AUSTIN — A House committee on Monday debated a bill that would ban certain medical treatments for transgender minors as hundreds of LGBTQ rights activists rallied within earshot of the hearing room.
House Bill 1686 by Dr. Tom Oliverson, R-Cypress, would bar physicians from providing puberty blockers, hormone therapy or surgery to treat gender dysphoria in patients under the age of 18. These treatments are commonly referred to as gender-affirming care.
The Mayo Clinic defines gender dysphoria as the feeling of discomfort or distress that might occur in people whose gender identity is different from their sex assigned at birth. Transgender means identifying as a different gender than one’s sex at birth.
The bill would also require the state medical board to revoke the medical licenses of violators, and bar taxpayer money from entities or individuals that provide these treatments to minors. The bill does not prohibit the same treatments for intersex youth, or for nontransgender youth experiencing issues like precocious puberty.
Oliverson, a board-certified anesthesiologist, introduced his bill to the House Committee on Public Health by noting it does not criminalize parents and instead focuses on physicians providing gender-affirming medical treatments.
“Without conclusive high-quality evidence, doctors engaging in gender transitioning young people are effectively experimenting on children,” Oliverson said. “Professional counseling has been a proven alternative that helps girls and boys overcome dysphoria, depression and anxiety disorders.”
The debate began around noon and continued until midnight, the deadline set by committee chairperson and Fort Worth GOP Rep. Stephanie Klick. It was often contentious.
Republican members clashed with physicians and medical group representatives who opposed the bill, and Democrats on the panel, three of whom are openly gay, questioned the credentials of GOP-backed experts. According to videos posted on social media, dozens of opponents staged a protest in the Capitol extension after debate ended.
The House committee, which has a slim Republican majority, did not vote on the bill but can at any future meeting. All of the committee’s six GOP members have signed on as co-authors in favor of the bill, as has the majority of the full Texas House.
Nine other states have signed similar bills into law, some within the last few weeks. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who heads the Senate, has prioritized an identical bill in that chamber. It is one of several bills advancing in the Legislature that would negatively affect LGBTQ rights, including another bill that passed in a Senate committee Monday to restrict, and in some cases criminalize, certain drag performances.
Supporters
A total of 479 people had signed up to speak on the bill, according to committee member Rep. Ann Johnson, D-Houston. The committee heard from fewer than 50 before a midnight deadline to end debate.
Invited speakers included the president of the Academy College of Pediatricians, a conservative advocacy group that opposes adoption by LGBTQ people, conservative political scientist Leor Sapir and several individuals who said they regretted their decision to access gender-affirming care.
“I am proof that a child can overcome gender dysphoria by not feeding into their delusions,” Emily Schmidt, 24, of Houston told the committee. “Every child hates their body growing up and they should not face lifelong consequences because of that.”
Doctors who treat transgender youth testified that genital surgeries are not recommended for those under 18, but the panel’s GOP members countered that mastectomies are occurring in some cases and should be stopped.
Dr. Colt St. Amand, a transgender Texan and physician doing his residency at the Mayo Clinic, pointed out that surgical interventions would be allowed to continue for nontransgender youth.
“There are plenty of Texans who are 16 and have had breast augmentation, and there’s no issue with access to that,” he said. “If we’re going to keep allowing that in nontransgender patients, then we shouldn’t have a different standard for transgender patients.”
The Texas Medical Association, the state’s largest membership organization for physicians, was neutral on the bill. The group has previously opposed the state’s decision to define gender-affirming care as child abuse.
The American Medical Association, American Psychological Association and other national physicians’ groups all support age-appropriate and individualized medical treatments for minors experiencing gender dysphoria, including puberty blockers and hormone therapy.
Opponents
Maya Stanton, a 12-year-old transgender girl who testified around 11 p.m., said she worries about hitting puberty and developing male physical characteristics.
“I know you don’t understand what it’s like to be trans, and that’s OK. You don’t have to. You just have to listen to us when we tell you who we are,” said Stanton, her mother at her side. “Do you understand how brave I have to be to come here and tell you over and over again to leave me alone? … Close your eyes and imagine for one minute what it’s like to be me.”
Topher Malone, a transgender high school senior, said she may attend college out of state because of bills like the one being debated: “I sat in those chairs for 13 ½ hours just to speak for two minutes just to beg for what should be a human right. It’s wrong and it’s disgusting. And this bill makes me not want to be a Texan.”
Also among the opponents were doctors who treat transgender patients, the ACLU of Texas and LGBTQ rights organizations. The Texas Pediatric Society, the main state organization representing youth physicians, said medical decisions for youth experiencing gender dysphoria should remain between doctors and families.
“All medical treatments involve weighing the risks and benefits of both treating a condition and not treating it,” Texas Pediatric Society President Louis Appel said. “A blanket ban on these medical treatments is a very inexact approach for the state to use.”
Rep. Tony Tinderholt, an Arlington Republican and one of the most outspoken opponents of expanded LGBTQ rights in the Legislature, directed pointed questions of the bill’s naysayers. He asked Appel, “What is a woman?” — a question he posed to many opponents of the bill — and then said he was “appalled” by the group’s position.
“I don’t have words, to be honest,” Tinderholt said.
After debate ended at midnight, Johnson, the Houston lawmaker, told The Dallas Morning News that 96% of the nearly 3,000 people who registered their stance were opposed to the bill.
Just feet from the hearing room, LGBTQ rights activists rallied. In the morning, they held prayer vigils. At lunch, hundreds flooded the Capitol extension rotunda to hear speeches and raise their voices. And just after debate ended at midnight, dozens of opponents who’d waited hours to speak staged a die-in inside the Texas Capitol to protest the bill, according to videos posted on social media.
Lying on the floor of the chamber, the group chanted, “Klick lies, kids die.”
