SAINT PAUL, Minn. – This morning, the Minnesota House approved HF 146, a bill to make Minnesota a Trans Refuge state. The legislation authored by Rep. Leigh Finke (DFL-Saint Paul), prevents out-of-state laws from interfering in the practice of gender-affirming health care.
Rep. Liz Olson (DFL – Duluth) voted for the bill.
“This legislation will ensure transgender and gender-expansive people are loved, valued, and protected in our state. Gender affirming care is essential for the health and well-being of transgender people. It improves mental health, reduces suicide risk, and improves overall quality of life,” Rep. Olson “While other states are enacting destructive, dehumanizing, and discriminatory laws, Minnesota is leading the way in protecting trans people, their families, and medical providers.”
Legislators in at least 24 states have introduced legislation that would restrict or outright prohibit trans youth from receiving gender-affirming care, a wide range of social and medical interventions to affirm one’s internal gender identity that may include puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, voice therapy, and surgical interventions. Governors in eight of those states – Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Mississippi, Tennessee, Utah, and South Dakota – have signed such restrictions into law.
Gender-affirming care is recognized as safe, evidence-based, and medically necessary by the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the Endocrine Society, the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine, the American Psychiatric Association, and the United States Department of Health & Human Services. Research indicates that withholding or delaying gender-affirming care can have dramatic impacts on the mental health of individuals who need it; trans and gender expansive people who lack access to this care face higher rates of depression, suicide, and substance abuse, while those who receive care have dramatically improved health outcomes.
The bill is currently moving through the committee process in the Minnesota Senate.