On March 25, 2023, FIST sent a statement to the Missouri legislature supporting a bill that would ban medicalized transition for children under 18. The letter declared in part, “Child transition involving puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgeries that remove or modify healthy body parts are extremely sexist and homophobic practices. They disproportionately harm a growing number of girls, most of whom are same sex attracted, i.e., are likely to become lesbians, and girls that don’t fit in with sex stereotypes of traditional “femininity” imposed on them by a sexist society.
Medical transition is experimental, cosmetic, and doesn’t cure anything. Instead, it results in sterilization, prevents proper development of brains and bones, and causes other permanent physical disabilities and shortened life spans. No child is born in the wrong body! As feminists solidly on the Left, we call for saving the tomboys and future lesbians and feminists as well as all children struggling with being different from these permanent medical harms.”
The bill passed the Missouri Senate and is now pending in the House. If it passes, it will join a number of other states that have passed similar laws. According to ABC News, “At least 11 states — Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, South Dakota, Tennessee and Utah — have passed laws or policies that restrict gender-affirming care for people under the age of legal majority, which is the threshold for legal adulthood.”
FIST is highly appreciative of the work of Scott/Kellie Newgent who has been traveling all over the country working on bills to protect children and who encouraged our participation in this campaign. Please support her work at trevoices.org.