Thread by @IsErinThere

Now live is the House Health Subcommittee, which will consider 3 bills by Rep. Lamberth. Most controversial of these bills is HB0001, which would ban gender-affirming care for all minors. It's listed last on the calendar. #TNLeg23 @WKRN

@WKRN Lamberth up now, speaking of the "growing social contagion of gender dysphoria" and how some doctors "push" gender-affirming care on young children. Says doctors' hesitance to perform gender-affirming care could be seen as transphobic. #TNLeg23 @WKRN

@WKRN Lamberth says there is no evidence of any lifelong benefit of gender-affirming care for trans youth but plenty of evidence of harm. Says he has a witness of someone who regrets gender-affirming care (puberty blockers) as younger people #TNLeg23 @WKRN

@WKRN Lamberth: Bill would keep certain medications from being "misused" and outlines consequences for healthcare providers. Would allow minors to take private action against their doctors with 30 year statute of limitations. #TNLeg23 @WKRN

@WKRN Lamberth: bill does NOT prohibit mental health treatment for these children; "they need love and support" of family, friends, doctors, etc.
"Gender Dysphoria is a mental health condition" and should be treated as such.

@WKRN Lamberth: no reliable evidence that trans-identifying children are prone to higher rates of suicide/self-harm. That is an urban legend.
Bill does not discriminate against children who identify as transgender. #NTLeg23 @WKRN

@WKRN (Excuse the typo in the hashtag there. My brain isn't catching up to my fingers)

Q from Darren Jernigan (D-Old Hickory) about when doctors can practice medicine, to which Lamberth says doctors can practice but surgeries are "experimenting on children" and not in scope.

@WKRN Jernigan taking issue with a "hard date" for patients to be off hormones, saying it could be harmful, would like to leave medical discretion to doctors.
Lamberth says "good faith" judgment clause included in amendment for docs. #TNLeg23 @WKRN

@WKRN Lamberth reiterating claims that hormone meds for trans children "are harming" them. "Obviously, no children should be on those hormones."
Jernigan says he respects Lamberth's opinion but will go with doctor who went to school. #TNLeg23 @WKRN

Rep. Bo Mitchell (D-Nashville) asks what surgeries bill is prohibiting. Says 0 record of any gentalia surgery in any medical center in Nashville. Lamberth countered for a second but chairman Hawk shut it down. #TNLeg23 @WKRN

@WKRN Genitalia* excuse me.
Mitchell says there were 5 cases where people *qualified* for genitalia surgery if they chose but it didn't happen.
Lamberth said his bill "was NOT sexist," which Mitchell never said, to be clear. #TNLeg23 @WKRN

@WKRN Mitchell warning unintended consequences of bills legislators don't understand can harm children. "Every major medical association has agreed that these procedures and this area of medicine is accepted." Says Lamberth's claim that puberty blockers are irreversible is not true.

@WKRN Mitchell: I'm not sure going down this road...is helpful. There's two physicians on this committee. The rest of us have to do our research.
Asking if a doctor brought this bill to Lamberth. Lamberth doesn't directly answer. #TNLeg23 @WKRN

Amendment 1 added to HB0001 with only Mitchell opposed.
Amend 2 now up for discussion. Brought by David Hawk on statute of limitations. Wants to rein in SOL from 30 years to 10. Amend passes, added to bill.
Amend 3 by Mitchell skipped for Amend 4 #TNLeg23 @wkrn

@WKRN Amend 4 would remove hormone therapy from prohibited medical treatments but leave physical surgeries in tact. Cites multiple research papers to prove his point of suicide rates for trans children. "I don't want to be a part of anything that I think could harm a child." #TNLeg23

@WKRN Amend 4 fails. Back to Amend 3.
Would outlaws cosmetic surgeries performed on minors. Not the same as reconstructive surgery, Mitchell said. Adds children don't need nose jobs or breast implants. Lamberth says he doesn't want to leave decisions up to whims of insurance companies

@WKRN Lamberth says Mitchell's amendment would cause harm to children who may need reconstructive surgery, but Mitchell reiterates that "reconstructive" surgery is covered, citing Lamberth's examples of cleft palates or breast augmentations after childhood cancers. It fails. #TNLeg23

@WKRN Witness testimony time. Hawk asking for people to give name, association and expertise on the issue. One person opposed on national security grounds, he says. @WKRN #TNLeg23

@WKRN @aclutn speaking now in opposition of Lamberth's bill. Speaking to Constitutional issues and costs of defending such a bill. Said courts have found these bills violation of equal protection clause. Says claim that medical care is "experimental" is not true #TNLeg23 @WKRN

@WKRN @aclutn @aclutn points out Lamberth's claims that gender-affirming care has been banned in Finland, Sweden and UK is untrue as well. Says states like AR and LA have spent millions trying to defend their bills, and TN will, too. #TNLeg23 @WKRN

@WKRN @aclutn @aclutn rep saying child abuse amendment is of particular concern because abuse/neglect proceedings are civil not criminal. Risk of parents losing their children by trying to get them healthcare is dangerous and slippery slope situation. #TNLeg23 @WKRN

@WKRN @aclutn Now one witness in support of Lamberth's bill. Chloe Cole (sp?) says she survived previous transition, says doctors were negligent in her care. Said her transition caused her further distress and that she wasn't suicidal until she started taking puberty blockers. #TNLeg23 @WKRN

@WKRN @aclutn Chloe detailing multiple physiological issues, she experienced while on puberty blockers, including joint pains, full body itchiness and urinary tract issues. Most of those are since healed, she says, now that she's off the hormones. #TNLeg23 @WKRN

@WKRN @aclutn Rep. Paul Sherrell thanking Lamberth for bringing bill forward. "We've got to protect our children," he says. Says if any child is confused about who they are, to do what his preacher said and go into the bathroom, take your clothes off, and see. #TNLeg23 @WKRN

@WKRN @aclutn Bill as amended PASSES. Committee adjourned. Mitchell opposed to bill vocally. #TNLeg23 @WKRN