Tennessee legislators are moving to ban prepubescent gender transitions, and limit postpubescent minors’ eligibility for gender transitions. The Tennessee House Criminal Justice Subcommittee voted to recommend the bill for passage on Wednesday. State Representative John Ragan (R-Oak Ridge) introduced the bill.
In addition to prohibiting all gender transitions for prepubescent minors, the bill would allow gender transitions for postpubescent minors only with the consent of their parents and recommendation of three doctors, the third doctor being a child psychiatrist. Exceptions for gender transition treatments would be made for those with any confirmed diagnosis of abnormal genitalia, genetic anomalies, physical disease with life-threatening consequences in the absence of intervention, and an accident irreparably mutilating genitalia.
During the subcommittee hearing, Ragan noted that the side effects of giving puberty blockers and hormone treatments to pre-puberty children were serious. He cited joint pain, osteoporosis, compromised immune systems, and mental health issues, and said that the FDA has 24,000 reports of adverse health impacts.
Ragan noted that these drugs weren’t created for gender transition – they were created to treat issues like prostate cancer in mature men and endometriosis in mature women.
“I would also emphasize that puberty is not a disease. It is a naturally-occurring phenomena of the human race. The drugs that are used as puberty blockers were developed for other, unrelated medical conditions,” stated Ragan. “I would emphasize there is no FDA-approved drug or procedure that is in existence for specifically treating youth transgenderism. Drugs that are used in this capacity are deployed off-label – that is to say, physicians are prescribing it for something other than its approved use.”
Ragan referenced a quote from the classic movie, Duck Soup, to finalize his point.
“‘Who are you gonna believe? Me, or your lying eyes?'” The idea that we can defy reality by just saying that we think this is the way it is, or feel this is the way it is is an absurdity,” asserted Ragan.
State Representative Bill Beck (D-Nashville) argued that lawmakers should allow unfettered gender transitions for minors to prevent suicides.
“[This legislation] makes me think about putting yourself in their place. Children these days have trouble seeing years, months, even days down the road sometimes,” stated Beck. “They feel that they are trapped in a situation that often leads to suicide. I don’t know why we would criminalize a doctor’s medical opinion that a child would need the surgery in order to get them to live to see puberty, [to] live to see maturity.”
Ragan responded by asking Beck rhetorically whether he would be open to allowing doctors to prescribe bulimia or anorexia in order to achieve weight loss in children.
“The idea is that this condition is broadly classified as something called ‘body dysmorphic disorder,’ or ‘somatic delusional disorder,'” stated Ragan. “Are you suggesting, with your question, that we should treat mental illness with surgery? If so, I would point out that doctors tried to do that from the 1920s on with something called prefrontal lobotomies. They were attempting to treat mental illness with surgery. We have since recognized that that doesn’t work. Not only it doesn’t work – it was cruel. It cripples some of these people mentally.”
Although a version of this bill was on a trajectory to pass in the House last year, it was deferred in the Senate due to COVID-19.
The companion bill in the Senate is awaiting committee review.
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Corinne Murdock is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and the Star News Network. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to [email protected].
BAN this completely! ONLY when people turn 18 can they make this decision but not one minute before. Allowing ANY treatments like this should be ILLEGAL for ANY and ALL Child under 18
A step in the right direction. Hopefully this will prohibit looney parents from declaring that their child is transgender at a pre-school age just because their boy picked up a doll or their girl climbed a tree.
If a little kid is wondering what sex he is shouldn’t we be asking why? – is there abuse? Is someone putting them in an inappropriate sexual situation that they do not have the level of intellectual development to understand what is happening? Maybe they are not contemplating suicide because they want to be another sex – maybe they got raped, that causes suicide too -what about the people who do transition and don’t think it through and regret maiming themselves – Isn’t good mental health about helping people be happy with who they are, or did something change
So a 17 year old kid, who still has to live at home, who can’t vote, who just learned how to drive a car and can’t legally sign a contract can make the life changing decision to take these drugs and have this surgery?
It’s child abuse and should be banned for anyone under 18. If you are older and want to spay/neuter yourself and pretend you are something you are not, knock yourself out. Just don’t expect everyone else to treat it as normal.
I appreciate and applaud the efforts by Representative Ragan! But what does “Exceptions for gender transition treatments would be made for those with any confirmed diagnosis of abnormal genitalia, genetic anomalies, physical disease with life-threatening consequences in the absence of intervention, and an accident irreparably mutilating genitalia” really mean? Aren’t procedures to treat “confirmed diagnosis of abnormal genitalia, genetic anomalies, physical disease with life-threatening consequences in the absence of intervention, and an accident irreparably mutilating genitalia”, just that? Why even mention gender transition?
Here we go again allowing the depraved media and Leftists to control the narrative. A scalpel, sutures and some strategically placed silicone CAN NOT affect or change a persons gender! And anybody talking about condoning or allowing it to happen to a child should be treated as the deviants that they are.
Look, if you are not old enough to drink alcohol until you are 21, namely because your brain is not fully developed, mostly the frontal lobes, and rationale decision making is not always the first thing you do; why are we even talking about this for anyone under 21? I am blown away at the idiocracy in which we live.