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Is the US turning away from youth gender transitions? 

'If the radical Left continues to define the Democratic Party, then we’re just going to continue to lose.' Credit: Getty

November 15, 2024 - 7:10pm

The US is currently years behind its Western peers in restricting youth gender transitions, as the UK, Sweden, Norway and others limit access to hormones and surgeries for minors. But changing political winds, along with a pending Supreme Court case, could bring about a sea change over the coming year.

A federal court determined on Wednesday that Indiana’s ban on puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for the purpose of youth gender transitions could stand, reversing a lower court’s temporary blocking of the law. A nearly identical court process unfolded in Tennessee last year, with the case now resting before the Supreme Court. Justices will hear oral arguments next month in the Tennessee case, and are expected to release a decision in late spring determining whether such bans are constitutional.

The Court’s 6-3 conservative majority will likely uphold restrictions on medical transitions for minors, but such a decision would not resolve the current split in the US over the issue. As it stands, 26 states restrict the procedures and 24 do not.

In early 2023, Donald Trump pledged to sign a law banning “child sexual mutilation” nationwide, and this month’s election results make a full US ban a strong possibility. Republicans will control the House, Senate, and presidency in the coming year, and the party has every reason to view bans on youth transitions as a winning issue. Ads highlighting Kamala Harris’s support for taxpayer-funded transition surgeries for prisoners, for example, were credited with winning over undecided voters in swing states.

Democrats have long objected to restrictions on transgender medical treatments, including for minors, generally siding with activists’ claims that the procedures are safe, effective, and medically necessary. The Biden administration has led the way on this front, with a whole-of-government effort to make legal and medical transitions more accessible through the work of numerous federal agencies, including the Department of Health and Human Services. Youth gender transitions, and opposition to state limits on such treatments, were key to those efforts. Further, the Biden administration is one of the petitioners currently asking the Supreme Court to strike down state laws banning such treatments for minors.

But the Democratic Party, having just seen 90% of US counties shift to the Right, is divided over how it should handle contentious social issues moving forward. Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton has been the subject of a week-long news cycle after arguing against male athletes in girls’ sports, but he has maintained his position amid criticism from his party and his own staff.

“If the radical Left continues to define the Democratic Party, then we’re just going to continue to lose,” Moulton has since said. As it becomes acceptable — and perhaps politically necessary — for Democrats to reject transgender ideology, it looks increasingly likely that a bipartisan consensus will jointly ban cross-sex treatments for minors at the national level.


is UnHerd’s US correspondent.

laureldugg

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El Uro
El Uro
1 hour ago

“As it becomes acceptable — and perhaps politically necessary — for Democrats to reject transgender ideology” – “politically necessary” is all you have to know about the majority of modern politicians.

Champagne Socialist
Champagne Socialist
1 hour ago

Another attempt by far right “Christian” extremists to insert themselves and their insane prejudices between a citizen and their health care provider. They’ve already done it to women. Trans kids are next. Who will it be after that?

Lancashire Lad
Lancashire Lad
1 hour ago

You, with a bit of luck. A total lobotomy would do wonders for your IQ level.

Champagne Socialist
Champagne Socialist
55 minutes ago
Reply to  Lancashire Lad

Ah, our kid! Look at you, still trying to be funny! Keep it up, lad, persistence in the face of repeated humiliations is very admirable!

Champagne Socialist
Champagne Socialist
52 minutes ago

(this is where he says something like “oh, you should know all about that” or something equally lame. I can read you people like a book!)

El Uro
El Uro
30 minutes ago

Giving you a dislike is like a dog raising its paw to mark its territory. It’s not that it’s pleasant, it’s just necessary.
By the way, have you recovered from the victory of “foscism” in America?

Lancashire Lad
Lancashire Lad
17 minutes ago

So rattled, you’re talking to yourself now. I’ll wager that’s just the start of your solo activities.

Champagne Socialist
Champagne Socialist
12 minutes ago
Reply to  Lancashire Lad

Rattled?!?! By you?!?!
At last you said something funny, our kid!

UnHerd Reader
UnHerd Reader
1 minute ago

Typical CS drivel posing as clever. And failing miserably.

UnHerd Reader
UnHerd Reader
2 minutes ago

Yes, child sacrifice and mutilation are not worth the attention of the woke. The woke have the right to vo-opt medical care and turn it into child destruction and no one has the right to question it.