Transaktivister okkuperte Oklahoma State Capitol mandag for å protestere mot et press fra republikanerne for å begrense såkalt kjønnsbekreftende behandling i staten.
Omtrent 150 mennesker, mange med skilt og bannere, sang «Trans lives matter» i forkant av en ny lovgivende sesjon der GOP-lovgivere hadde forhåndsarkivert lovforslag som hadde som mål å begrense behandlinger som hormonbehandling, rapporterte Oklahoma Daily.
Et av de nye forslagene, Senatets lovforslag 129, vil forby helsepersonell i Sooner State fra å henvise noen under 26 til kjønnsbekreftende behandling, inkludert både kirurgiske og ikke-kirurgiske inngrep.
Det andre lovforslaget, Senatets lovforslag 252, har som mål å forhindre at noen under 18 år gjennomgår en kjønnsbytteoperasjon.
Avisen New York Post skriver videre:
The bills are part of a slew of recent gender-related proposals in the state, including one signed into law last year by Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt that banned trans women from competing in women’s school sports.
Trans-rights activists hold colorful signs in the indoor rotunda of the Oklahoma state Capitol.
In his State of the State address on Monday, Stitt called for a statewide ban on gender affirmation surgeries and other treatments for minors, the Oklahoma Daily said.
Trans rights activists told the outlet Monday that the proposed legislation was misguided, and would likely have deadly consequences for Oklahoma’s LGBTQIA+ community.
“Lawmakers fear the trans community as if trans people are coming for their kids, but in reality, trans people just want to live and mind their business,” said one demonstrator, identified only as Laine.
She also claimed that even restricting access to non-surgical treatment would be harmful.
“For a lot of trans people, small things like [hormone replacement therapy] just help trans people feel more like themselves,” she explained.
Other protesters claimed limiting access to such resources threatens trans individuals’ mental health.
A recent survey by the Trevor Project found that 59% of trans men, 48% of trans women and 53% of nonbinary people had considered suicide in the past year. Research by Columbia University, however, found that gender-affirming care consistently improved mental health outcomes for trans and nonbinary young people.
“Working to ban HRT and other trans health care is active genocide,” Benjamin Patterson, a trans man, told the Oklahoma Daily.
“People will not survive to 26 to get that. For a lot of us, it is one of the only things that can help us feel at home in our body.”
