The South Carolina Democrat Party (SCDP) slammed state Rep. Cezar McKnight (D-101) after McKnight introduced legislation this month that would ban minors from undergoing sex reassignment surgery or receiving puberty blockers.
“House Bill 4047 will criminalize not just the affirmation of one’s gender, but would turn teachers and faculty into criminals for simply listening to students,” SCDP Chairman Trav Robertson, Jr., said in a statement. “Government should never replace the advice of sound medical counsel, provided by professional practitioners. While the author of this bill is a Democrat, I ask all Democratic legislators to stand in firm opposition to this bill.”
The Associated Press reported this week that the SCDP approved a resolution condemning the bill, known as the “South Carolina Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act.”
The resolution claimed that the bill was “ill-founded, unscientific, and apt to result in death and other negative outcomes for transgender citizens of all ages, and the South Carolina Democratic Party thus condemns this outrageous bill – and its Democratic supporters – in the strongest possible terms.”
“Bigotry will find no quarter among South Carolina Democrats, and those who embrace bigotry of any kind will face broad opposition and our most vigorous condemnation,” the resolution concluded.
After McKnight’s bill was introduced, leaders of the South Carolina Democratic Party approved a resolution saying the party “condemns this outrageous bill — and its Democratic supporters — in the strongest possible terms.”
— Meg Kinnard (@MegKinnardAP) March 17, 2021
The bill, which has support so far from nearly two dozen Republican lawmakers, would ban minors from receiving transgender surgeries and medical treatments and would charge any violators with felonies and risk potential prison sentences of up to 20 years.
The bill states in part:
…no person shall engage in, counsel, make a referral for, or cause any of the following practices to be performed upon a minor if the practice is performed for the purpose of attempting to alter the appearance of or affirm the minor’s perception of the minor’s gender or sex, if that perception is inconsistent with the minor’s sex as defined in this chapter:
(1) prescribing, dispensing, administering, or otherwise supplying puberty-blocking medication to stop or delay normal puberty;
(2) prescribing, dispensing, administering, or otherwise supplying supraphysiologic doses of testosterone or other androgens to females;
(3) prescribing, dispensing, administering, or otherwise supplying supraphysiologic doses of estrogen to males;
(4) performing surgeries that sterilize, including castration, vasectomy, hysterectomy, oophorectomy, orchiectomy, and penectomy;
(5) performing surgeries that artificially construct tissue with the appearance of genitalia that differs from the individual’s sex, including metoidioplasty, phalloplasty, and vaginoplasty; or
(6) removing any healthy or nondiseased body part or tissue.
McKnight, whose district is two-thirds black and overwhelmingly Democrat, said that he has had strong support in his district for this and noted that his bill is not about discrimination, but rather making sure people are old enough to understand the consequences of such life-altering decisions.
“Black Democrats tend to be more conservative than white progressives,” McKnight told AP reporter Meg Kinnard. “I would not have ever put this bill forward if I didn’t think the people in my district wouldn’t be receptive, and they are. Pastors, young parents, older parents, they all tell me the same thing: if you want to do this, wait until you’re 18.”
H Bill 4047 does not discriminate against anyone. It requires a person to be at least 18 years old before being able to undergo transgender procedures. You have to be 18 to get a tattoo. Surely you need to be an adult to change your gender?
— Cezar E. McKnight (@cezarmcknight) March 11, 2021