If state lawmakers choose to pass a newly proposed law, Texas children may soon be protected from scarring gender disfigurement procedures.
Last week, State Rep. Steve Toth (R–The Woodlands) filed legislation to stop medical professionals from performing a variety of harmful and potentially permanently damaging operations on children. The law would ban numerous gender-related procedures that “attemp[t] to change or affirm a child’s perception of the child’s sex, if that perception is inconsistent with the child’s biological sex as determined by the child’s sex organs, chromosomes, and endogenous hormone profiles.”
Medical professionals would not be allowed to do things to children such as “performing a surgery that sterilizes the child, including castration,” “administering or supplying any of the following medications that induce transient or permanent infertility” such as puberty blockers, or “removing any otherwise healthy or non-diseased body part or tissue.”
The law would categorize these operations as child abuse.
Toth’s proposed child defense law is also one of the top legislative priorities of the Republican Party of Texas.
The Texas GOP’s legislative priority reads, “Abolish the following practices for minors: intervention to prevent natural progression of puberty; administration of opposite sex hormones; and performance of any type of gender reassignment surgery.”
The proposed law comes amid numerous stories of related child abuse across the state, including that of James Younger, a 9-year-old boy whose mother has tried to force him to pretend to be a girl, despite objections from his father. James’ story has received national attention and action from grassroots activists and elected officials.
The Texas House of Representatives convenes in January 2021 to begin the process of enacting new laws. Citizens concerned about gender disfigurement and Toth’s legislation are encouraged to contact their state representatives and senators.
