At least one local legislator signed on to each of the three bills related to transgender youth that passed the Wyoming Senate this month and now proceed to the House of Representatives.
Felony
Wyoming Rep. Pepper Ottman, R-Riverton, is a co-sponsor on Senate File 111, which would make it a felony to change a child’s sex.
She spoke in favor of the bill when it was introduced to the Senate Labor, Health and Social Services Committee last month.
“It’s (meant) to handle something specifically, and that’s mutilation of the body of a child,” she said. “To remove breasts, to remove testicles, to create different things in a young person’s body at a time when they are developing physically and mentally and emotionally is just cruel and unusual. …
“When they (are) adults they could make that decision themselves.”
Ottman noted that the bill would allow medical treatment for children born with “ambiguous sexual identity” up to the age of 4, among other exceptions.
When SF 111 reached the Senate floor this month, Wyoming Sen. Cale Case, R-Lander, argued against the legislation, which he says would interfere with parental responsibilities.
“I can’t think of anybody that cares more about the welfare of their children than the parents,” Case said. “We often hear that in (the legislature): ‘Don’t let the state interfere with the relationship between parents and child. Make sure we have other educational alternatives available. Make sure the state doesn’t overly stick ourselves in the relationship between parents and children.”
The same concept applies to the relationship between patients and their physicians, he continued, urging the legislature to let groups like the American Medical Association “grapple with this” and “come up with guidelines just like they do on everything else.”
“They work these things all the time, and they take into account the science and the evolution (of) our state of medical understanding,” Case said. “We don’t need to be between (families) and the medical professionals. We don’t need to be between parents and their children. This is a horrible place to be, and I hope we’ll not pass this bill.”
The Senate approved SF 111 in a 22-9 vote on third reading last week, with Case voting “no” and Wyoming Sens. Ed Cooper, R-Ten Sleep, and Tim Salazar, R-Riverton, voting “aye.”
Sports
Ottman and Salazar both co-sponsored Senate File 133, which would prohibit male students from competing on teams designated for female students.
The legislation would also create a “school activity eligibility commission” that would decide whether students who have undergone or are undergoing gender transitions can participate in “a gender-designated interscholastic activity” that doesn’t correspond with their “biological sex.”
The Senate approved SF 133 in a 28-3 vote on third reading this week, with Case voting “no” and Cooper and Salazar voting “aye.”
Phyician restrictions
Wyoming Rep. John Winter, R-Thermopolis, is a co-sponsor of Senate File 144, which would prohibit physicians from “performing procedures for children related to gender transitioning and gender reassignment” – unless the child has a “medically verifiable genetic disorder of sex development” or “medically verifiable central precocious puberty.”
Performing such procedures would be “grounds for suspension or revocation of a physician’s or health care provider’s license,” the bill states.
SF 144 also prohibits insurance coverage for children for gender transitioning and reassignment procedures, with the same exceptions.
The Senate approved SF 144 in a 26-5 vote this week, with Case voting “no” and Cooper and Salazar voting “aye.”