PHOENIX — State senators are using the claim children are being "mutilated'' by transgender surgery to block any form of hormones or medical intervention for transgender children — even though it's been illegal for years for doctors to conduct "gender-affirming surgery'' on minors.
"We are now starting to see these children grow up,'' said Senate President Warren Petersen, a Gilbert Republican. "They have been mutilated, they have been chemically castrated, they have been basically treated as experiments by adults. This is a barbaric practice, this is torture, mutilation.''
But a 2022 law already makes it a crime to perform "irreversible gender reassignment surgery'' on minors.
That did not stop proponents of Senate Bill 1095 from advancing the new measure, which would prevent minors who are already getting other treatments, such as hormone treatments, from receiving further such care from their doctors in Arizona.
"Blocking access to these drugs for the minors who rely upon them is cruel and dehumanizing,'' said Tempe Democratic Sen. Lauren Kuby. "Because, you know what happens when you stop using puberty blockers?" Puberty restarts, she answered.
Kuby said doctors already follow a standard of care. "Why are we interfering with that standard of care?'' she asked. "Any decision to move down this path of puberty blockers or hormones is already taken slowly according to specified criteria based on medical science.''
She said all medical treatment is done with informed consent of both the minor and the parents.
Other measures approved
The legislative move to further restrict certain care for transgender individuals was just one of several measures also approved Monday by the Republican-controlled Senate on party-line votes.
Other measures would:
• Restrict the use of bathrooms and locker rooms at schools to the gender a student was assigned at birth;
• Prohibit teachers from referring to a student by a preferred pronoun or name unless the parents first approved;
• Making doctors who perform gender transition procedures on minors subject to strict personal liability for all costs if that person wants to "detransition'' within 25 years of when the process starts.
All the measures now go to the Republican-controlled House.
The proposals about bathrooms and pronouns are being put into a single measure — and done in a way so the last word would be up to voters in November. That is designed to get around Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs, who has vetoed both of these ideas in the past.
Monday's votes came over the objections of Democrats who said all the measures send a message to transgender children that the state is trying to "erase'' them.
The Arizona Capitol complex in Phoenix.
But Prescott Republican Sen. Mark Finchem said the issue is more basic.
"The operable word in this bill is 'minors,' not adults capable of making long-term decisions,'' Finchem said. He pointed out that lawmakers have decided minors cannot legally buy cigarettes, alcohol or certain other products "because it damages their bodies.''
But Finchem, like Petersen, promoted the bill based on surgery issues, even though the surgery is already illegal.
"It's been testified in hearings that many of these young people were convinced that if they didn't alter their body ... they'd kill themselves,'' Finchem said. "I think it's reprehensible for a medical professional to tell a child that,'' saying they are "children incapable of making decisions that are long-term.''
He insisted that some of what passes for a person's belief he or she is in the wrong body is transitory.
"When you have a young lady who thinks she is a tomboy — and I know plenty of them, that's kind of a country thing — they move past that given time, and they work through whatever adolescent challenges they might have,'' he said.
But Kuby, in discussing the related measure about physician liability, said there is no data to suggest there is a large percentage of people who, having undergone sexual reassignment, are looking to go back.
She said a survey of more than 84,000 transgender, non-binary and gender nonconforming people who were older than 18 found that less than one-half percent had detransitioned back to the gender of their birth.
"The same survey said 98% felt happier and healthy after they embraced the person they were meant to be,'' Kuby said.
Sets a bad precedent, opponent says
Phoenix Democratic Sen. Analise Ortiz argued there is a broader reason for lawmakers to reject any effort to decide what medical treatments are available. She said it sets a bad precedent.
"If we pass something as broad and far-reaching as SB 1095 for one medical treatment today, what stops this (Senate) body from doing it to other medical treatments or procedures?'' she asked. "What's the next procedure we will attack because it offends the sensibilities of someone on this floor?'' Ortiz asked, mentioning in-vitro fertilization, birth control and certain vaccinations.
On the bathrooms issue, Senate Concurrent Resolution 1006 is a retread of previously vetoed efforts, sponsored by Senate Majority Leader John Kavanagh, to control who uses what bathrooms and locker rooms and whether the state will allow teachers to address students by the name or pronoun of their choice.
The Fountain Hills Republican said the underlying issue is his belief that voters, who will get to decide the issue, do not believe there is such a thing as transgenderism.
"Our society has not gotten to that point where a sizable number of people think that you can will yourself to a different biological gender,'' he said. He said his proposal "recognizes that human beings have modesty, especially that 16-year-old female who may have to be standing in an open school shower next to an 18-year-old biological male who identifies as female.''
Foes questioned whether open showers even exist in most schools. But they also asked exactly how all this would be enforced.
"What are we going to have, the penis police here?'' asked Kuby.
Senate Minority Leader Priya Sundareshan, a Tucson Democrat, said there's more in SCR 1006, which senators voted to put on the ballot. She said it says if someone was born a boy, a teacher must address that person as "he.'' Nor could the teacher respect a biological male student's request to be called a different name than normally aligns with his or her gender.
"I really do not understand the Republican obsession with genitals, children's genitals, here, when it's no surprise the leader of their party, the president of the United States, continues to block accountability for the Epstein files,'' said Sundareshan.
Kavanagh, however, said the issue of preferred pronouns is important. He said it may be an indication of gender dysphoria, something that should be brought to a parent's attention because it could lead to suicide.
Tempe Democratic Sen. Mitzi Epstein said it is true that depression and suicide are higher among transgender individuals. "And the reason is not because of who they are,'' she said. "The reason for that depression is because of the way that society treats them. And the way that society treats them is shown in bills like this.''
Proposals dealing with the question of biological sex versus gender are not new at the Legislature.
There is, for example, a 2022 law that says school sports designated for women or girls "may not be open to students of the male sex.'' By "sex,'' the law means the one assigned at birth.
There are also efforts to overrule a federal judge's decision that individuals undergoing transition are entitled to seek an amended birth certificate from the Arizona Department of Health Services.
