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Susan Young is the Bangor Daily News opinion editor.
On Tuesday, a federal judge in Florida issued an injunction blocking the state from enforcing a ban on gender affirming care for three children.
The ruling was called “scathing” and “stinging.” A different word came to mind for me: humanity.
What I read in Judge Robert Hinkle’s ruling was a call to common sense, dignity, compassion and love, all things that are far too often missing in recent debates over taking away the rights and health care of transgender Americans.
I understand that talking about the gender, and yes, sexuality, of children can be difficult and uncomfortable. I, at one time, wondered if some children were too young to understand their gender and to transition to a gender they feel is right for them.
But, as Hinkle urged in his ruling, people need to listen to the children, their parents and their health care providers to understand how vital — and sometimes life-saving — this care and these transitions can be.
As Hinkle said emphatically, and repeatedly, in his ruling: “Gender identity is real.” He then explained gender dysphoria and its treatment, based on science, and lambasted those who suggested that being transgender was a choice.
They are powerful words at a time when too many politicians, nearly all of them members of the Republican Party, are maligning, mocking and, in some cases, seeking to erase transgender people.
There’s a lot of legal jargon in Hinkle’s ruling, as there always is in a court order. And, the order is narrow as it applies only to the three Florida plaintiffs, whose families sued after the passage of a new Florida law that would ban their gender-affirming care. But, the 44-page ruling clearly and repeatedly reiterates the existence and humanity of transgender Americans.
The judge shared brief stories of each of the three children involved in the case (they are all using pseudonyms.) An overarching theme was that they felt anxiety and distress when living, and being treated, as the genders they were assigned at birth. All expressed that they felt they were a different gender. Their parents sought guidance and medical help and all were advised to let their children transition, first socially and then, if appropriate for their age, medically. The parents said their children were happier and more secure when they were allowed to be the gender that they themselves identified as.
“I find that the plaintiffs’ ability to evaluate the benefits and risks of treating their individual children this way far exceeds the ability of the State of Florida to do so,” he wrote. In other words, trust the parents.
“I find that the plaintiffs’ motivation is love for their children and the desire to achieve the best possible treatment for them. This is not the state’s motivation,” Hinkle wrote.
Instead, he wrote, Florida politicians who enacted the ban and the state officials who supported such bans were motivated by politics, and bigotry.
Hinkle also dismissed claims made by supporters of the Florida ban that the many medical organizations that have endorsed gender affirming treatment did so for political reasons, or that they are “woke.”
“The overwhelming majority of doctors are dedicated professionals whose first goal is the safe and effective treatment of their patients. There is no reason to believe the doctors who adopted these standards were motivated by anything else,” Hinkle wrote.
The judge, unlike many politicians, based his rulings on research and medical evidence, not scary, unfounded anecdotes or innuendo. He chronicled the real harm — including anxiety, depression and suicidal ideation — that can come with untreated gender dysphoria. This contrasts with absurd claims, lacking in evidence, from people like former South Carolina governor and current GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley that shocking the number of teenage girls considering suicide is somehow connected to transgender girls being in their sports locker rooms.
An alarming number of teenage girls have considered suicide, and we must address this. But, LGBTQ+ youth are more likely to have suicidal thoughts than their cisgender peers. The risk is shockingly high among transgender youth. Studies have found that receiving gender-affirming care, like what the Florida judge upheld, substantially reduces the risk of suicide and depression among transgender youth.
Making false and unsubstantiated claims about transgender youth and portraying them as dangerous is in fact dangerous to those kids. LGBTQ youth and students of color say they feel attacked and less safe as conservative groups and lawmakers seek to ban books about them and in the case of trangender youth, seek to ban their care, the Associated Press reported this week.
This Pride Month, and every day, those who seek to marginalize and malign people who are different should instead take a page from Hinkle’s book and consider and respect the humanity and dignity of every person.
