For this week’s weekly post, I selected an article that discusses how a federal judge in Tulsa refused to block an Oklahoma law that makes providing gender-affirming health care to young transgender people a felony offense. As a result of the new law, medical treatments, such as puberty-blocking drugs and hormones, will no longer be available for people under the age of 18 in Oklahoma. The law was passed by Oklahoma’s Republican-controlled Legislature and signed by Gov. Kevin Stitt in May. Until recently, enforcement of the law was on hold. For minors already receiving cross-sex hormones or puberty-blocking drugs, this law allows a six-month transition period. Those six months are nearly over, and the deadline is early next month. For young transgender people and their families, the judge’s decision was devastating, as it offered some hope of stopping the law from taking hold. There has been some opposition to the law’s enforcement, as it faces a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Oklahoma, Lambda Legal, and Jenner & Block LLP. In addition to Oklahoma, at least 22 other states have passed similar laws that prohibit or restrict gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors and they face similar lawsuits. One example of a similar situation is Arkansas. Arkansas was the first state to ban gender-affirming medical care for minors. However, Arkansas’ ban was declared unconstitutional by a federal judge in June. This was the first ruling to overturn a ban related to these issues.
After reading this article, it bothered me to see how children’s rights are taken away in this day and age. Last semester I wrote a paper on children’s rights on a global scale, and I didn’t mention this topic because it didn’t occur to me at the time. However, one could argue that denying children access to gender-affirming healthcare is an infringement on their rights. Children’s rights continue to be a pressing global issue everywhere, not just in third-world countries or the global south. In the past, children’s rights have not been protected, which is not surprising given their vulnerable status and lack of agency as they do not have the ability to advocate for themselves. It is very troubling to see the way things are heading and the impact such laws will have on the lives of many people who are already often marginalized.