If Georgia State Rep. Ginny Ehrhart, R (but, of course!) has her way, “Georgia medical providers who perform surgeries or administer or prescribe medications that assist minors with gender transition could be charged with a felony. The legislation would not affect doctors working with adults who seek to undergo gender transition.“
“We’re talking about children that can’t get a tattoo or smoke a cigar or a cigarette in the state of Georgia but can be castrated and get sterilized,” she said.
AJC:
Jeff Graham, the executive director of the LGBTQ rights organization Georgia Equality, called Ehrhart’s proposal “shameful.”
“This legislation would criminalize decisions that are made carefully within families in consultation with medical professionals and mental health professionals,” he said. “Supporting children in recognizing their gender identity is not only humane, it saves lives and strengthens families.”
If signed into law, Ehrhart’s bill would ban the following as they relate to kids, not adults:
- mastectomy
- vasectomy
- castration
- other forms of genital mutilization for the purpose of gender transition
- medications: puberty-blocking drugs to stop or delay normal puberty and cross-sex hormone therapy.
- removal of otherwise healthy or non-diseased body parts from minor children
