Elliot Page Calls Out 'Deadly' Anti-Trans Bills Focused on Youth

Elliot Page called out Alabama lawmakers in a tweet on Friday for two proposed pieces of legislation that would make it a crime to provide medically necessary treatment and counseling for trans youth. The Senate version of the bill passed last week and the House is expected to vote later this week on their version of the anti-trans legislation.

"Efforts to criminalize trans kids are deadly and we need to fight back against Alabama's HB1/SB10," Page tweeted. Saying "trans kid's lives depends on stopping this bill," they asked followers to contact lawmakers to make their objections known.

The House version of the bill named HB1, like its sister senate bill SB10, claims the "long-term effects and safety of the administration of puberty blocking medications and cross-sex hormones to gender incongruent children have not been rigorously studied" and that "absent rigorous studies showing their long-term safety and positive benefits" their use with trans children "constitutes dangerous and uncontrolled human medical experimentation that may result in grave and irreversible consequences to their physical and mental health."

The proposed bill makes it a crime to provide specific medical treatment or counseling for a minor if it is "inconsistent with the minor's biological sex." HB1 also makes it illegal for doctors or educators to exclude parents from any discussions with trans youth that encourages the "perception" that their identity is different than their biological sex -- this would mean schools would have to out the youth to their parents. SB10 would make it a felony to provide gender-affirming care, possibly punishing those who provide it to trans youth under the age of 19 with up to 15 years in prison or a $15,000 fine.

Activists and medical experts strongly disagreed with the claims made in the bill and warned of the dangers of denying targeted medical care to trans youth.

"This legislation will endanger young trans lives in Alabama," Sam Brinton, vice president of advocacy and government affairs at the Trevor Project, said in a statement on passage of the Senate bill. "It contradicts the consensus of major medical associations and the overwhelming evidence that demonstrates how affirming transgender and nonbinary youth in their identities reduces suicide risk and improves health."

Legislation around trans youth has proliferated over the past year. At least two dozen states have introduced bills that would ban transgender girls from competing on girls sports teams in public high schoo. As AP finds, "in almost every case, sponsors cannot cite a single instance in their own state or region where such participation has caused problems." In addition, some 16 states have introduced states that would intefere with gender-affirming care for trans youth according to ABC.

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