Thread by @lmcgaughy

🧵Today a committee in the Texas Senate will take up bills to ban gender-affirming care for minors. This is the first time they'll debate this legislation this year.

I've been covering transgender youth in Texas for years. Here's some of what I've learned.
#txlege #LGBT #LGBTQ

2/ In 2017, the focus in Texas was on the "bathroom bill." Parents of trans kids mobilized to fight it.

"You don’t know my kid. You don't know what he's gone through just to be himself," one Dallas mom told me at the time.
dallasnews.com/news/politics/… #txlege #LGBT #LGBTQ

3/ The bathroom bill failed, and 2019 was a bit quieter on the legislative front when it came to transgender legislation.

In 2021, state legislators passed a law requiring high school athletes to play sports according to their sex at birth. dallasnews.com/news/politics/… #txlege

4/ 2019 was also the year that attention on trans kids spiked after some conservatives began to follow a custody battle in North Texas.

The father in that case ended up launching an unsuccessful campaign for the Texas House, further elevating the issue.
dallasnews.com/news/courts/20…

5/ Many of the kids I wrote about accessed care through the Genecis program in Dallas. In 2020, the hospitals running that program attempted change access for new patients.

I spoke to the patients about the "life saving" care they say they got. dallasnews.com/news/2022/05/2… #txlege

6/ Then last year, the state went after parents of transgender kids.

With a push from the governor and AG, CPS began investigating a number of families for child abuse. The move spurred confusion inside the agency and at least two lawsuits. dallasnews.com/news/public-he… #txlege

7/ A point of contention: Does Texas law define gender affirming care as child abuse?

While the lawsuits are ongoing, the Senate committee is debating bills today to ban this care for minors. capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/88R/sc… #txlege #LGBT #LGBTQ #transgender #SB14

8/ There's going to be a lot of statements about what gender affirming care is and isn't today. @maringwolf
and I have written about this a lot.

dallasnews.com/news/2021/12/0…

dallasnews.com/news/2022/03/1…

dallasnews.com/news/politics/… #txlege #LGBTQ #transgender

9/ Gender affirming care usually proceeds in this order:

1) Social transition (change clothes, name, pronouns)
2) Puberty blockers administered
3) Hormones administered
4) Surgical intervention

Mental health evaluations occur at each stage. #txlege #LGBT #LGBTQ

10/ In all the years I have been covering transgender youth, I have never met a doctor who says they have or know someone who has OK'd "bottom surgery" for a minor.
Top surgeries, i.e. mastectomy, are sometimes OK'd for minors but I am not aware of any docs in Texas who do these.

11/ Like anyone, each transgender patient has a different reaction to health care.

Some will never seek surgical interventions. Some will try hormone therapy and then stop. With any medical treatment, there are risks at each step. We wrote about that:
dallasnews.com/news/2022/03/1…

12/ Docs have told me the trade off is whether the medical interventions will help and are necessary for someone dealing with gender dysphoria.

That is the feeling of distress that can occur in people who identify as a gender that is different from the sex assigned at birth.

13/ Here are some studies about the effects of gender affirming care on mental health:

cedars-sinai.org/newsroom/most-…

journals.plos.org/plosone/articl…

ijpeonline.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.11…

jamanetwork.com/journals/jaman…

publications.aap.org/pediatrics/art…

14/ You might hear some folks say that most trans youth end up "growing out" of it. They're usually citing one study that looked at 225 kids. 80 of them, or more than a 1/3, never returned to the clinic and were assumed to have "detransitioned."
Read it:
transgendertrend.com/wp-content/upl…

15/ Keep an eye on this feed for coverage of the hearings today. My DMs are open if you'd like to chat.

Things I will be looking for:
- Are any transgender youth or their families invited to speak?
- What studies will the committee rely on?
- Will they vote?
#txlege

16/16 Finally, the committee debated a bill earlier this week to require college athletes to compete in sports according to their gender identity. They may vote that out today.

Here's the background: dallasnews.com/news/politics/… #txlege #lgbt #lgbtq #SB15