A proposed bill in Minnesota would shield transgender people, their families and their medical providers from legal repercussions for traveling to Minnesota for gender change services.
Bill HF146, sponsored by Democratic state Rep. Leigh Finke, wants to make Minnesota a "trans refuge," according to a write-up hosted by the Minnesota House of Representatives official government website.
If it becomes law, the legislation would reportedly prevent out-of-state laws from "interfering in the practice of gender-affirming health care here," the write-up reads.
Specifically, the bill would prohibit the enforcement of a court order for removal of a child or enforcement of another state’s law being applied in a pending child protection action in Minnesota, when the law of another state allows the child to be removed from the parent or guardian for receiving medically necessary health care or mental health care that respects the gender-identity of the patient," reads the explainer hosted by Minnesota's House of Representatives.
The state's House Judiciary Finance and Civil Law Committee met on Tuesday to amend the bill and "laid it over for future consideration," according to a summary on the state house's YouTube video of the hearing.
This need is desperate in my community. This is not a hypothetical scenario,” Finke said, according to the write-up. “There are gender-diverse people in Minnesota right now receiving gender-affirming care. More are fleeing their home states asking where they should turn."
Finke reportedly added that laws passed in other states create, as the write-up puts it, a "culture of fear in children and their parents." That culture also affects adults and causes some to move states to receive gender-affirming care, the write-up notes Finke saying.
Other advocates for transgender people and gender-affirming care also attended Tuesday's hearing of the state's House Judiciary Finance and Civil Law Committee.
Christa Moseng, chair of MNclusive, reportedly claimed at the hearing that there are nearly 250 bills in 32 states that seek to discriminate against transgender people's rights to privacy and health care.
Gender-affirming care is health care," said another advocate, medical director of the gender health program at Children’s Minnesota Dr. Angela Kade Goepferd, according to the write-up. "It is specialized health care provided by teams with training and expertise and evidence-based care just like any other pediatric specialty that we provide for kids at Children’s Minnesota."
Another advocate, a transgender woman who called herself "Amber Mom," spoke at the hearing saying she was a "proud transgender woman" and also a "mother of two wonderful transgender and gender expansive children."
Amber Mom says that she traveled to the hearing to lend her support for the bill, and also to thank Rep. Finke for introducing it.
As you may be aware, there is a torrent of damaging, ill-informed and outright malicious legislation being introduced across the country targeting transgender and gender-expansive people broadly, but trans children in particular," Amber Mom says. "It is our daily experience to be forced to keep track of which state is safe for us to visit."
Minnesota has been overall very accepting and supportive of our family, but even then we don't feel 100% safe and assured that we will be able to get the gender-affirming care that both of my kids need and deserve," Amber Mom adds.
Critics of the bill were also present at the Tuesday hearing.
Rebecca Delahunt, the assistant director of public policy for the Minnesota Family Council, said that the bill "takes away custody from parents or guardians who deny their children access to gender-affirming health care," according to MPRNews.org.
Gender-affirming health care "encompasses a range of social and medical interventions to affirm someone’s internal gender identity, including puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, permanent hair removal, voice therapy, and surgical interventions," according to the write-up hosted by the Minnesota House of Representatives.
Many states have already passed laws restricting certain transgender health care services, particularly those intended for children, within their borders. Other states, as previously said by Christa Moseng, have proposed legislation to either ban or restrict such treatments for transgender people, particularly children.
Utah passed a law prohibiting healthcare providers from giving transgender medical care to minors who don't also have a pre-existing diagnosis of gender dysphoria. That law was signed by Utah Gov. Spencer Cox at the end of January.
Former President Donald Trump recently announced that he would pass a new law, if reelected, that would stop “child sexual mutilation” in all 50 states.
The left-wing gender insanity being pushed on our children is an act of child abuse – very simple,” Trump said in his video.