transgender

South Carolina lawmakers on Wednesday debated proposed restrictions on health care for transgender youth, while a Missouri legislative committee discussed a slew of like-minded proposals.

A South Carolina man will be sentenced after he pleaded guilty to obstructing an investigation in the 2019 death of a Black transgender woman, the U.S. Attorney's Office of South Carolina said Thursday, Oct. 26, 2023.

Bodily autonomy is at the heart of conversations over abortion and transgender rights. And that's before you get to the mental health effects of pregnancy for trans men assigned female at birth.

As more than a dozen states pass bans on transgender healthcare for minors, South Carolina activists hope they've won the battle here another year

South Carolina advocacy groups are showing out in opposition to a ban on gender-affirming medical care for minors as it moves through the state Legislature. About five dozen opponents rallied outside the South Carolina State House Wednesday as a Senate subcommittee advanced a ban on gender-transition surgeries, hormone therapy and puberty blockers for people under the age of 18. The vote joins South Carolina with a broader effort in Republican-dominated legislatures across the country. At least 10 states have enacted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming care for minors. Republican state Sen. Josh Kimbrell says children need to be protected from "whims." Transgender youth and their parents say the treatment can be life-saving.

A bill in Kansas and similar legislation in at least seven other states have LGBTQ-rights advocates worrying about a sweeping Republican-led effort to erase the legal existence of transgender men and women. A Kansas Senate committee could vote next week on a measure that would define what it means to be male and female in state law, basing people's legal gender identities on their anatomy at birth. Critics say such measures could prevent transgender people from changing their driver's licenses and birth certificates so that they match their gender identities. Those behind the bills say they're responding to parents and others who are uncomfortable with "biological men" or "biological boys" sharing spaces meant for women and girls.

Republican state lawmakers are following up a midterm election and record flow of anti-transgender legislation last year by zeroing in on bodily autonomy with proposals to limit gender-affirming health care and abortion access. More than two dozen bills seeking to restrict transgender health care access have been pre-filed in 11 states. Other bills targeting transgender people are expected in several additional states with GOP majorities.

Many trans patients have trouble getting their insurers to cover gender-affirming care. One reason is transphobia within the U.S. health care system, but another involves how medical diagnoses and procedures are coded for insurance companies. Nationwide, health care providers use a list of diagnostic codes provided by the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, or ICD-10. And many of those, advocates for transgender people say, haven’t caught up to the needs of patients.

The new law lets health care providers refuse nonemergency care that conflicts with their religious, moral or ethical beliefs. Supporters say it protects doctors, nurses and medical students from being forced to violate their conscience. However, critics call the law a license to discriminate, especially against LGBTQ people.

South Carolina's Republican governor has quietly signed into law a bill that would ban transgender students from playing girls' or women's sports in public schools and colleges. Gov. Henry McMaster's signature Monday means South Carolina joins about a dozen other states that have passed similar laws requiring transgender students to compete with the gender listed on their birth certificates. McMaster didn't issue a statement after signing the bill, but said earlier this month he thought "girls ought to play girls and the boys ought to play boys. That's the way we've always done it." Opponents of the law say it singles out students who aren't elite athletes but are just looking for a way to be a regular student.