They would require psychiatrists, endocrinologists and medical ethicists to have roles in creating facility-wide gender-affirming care plans for patients of all ages. Patients under 21 would have to receive at least six months of mental health counseling before starting gender-affirming medication or surgery. Providers would be barred from referring minors to treatment elsewhere, such as clinics in other states.
I am fairly pro-transgender rights with some exceptions.
If anyone has read my prior post, I have always said a psychiatrist or endocrinologist should be involved with transgender people.
The law to me is a good thing. I don’t agree with the below 21, it should be 18.
I also don’t agree with the referring clause. That is good medicine to refer people to other doctors and sometimes they are outside your state.
Well to be fair, I have never been to an endocrinologist nor sought treatment for gender dysphoria. But I wonder, is this legislation necessary? I think it was written from the perspective of someone who believes young people are deciding over breakfast “I want to be a girl now,” or “I want to be a boy now,” and have changed their wardrobe and gotten hormone injections that afternoon. I don’t believe it happens like that.
Now I would like to see only the endocrinologist prescribing the hormones and the psychiatrist doing the evaluation. I have not seen the written law to see if they make that distinction.
To be clear that law doesn’t stop that for adults. They can still do that.