Delaware bill would ban gender transition surgery for children

DOVER, Del. – A new bill in Delaware would ban children from undergoing gender transition surgery.

Senate Bill 55,  if passed, would ban gender transition surgery for minors and prohibit the use of public funds and insurance coverage to pay for it.

Republicans introduced the legislation on Thursday that they say would protect children from undergoing what they describe as life-altering and irrevocable procedure.

“Children are among our most vulnerable and it’s important that we protect them from being subjected to life-altering drugs and procedures,” explained the bill’s primary sponsor, State Senator Bryant Richardson. “I support President Trump’s executive order surrounding this issue and it is time we codified these protections in Delaware.”

The legislation is seeped in controversy and now has trans-equality advocates speaking out, condemning the bill which they argue could actually be harmful to transgender children.

“We know that trans children are six times more likely to be on the neurodivergent spectrum, and that is one of these reasons because you block that sense of self, and so they don’t have their true sense of self,” explained Kathy Carpenter Brown, co-founder of TransLiance, a social advocacy group for the local trans community.

The legislation currently awaits consideration in the Senate Health and Social Services Committee.