives?

What’s Happening in Kansas? In Kansas, a bill to ban use of bathrooms and locker rooms corresponding to gender identity has just been passed. This same bill also bans transgender people from changing the name or gender on their driver’s license.

Kansas is not the first state to create such restrictions, as Arkansas passed a similar law in March of this year, however Kansas takes it a step further to include “prisons and jails, rape crisis centers, domestic violence shelters and other spaces where biology, safety or privacy prompt the separation of men and women” says The Associated Press.

It needs to be sent to and approved by Gov. Kelly before it can become a law, and seeing as this is not the first time the senate has pushed for a bill like this, it seems likely the governor will choose to veto, just as she has in the past. However, support for this bill is large enough now that the senate may be able to override Gov. Kelly’s possible veto.

Supporters of the bill have framed it as a bill aimed at women’s rights and although that may shed some light on the “safety and privacy” portion, it may also leave questions regarding the restriction of name and gender changes regarding licenses. Further, if the senate’s goal is to protect women, it would only be reasonable to include all women.

In addition to this, a law that has already been passed will ban male to female transgender people from joining women’s sports teams; this takes effect July 1. This law is aimed specifically at students, elementary to college, and could open the door for genital inspection in order to join a team.

Republican lawmakers in Kansas also are pursuing a bill aimed at stopping gender-affirming care for minors, something at least 11 states have done, according to Daily Mail.

What’s Happening in Missouri?

These pursuits align with the restrictions on transgender healthcare placed in Missouri earlier this month.

General Andrew Bailey, a republican, said it was necessary to put up “substantial guardrails” around such medical treatments because they were considered “experimental”, according to The New York Times. Such guardrails would include at least 18 months in therapy with a psychologist or psychiatrist, as well as three years documenting “persistent and intense” gender dysphoria before gender affirming care can begin.

Bailey uses the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act in his reasoning for placing these restrictions, an act that “is designed to protect consumers from untruthful, misleading and unfair business practices” Waddell Law Firm said. In Bailey’s own words, the attorney general “is charged with protecting consumers, including minors, from harm.” So how harmful is gender affirming care, especially when compared to the benefits it can bring?

In 27 different studies accounting for 7,928 transgender patients who received any form of gender affirming surgery, less than 1% of these patients regretted their surgery. That is less than 80 people and only 34 of those people had major regrets about their surgery.

If regret is out of the equation, take a moment to look at the physical risks of gender affirming surgeries. In any surgery, there is a risk for complications such as bleeding, infection or complications with anesthesia. If these are the only physical threats posed when undergoing gender affirming surgery, and they are the same for any other surgery, it leaves many people confused as to why there wouldn’t be so many restrictions on any other surgery.

“Different procedures carry different risks. For example, individuals who have bottom surgery may have changes to their sexual sensation, or trouble with bladder emptying. In general, significant complications are rare, as long as an experienced surgeon is performing the procedure,” Cleveland Clinic said.

What’s Happening Nationwide? Nationwide, these recent events have been compared to the steps of genocide, a system that has been used to identify genocide throughout history. The steps are as follows; classification, symbolization, discrimination, dehumanization, organization, polarization, preparation, persecution, extermination and denial.

Following this system, the United States would be somewhere around step seven, preparation. To put that into perspective, that would mean we are 70% through with a genocide. Step seven of course comes after step six, polarization, which entails the spread of propaganda against the specified group of people, and before step eight, persecution, which essentially makes it illegal for this group of people to exist.

Step eight seems to be nearing particularly close, as The Huntington News said in an article published last March, “There are 43 states that have proposed anti-trans bills so far this year, with 378 bills introduced.” According to a study done by the UCLA Williams institute school of law, only 1.4% of American youths and 0.5% of American adults identify as transgender, this leaves some wondering why go through the trouble of creating so many bills for such a small group of people?