West Virginia House passes ban on gender-affirming care for youth

Republican lawmakers in West Virginia on Friday advanced legislation to ban gender-affirming care for transgender youth in the state — just a day after dozens packed the House chamber urging lawmakers to reject the “harmful” bill.

Opponents of House Bill 2007, which would prohibit medical professionals from providing gender-affirming care for people under the age of 18, could endanger the lives of transgender kids.

On Thursday, 79 people — including doctors, religious leaders, advocates, parents and transgender youth — joined their voices in strong opposition to the bill, testifying at a hearing held by the state’s House Judiciary Committee.

But despite such intense pressure on lawmakers, the bill easily passed on an 84-10 vote. All “yes” votes came from Republicans, though Del. Elliott Pritt, a Democrat, also voted in favor of the bill.

“Once again, we have put politics over people, we have put politics over health care, we have put politics over bodily autonomy,” said Del. Danielle Walker, the second openly LGBTQ woman to serve in the West Virginia Legislature.

“We all have decided harming members of the LGBTQ-plus community is worth it so we can score a couple of points for an election that’s two away,” she said while wearing a transgender pride flag draped around her shoulders.

Local LGBTQ rights advocates were quick to denounce the bill, which they say could lead to devastating consequences for an already vulnerable population.

According to data released by The Trevor Project, the world’s largest crisis and suicide prevention organization for LGBTQ youth, 6 in 10 trans and nonbinary youth in West Virginia seriously considered suicide last year.

“It’s not an exaggeration when we say this bill, if it’s signed into law, will kill transgender youth,” said Isabella Cortez, gender policy manager for Fairness West Virginia. “The lawmakers who voted in favor of the bill should be ashamed of themselves.”

“Yesterday, trans people from across WV came to Charleston to plead with lawmakers to vote no,” read a tweet from the American Civil Liberties Union. “The [yes votes] on this list just told all of them they do not matter.”

HB 2007 now heads to the state Senate, where it will likely be assigned to the Health and Human Resources Committee and then the Judiciary Committee.

With News Wire Services