Arizona’s Anti-Trans Bill, Once Killed, is Now Revived

Only a week after halting Arizona’s anti-trans bill, Arizona’s legislature revised a bill that denies gender affirming surgery to minors.

Initially, there was an echo of victory that swept through America, as the Arizona’s state legislature’s Health and Human Services committee failed to approve bill SB -1138.

Essentially, the bill outlaws doctors from distributing transition related care to anyone under the legal age of 18. Republican state senator Tyler Pace destroyed the GOP majority vote by breaking away from the bringing the vote tally to 4-4-0. Resulting in the dissolution of the Anti-trans bill.

Pace, whose inclined stance is little to no government involvement in healthcare, made a dramatic shift, all because of the remarkable testimony of a 13-year-old, trans child named Skylar and their guardians in opposition of the proposed anti-trans bill.

"I know who I am and I know who I will continue to be and this bill is a direct roadblock in my journey to becoming fully comfortable in my own body."

Thank you to Skylar for this moving testimony against #SB1138 #TransRightsAreHumanRights pic.twitter.com/LMp1nTo3y6

— Arizona Senate Democrats (@AZSenateDems) February 10, 2022

“This bill is a direct roadblock in my path to becoming comfortable in my own body,” Skylar, a 13-year-old, trans girl says to the Arizona Mirror.

Skylar states that, “Several of my friends have told me they wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for their gender-affirming medical care.”

She continues that this bill would be, “so extremely harmful to me and my mental health.”

After this, Pace fully comprehend the humanity of a trans person after hearing from them and understanding their stories and truth.

“The testimonies we heard today about the many people who are using these avenues of medical treatments to save lives, to improve lives, I don’t want my vote to stop those great things,” Pace says.

Woefully, the sweet moments of a huge win for trans children  suddenly became a tragic loss. On February 17, the Tucson Sentinel reported that the anti-rans bill has been “revived.”

With the appendage (legal age of consent before having the ability to transition), the bill’s revival intentionally strips away transgender children’s personal autonomy and freedom of governance over their own anatomy. 

Bridget Sharpe, the Arizona director of the Human Rights Campaign, believes the decision to undergo gender-reaffirming care should be placed with the child, parents or care givers, and the medical team.

“The bill allows the legislature to decide what kind of age-appropriate, medically-necessary, gender-affirming care is acceptable for transgender youth in Arizona. These decisions should be made between parents, children, and their medical care teams,” she says in an email to Arizona Mirror.

The Tucson Sentinel reported that Nancy Barto, the chair of the Health and Human Services Committee, decided against having testimony on the bill. “The Phoenix Republican said the previous hearing took too long because of the number of speakers, and she wanted to spend less time considering the bill.”

“The bill has been narrowed and so the concerns should be less serious,” Barto says. 

Barto’s firm stance has raise eyebrows amongst advocates such as Sam Ames, who is the director of advocacy for the Trevor Project.

“Our research shows that in the past year, more than half of transgender and nonbinary youth seriously considered suicide, and one in five attempted suicide. When asked how the debate about these bills is affecting them, one in three said (they’re) scared,” he said, via the RTS system,” Ames says.

Senetor Kelly Townsend decried the suicidal claims that have been made by Ames and derides the accusations by claiming advocates are employing manipulation tactics to “get what they want.”

“There is such a thing called coercive suicide,” she said. “Please remember that, if you’re using suicide as a form of manipulation to get what you want, that is abuse.” 

Pace assures the public that this bill was not to shame or negatively impact transgender children. The intention is to educate children that some of these surgeries are irreversible.

“I do not want an 8-year-old child who is going through a very difficult gender transition—in this day and age—to never be informed that some of these surgeries are irreversible,” he said, “They need to know and their physicians need to advocate that these are steps that are adult steps.”

The Arizona Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics denounce the narrative that medical services are provided to prepubescent children.

“There is no medical therapy for transgender children prior to puberty and no surgical therapy prior to age 18,” the Academy wrote via email to the Arizona Mirror.

In addition, “that fact, surgeries may yet be necessary for a “multitude of other medical conditions.

“Legislative mandates regarding the practice of medicine do not allow for the infinite array of exceptions or cases in which the mandate may be harmful to an individual patient,” they say.

Currently, the bill is set to move to the senate for further evaluation and conclusion.