The authoritarian right’s unwarranted, wrongheaded opposition to affirmative care for transgender youth is motivated by its bigotry and hate of transgender Americans – using the authority of the state to compel conformity and punish dissent.
There is no evidence that affirmative care for transgender youth is harmful; indeed, the evidence shows that withholding affirmative care can be detrimental:
‘Currently more than a dozen state legislatures or administrations are considering—or have already passed—laws banning health care for transgender young people.
[…]
If such laws go ahead, 58,200 teens in the U.S. could lose access to or never receive gender-affirming care, according to the Williams Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles. A decade of research shows such treatment reduces depression, suicidality and other devastating consequences of trans preteens and teens being forced to undergo puberty in the sex they were assigned at birth).
The bills are based on “information that’s completely wrong,” says Michelle Forcier, a pediatrician and professor of pediatrics at Brown University. Forcier literally helped write the book on how to provide evidence-based gender care to young people. She is also an assistant dean of admissions at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. Those laws “are absolutely, absolutely incorrect” about the science of gender-affirming care for young people, she says. “[Inaccurate information] is there to create drama. It’s there to make people take a side.”’
Laws that ban gender-affirming treatment ignore the wealth of research demonstrating its benefits for trans people’s health
www.scientificamerican.com
Given the fact that anti-transgender legislation is completely devoid of merit, the only motive for such laws is fear, ignorance, bigotry, and hate.