Senate votes to outlaw transgender people

Another dismal day at the Capitol.

Transgender Texans of all ages could have their access to transition-related medical treatments severely limited — or effectively ended — under a bill the Texas Senate preliminary approved Tuesday.

Senate Bill 1029 would make physicians and health insurers financially liable for their patients’ lifetime medical, mental health and pharmaceutical costs resulting from complications of gender-affirming medical care even if the providers lack fault or criminal intent. The bill exempts such treatments for kids with “medically verifiable genetic sex disorders.”

According to health groups, the bill would make it highly unlikely for health care providers offering these treatments to be able to get medical liability coverage, leaving them personally on the hook for potential medical, legal and other costs. These financial risks could deter physicians from providing puberty blockershormone therapies and gender-affirming surgeries to trans people of all ages in the state.

The Senate voted 18-12 Tuesday to give the bill initial approval. It now awaits another vote before it can move to the House. The Senate has also already approved Senate Bill 14, a priority bill that would ban transgender kids from receiving transition-related care, like puberty blockers and hormone therapies. A House committee has also advanced that legislation, and the majority of House members have signed on to support such a ban.

Major medical groups approve of transition-related care and say it lessens higher rates of depression and suicide for trans youth.

SB 1029’s prescriptive liabilities, meanwhile, would also likely prompt health insurers to not cover transition-related treatments for trans Texans, even if they are adults.

[…]

LGBTQ and health groups say SB 1029 is a stealthy tactic for decimating trans Texans’ access to treatments that have been supported by leading medical associations — without ever directly banning transition-related care for all ages.

“It really is just an attempt to chill health care for all trans people,” said Christopher Hamilton, CEO of nonprofit Texas Health Action.

On one hand, it’s not guaranteed that health care providers offering these treatments would be sued by their patients. On the other hand, the bill’s lack of a statute of limitations and requirement that lifetime costs be covered could make even a low number of claims extremely costly.

SB 1029 could as a result have a much bigger impact than the Republican Party of Texas’legislative priority and key legislation for this session like SB 14, which have limited their focus to restricting transition-related medical care only for trans youth.

“This isn’t about kids’ safety. This isn’t about medication safety,” Hamilton added. “It’s specifically targeting transgender people because they’re a small group of people who are easily marginalized.”

And because of the state’s size, this could have an outsized impact on trans Americans. In Texas, there are approximately 93,000 trans adults — less than 0.5% of the state’s adult population — according to a 2022 study from the University of California, Los Angeles’ Williams Institute. But the raw figures indicate that Texas has one of the largest trans communities in the U.S. Around 30,000 Texans aged 13 to 17 are trans, which is about 1.5% of this age group’s population.

I have four things to say:

1. Once you’ve decided that one form of safe, voluntary, and necessary health care can be outlawed, there’s no reason to believe some other form of it can’t be outlawed as well. If you think there’s a limit to what Republicans might do with this, all I can say is that we’re nowhere near it.

2. You really, really have to hate trans people to do this. The legislation being passed in various states to outlaw gender affirming care in minors is appalling and reprehensible, but you can at least see some kind of justification for it. This is one hundred percent about smacking around a group of people that you don’t like and who don’t have the power to stop you. It’s absolutely monstrous.

3. It’s certainly possible that the House won’t go for this. It’s not that I have any great belief in that chamber’s moderation, just more that they’re not all on board with everything Dan Patrick does. It’s also possible that Patrick will try to force a special session because the House isn’t giving him everything he wants. Also, this bill was authored by Bob Hall. As previously discussed, Bob Hall is stupid and evil and one should never do anything he supports.

4. If this piece of trash does pass, I guess we’ll get to find out if there actually is such a thing as civil rights in the year 2023. If it’s OK to outlaw trans people, who knows who else it will be okay to outlaw.

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4 Responses to Senate votes to outlaw transgender people

  1. J says:

    It is funny how Texas Republicans are so fond of talking about freedom, but when they are talking about gays, trans, minorities, or women they are suddenly silent about freedom.

  2. mollusk says:

    Let’s not forget how they leave out anyone who isn’t a performatively devout protestant.

  3. Robert says:

    “Senate votes to outlaw transgender people” beyond irresponsible hyperbole.

  4. Pingback: DOJ sues Tennessee over its ban on gender affirming care for minors – Off the Kuff

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