Image Credit: capitol.tn.gov
The Tennessee Conservative [By Kelly M. Jackson] –
Yesterday, Senate Bill 0001 was presented to a crowded hearing room, with several from both sides of the argument in attendance and was eventually passed on to the next stage of the committee process.
Sponsored by State Senator Jack Johnson (R-Franklin-District 27), SB0001, as introduced, prohibits a healthcare provider from performing on a minor or administering to a minor a medical procedure if the performance or administration of the procedure is for the purpose of enabling a minor to identify with, or live as, a purported identity inconsistent with the minor’s sex. – Amends TCA Title 28; Title 29; Title 33; Title 34; Title 36; Title 37; Title 39; Title 40; Title 49; Title 56; Title 63; Title 68 and Title 71.
During the Senate Health and Welfare committee meeting, testimony was received from those who were against the bill, as well as those who were in support of it.
Testimony was first given by those who are against the bill. Dr. Alison Styles, a physician from Memphis, called the bill bigoted, and the product of “fear mongering” from “false rhetoric that we are doing sex change operations on our children” leading to a law that would outlaw “all gender affirming care”.
The second person to present to the committee was a woman who testified that “gender affirming care” saved the life of “her son” who was born to her a daughter, but at some point, in middle school had decided that they identified as male and wished to have their physical body match their feelings. She stressed the importance of the treatment in being the only reason her “son” was still alive as threats of suicide were ever present.
Those who testified in support of the bill were Dr. Omar Hamada, a Nashville Physician, and Landon Starbuck, Victim Advocate of minors who have been subjected to sexual abuse and human trafficking.
Dr. Hamada’s message was essentially that there are just as many studies that indicate that gender dysphoria cannot be cured in teens and those even younger with the assistance of sex reassignment procedures. He went on to state that, in fact, the suicide rate in younger people vs those who transition as adults is virtually the same. He said “there is no scientific support that gender corrective surgery reduces the risk of suicide. To use suicide as a rationale to allow these procedures in adolescents is intentionally misleading and immoral”.
Landon Starbuck reinforced Dr Hamada’s assertions with her own data and added that the phenomenon of suicide among transgender youth is the product of “social contagion, meaning the more it occurs and is being talked about the more likely vulnerable kids will kill themselves.”
Starbuck added, that trans-identified teens are encouraged by social media and members of the “transgender industry” to threaten suicide if parents are reluctant to assist in a gender transition process.
After all testimony was given, and an attempt to add amendments to the bill by committee member Jeff Yarbro (D- Nashville-District 21) were rejected, the bill was recommended for passage to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Senators Crowe, Haile, Hensley, Jackson, Massey, Reeves, Swann, Watson voting in the affirmative, and Senator Yarbro was the lone “No” vote.
The bill will now move on to the next stage in the committee process, and if passed and signed into law, will take effect July 1st, 2024.
About the Author: Kelly Jackson is a recent escapee from corporate America, and a California refugee to Tennessee. Christ follower, Wife and Mom of three amazing teenagers. She has a BA in Comm from Point Loma Nazarene University, and has a background in law enforcement and human resources. Since the summer of 2020, she has spent any and all free time in the trenches with local grassroots orgs, including Mom’s for Liberty Williamson County and Tennessee Stands as a core member. Outspoken advocate for parents rights, medical freedom, and individual liberty.
One Response
Thank goodness some people do have common sense. For many years gender dysphoria in teens was listed as a psychiatric disorder and children were counciled and eventually they outgrew their confusion Drs did not encourage their confusion just to make money. This has to stop