The Fight Over Child Mutilation in OklahomaOklahoma Republicans refuse to take an easy win on stopping gender transition for minors. Why?
Harry Scherer
Oct 27, 2022
Who wants to allow kids to undergo gender reassignment surgery more: Democrats or Republicans? In Oklahoma, it is not as straightforward a question as it appears.
On October 4, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt signed Senate Bill 3XX into law, which grants approximately $109 million to the state’s University Hospital Authority. Some $39 million of those funds were appropriated for “behavioral health care for the children" of Oklahoma under the condition that the health system’s facilities refuse to perform gender reassignment surgeries for minors.
But four Republicans protested the successful legislation. The four legislators have said they voted no out of frustration for their party’s subsequent inaction on the gender surgery issue. Sen. Warren Hamilton, for example, one of the four, introduced legislation in February of last year that would have banned the procedures outright for every Oklahoman under the age of 21, with violations carrying a penalty of three years to life in prison. Committee chairs never allowed the bill to be heard.
Hamilton said he thinks Bill 3XX doesn't go far enough in some places and is wrong-headed in others. The law, which does nothing to regulate gender reassignment surgeries for minors at hospitals outside of the University Hospitals Authority and Trust, earmarks funds for the continuation of the health system's behavioral health care services and mental health counseling. These services are delivered through what Oklahoma Children’s Hospital calls the Adolescent Medicine Roy G. Biv Program, which provides an “interdisciplinary team of highly trained specialists who serve the mental health, nutritional and medical needs of all LGBTQ youth.” The program's "gender-affirming treatment & services" includes "discussing concerns or questions about gender" and "assisting with legal name or gender marker changes."
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Source:
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-fight-over-child-mutilation-in-oklahoma/
