By Staff Reporter |

The Arizona House has passed a bill banning gender transitions for minors.

HB 2085 not only bans gender transition procedures to minors, it bans referrals and distribution of public funding to gender transition procedures. The bill defined procedures to include puberty blockers and hormone replacement drugs. 

The legislation did include exemptions for individuals who were born with sex development disorders; who were endangered due to a physical disorder, physical injury, or physical illness; or who sustained an infection, injury, disease, or disorder caused or exacerbated by a gender transition procedure.

It is likely this bill is dead on arrival should it pass the Senate and hit the governor’s desk. Gov. Katie Hobbs supports gender transition procedures for minors, and her husband, Patrick Goodman, assisted children with gender transitions as a Phoenix Children’s Hospital Gender Support Program counselor. 

The partisan divide was clear during House floor arguments for and against the bill. 

Democrats argued HB 2085 violates parental and medical freedom. 

Rep. Nancy Gutierrez (D-LD18), assistant minority leader, claimed parents had the right to decide for their children to transition their children.

Rep. Betty Villegas (D-LD20) argued puberty blockers and hormone therapies should be acceptable for gender transitions since they’re used to treat other ailments and defects. 

Rep. Janeen Connolly (D-LD8) said gender transitions were a personal decision that should be beyond the scope of lawmakers. Connolly shared that one of her grandchildren, now 17 and identifying as “they/them,” had transitioned genders at 12 years old.

Rep. Stephanie Simacek (D-LD2) argued these decisions to transition genders weren’t made in haste since minors relied on parental consent to make the decision.

Across the aisle, Republicans argued the gender transitions of minors amounted to child abuse. 

Rep. Lisa Fink (R-LD27), the bill sponsor, argued that allowing the puberty process to occur uninhibited was the prevailing treatment for gender dysphoria. Fink read off the myriad adverse health effects of puberty blockers and hormone replacement medications when applied to healthy children seeking gender transitions. 

Rep. Rachel Keshel (R-LD17) accused those in support of gender transitions for minors of being inconsistent in their logic. 

“It is my opinion that a parent that allows a child to permanently alter their body and potentially take away their ability to be parent one day, that is child abuse,” said Keshel. 

Rep. Pamela Carter (R-LD4) countered that gender transitions don’t qualify as valid healthcare, and therefore not within the acceptable bounds of health decisions parents may make on behalf of their children. 

“The physicians even now are stopping some of these procedures because they see the results of what happens to a minor when they realize what has happened: they cannot have children, or they are marred physically, emotionally for life,” said Carter. “Parents should be in charge of their children’s health, but to me this is not healthcare.” 

Rep. Alexander Kolodin (R-LD3) questioned how Democrats could support irreversible procedures for minors given the universal agreement on age limits for other activities.

“Point of fact, there are many things our society does not allow minors to do: we don’t allow minors, at least up to a certain age, to drive. We don’t allow them to vote. We don’t allow them to drink. We don’t allow them to smoke,” said Kolodin. “We don’t even allow them to get tattoos because we’re worried that one day they will regret that decision. How much more so then should we not allow minors to engage in elective surgery that permanently disfigures them?”

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