The mayor of Boise, Idaho is claiming that the state’s bill banning gender reassignment surgeries for minors “endangers kids.”
House Bill 675 makes it a felony for anyone who “knowingly engages in any of the following practices upon a child that circumcise, excise, infibulate, or mutilate the reproductive organs and parts of a child, for the purpose of attempting to change or affirm the child’s perception of the child’s sex if that perception is inconsistent with the child’s biological sex.”
The bill bans surgeries, puberty blockers, and hormone treatment — procedures often referred to by transgender activists and liberal media as “gender-affirming care.”
Boise mayor Lauren McLean, a Democrat, said in a statement that she is “committed to ensuring every kid in Boise has a chance to grow up safe.” She did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Daily Wire.
“House Bill 675 does the opposite and not only endangers kids in Boise, but across Idaho,” she added. “Transgender youth are under an incredible amount of stress that often leads to depression and suicide. Age-appropriate, medically necessary, best practice gender-affirming health care can save their lives.”
McLean said that the bill would “make that care illegal and attempts to question and scrutinize the very existence of transgender youth, who are our family members, friends, and neighbors.”
“I hope the Idaho Senate respects these young people, their parents, and their doctors enough to allow them to make these decisions themselves without legislative interference,” she added.
Republican state Rep. Bruce Skaug, the author of the bill, said that it is about “protecting children” — a move that he called “a legitimate state interest,” according to the local outlet KTVB.
“We need to stop sterilizing and mutilating children under the age of 18,” he added, the publication reported. “This bill is not about the adults or adult trans community at all; it is about children.”
Idaho’s state legislature unanimously passed the Idaho Code 18-1506b in 2019, Skaug told KTVB, legislation that outlawed the genital mutilation of a female child. Now lawmakers are asking that this law be amended to include boys as well.
“If we do not allow minors to get tattoos, smoke cigarettes, and drink alcohol or sign legal contracts why would we allow them to make decisions to cut away organs based on their feelings during puberty time,” Skaug questioned. “That’s wrong, they’re not ready for that.”
Idaho’s controversy comes after Governor Greg Abbott (R-TX) directed the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services to investigate the parents of children who have undergone “so-called ‘sex change’ procedures.”
President Joe Biden’s administration warned last week that it would take “immediate action if needed” to protect children involved in transgender surgery procedures.
“This is government overreach at its worst,” Biden said in a statement. “Like so many anti-transgender attacks proliferating in states across the country, the Governor’s actions callously threaten to harm children and their families just to score political points.
“These actions are terrifying many families in Texas and beyond,” he added. “And they must stop.”