 So, it is still currently the case that it is socially acceptable and even admirable in many instances to hate on trans people and be openly discriminatory and prejudiced against trans people. And all of this hysteria and fear-mongering over the mere existence of trans people has now amounted to a nationwide push by Republicans in state legislatures across the country to further criminalize the existence of transgender Americans. And a majority of the bills that are being proposed in state legislatures all are aimed at harming trans youth, the most vulnerable of the population. Now, there's a number of bills currently being considered that would literally criminalize healthcare for transgender youth, but Arkansas just did something that's unprecedented. They actually passed a bill that criminalizes healthcare for trans youth, and now it's a question of whether or not their Republican governor is going to sign this into law. And odds are, he will, given that just not too long ago, he banned transgender high schoolers from participating in school sports. So as Andrea Germanos of Common Dreams reports, Arkansas is poised to become the first state in the nation to ban healthcare for trans youth after state lawmakers on Monday passed House Bill 1570. The ACLU of Arkansas warned last week that the legislation, which blocks healthcare providers from providing gender-affirming care or referring patients for such care, was one of the most extreme and harmful anti-trans bills in the country. HP 1570 easily passed the state senate Monday in a 28 to 7 vote. It now heads to Republican Governor Asa Hutchinson, who last week signed into law a ban on transgender girls from participating in school sports. Hutchinson is facing demands to veto HP 1570 because, as the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund put it, trans youth lives are at stake. Critics of the measure include the American Psychological Association, American Medical Association, and American Academy of Pediatrics. Now the reason why all of the experts are against legislation like this is because it's based on misinformation, pseudo-science, and this will literally lead to trans youth dying. So I don't know how much time there'll be between the time I record this and the time that you see this video, but in the event the governor of Arkansas has not signed this into law, perhaps you can persuade him to make the right decision by calling him at 501-682-2345. I'm not necessarily very optimistic here, but this bill, it has a lot more of a concrete impact on the lives of trans youth than the sports bill does, and that in and of itself is harmful. But this is next level. Now the reason why this is so significant is because if Arkansas does it, then other states who are currently considering this sort of legislation might do it as well. It could trigger a domino effect. And in fact, it looked like Alabama was going to be the first state to pass this type of legislation, but Arkansas actually leapfrogged them. But I do want to point you to a vice documentary about this issue in Alabama because they kind of run through how prevalent this anti-trans-wave of legislation is, and it is deeply, deeply troubling if you actually care about trans youth. So far this year, lawmakers in 29 states have introduced legislation targeting trans youth. The majority of these bills would ban trans kids from participating in sports, but 17 states are also trying to make gender-affirming health care illegal. All right, next Dr. Ladinsky. I practice in Birmingham and am part of the subspecialty gender health team. Now here's what we do and what we don't. Genital surgery is never performed on minors in Alabama. Puberty blocking medications are 100% reversible and can be lifesaving. Now some older teens, not seven-year-olds, merit hormonal therapy, but initiation involves lengthy informed consent, lengthy mental health oversight, and the subspecialized care provided. Folks neither parents nor youth are making the decisions on drugs. It's a team, not children. People are looking to Alabama because if this passes here, that may be a green light to do so in other states. Dr. Marissa Ladinsky is one of the few providers in Alabama who specializes in health care for transgender youth. What happens to you if this bill passes? Myself and my colleagues who prescribe these medications would either risk criminalization, a class C felony, 10 years in prison, and a hefty fine. More than anything, I worry about my kids. I'm worried about the message this sends to gender-diverse youth and their family that their health care is now against the law. I'm worried about what happens long-term when you remove hope. More than half of transgender youth have considered killing themselves. Of that group, 41% attempted suicide. Trans advocates are worried that bills like the one in Alabama could make things worse. It definitely will. And conservatives ironically are feigning concern about youth, which is why they want to block them from receiving gender-affirming health care. We're not talking about bottom surgery. We're talking about gender-affirming care in general, right? But this is literally called the safe act, as if they care about these lives when this is going to lead to greater rates of self-harm. Trans youth are going to kill themselves because of legislation like this. And folks who demonize trans Americans all the time, you're part of the problem. You're part of the reason why there's this wave of anti-trans legislation that's happening currently. Now, gender-affirming care for trans youth saves lives. This is not me saying this. This is the conclusion of a meta-analysis conducted by the Trevor Project, who explains pubertal suppression, otherwise known as puberty blockers, is associated with decreased behavioral and emotional problems as well as decreased depressive symptoms. Prior to pubertal suppression, 44% of youth experienced clinically significant behavioral problems. However, after an average of two years of pubertal suppression, only 22% experienced them. And 30% experienced clinically significant emotional problems prior to pubertal suppression compared to 11% after two years of care. Pubertal suppression has also been shown to significantly improve overall psychological functioning after only six months of care. Additionally, transgender individuals who desired and received pubertal suppression as adolescents have significantly lower lifetime suicidal ideation compared to those who desired but did not receive it. Research on gender-affirming hormone therapy for youth demonstrates positive effects on body image and overall psychological well-being as well as reduced suicidality. GAHT decreases both emotional and behavioral problems, similar to what is seen in pubertal suppression. Recent research has also shown that GAHT decreases suicidality with one study of transgender youth demonstrating that after approximately one year of treatment, the average level of suicidality was one-fourth what it was before treatment. There have been many opponents to gender-affirming care for transgender non-binary youth. Some of the hesitants regarding gender-affirming care may be due to a misunderstanding of the causes of mental health challenges to transgender non-binary individuals. This brief demonstrates why such care is not only ethical but medically necessary. I repeat medically necessary. Further, regret is low for gender-affirming care interventions and a study of 55 transgender adults who had received gender-affirming care as adolescents showed that not one individual experienced regret. As the evidence for gender-affirming care grows, medical and mental health organizations are increasingly shifting to support it. Many major medical organizations have guidelines for working with transgender individuals centered around respect for the patient and shared decision-making. With some organizations releasing statements explicitly opposing any efforts to prevent access to gender-affirming care, given the well-documented risks of negative mental health and suicidality outcomes among transgender non-binary people, it is necessary that those serving transgender and non-binary patients provide care that is patient-centered, affirming, and evidence-based. So what the science and the evidence dictates is that this legislation passed in Arkansas and that's being considered in Alabama, this doesn't help trans youth. It doesn't protect trans youth. It has the opposite effect. It harms them. But actually allowing them to have access to gender-affirming health care that drastically improves their lives, their psychological well-being. They're less likely to be suicidal. So if you genuinely care about the well-being of trans youth, then you would support gender-affirming health care if you're following the science that is. But we know that Republicans don't actually care about science. They've never believed in science. And we know that they don't care about trans youth because if they did, they wouldn't be doing something that would quite literally be so detrimental to their well-being that they kill themselves because of it. This is all about Republicans trying to control gender norms in America. Them trying to force people with gender dysphoria to live as the gender they were assigned at birth in the same way that they tried to force gay people to be attracted to the opposite gender. They're on the wrong side of history and anyone who assisted Republicans in this bigotry. I'm talking about popular podcasters like Joe Rogan who spread misinformation about trans youth all the time. The blood is on their hands. Anytime a trans person takes their own life, it is because of fear-mongering and misinformation and fake concern over their well-being. We know what the answer is. And this isn't new information, by the way. We know the answer is to not force them to live as the gender that they were assigned at birth. The answer is to allow them to be who they want to be. It doesn't hurt anyone and tolerance just is apparently, it's out the window, right? It's out the window because we don't want to tolerate the existence of transgender people because that goes against their religion or we don't understand it or maybe we just don't like them. Either way, this is harmful and the saddest part is this is only the beginning of a dangerous new trend in America. Do you remember during the Bush years back in 2004 when he ran his entire presidential campaign on criminalizing gay marriage? That was basically the most recent strong anti-gay era that the most of us remember. We're currently in an anti-trans era in American politics where trans Americans and trans youth of all people are public enemy number one. And this is a war that isn't just political or rhetorical. This is a war that will actually have casualties. Trans youth are at risk and if you actually give a damn about human beings, then you would fight this and speak out against it. Because this is going to lead to people dying and the blood of trans kids that take their own lives because of legislation like this is on the hands of people who don't speak up and push for the demonization of transgender people.