Governor Patrick Morrisey signed the Senate Bill 474 and Senate Bill 299.
Patrick Morrisey, Governor of West Virginia, celebrated the signing of laws on Wednesday, which ended a close exception of the state’s prohibition of gender-specific care for transgender matters and a further law to terminate diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
Morrisey considered the ceremonial law connection to Senate Bill 299 And SB 474 In the Summers County Memorial Building in Hinton on Wednesday morning.
In 2023, the legislators of the state passed a strict prohibition of gender care for minors, including a ban on gender -known operations for minors. This law made it possible for children in whom a severe gender dysphoria was diagnosed, medical therapy, including hormonal treatment, when they are classified as a suicide risk.
SB 299 ends this exception and prohibits hormone treatment for children in which a severe gender dysphoria was diagnosed.
“In 2023, the state passed laws that ban these practices for minors, but it left a gap, something through which you could drive a truck,” said Morrisey. “And that was used by doctors to continue mutilating our children. Today I will also solemn Senate Bill 299 to close this gap and officially end the practice of mutilation of children in West Virginia.”
Gender operations are not and were not practiced for children in West Virginia, according to several medical experts and service providers who have testified on the legislator in recent years.
Medical treatments For children with gender dysphoria, the prescription of certain hormones or hormone blockers can encompass the beginning of puberty in order to stop the development of eternal physical characteristics that do not match the child’s gender identity. Show studies These medical interventions are very successful in preventing long -term and solemn psychological problems -including depression, anxiety and suicide thoughts that occur more often in transgender youth and more often than their Cisgender colleagues.
Accordingly A survey of 2024 According to the LGBTQ interest representation of the Trevor project, 51% of trans- and non-binary children in West Virginia looked at suicide in the previous year, while 16% of them tried suicide.
The legislation was adopted with a vote of the delegate from 86 to 12 and 32 to 2 votes in the Senate.
Proponents of the law argued, minors should not be allowed to make a potentially irreversible decision. As a minor, the parents or legal guardians of a patient would have agreed with medical treatments.
The legislation was rejected by the American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia, which described gender -specific care as “life -saving”.
Around 100 newborn people in the state currently receive gender -specific care, and the measure will stop their medical care in August. The legislation has exceptions to enable individuals with problems with gender development or someone who has already subjected gender -specific care operations to continue to receive hormonal treatment.
NationwideStates that have introduced bans for gender -known care for children have seen A significant raise In the case of suicide attempts for transgender and gender notations in the years after the prohibited.
Doctors Warned the legislator West Virginia During the session that SB 299 becomes a law, they will probably be recorded for an raise in anxiety, depression and suicide among the trans- and non-binary children of the state.
End dei in West Virginia
SB 474, the DEI initiatives ended, was a priority for Morrisey. The invoice forbids the offer of specific services or opportunities for people based on their breed, color, ethnicity, country of origin and in some cases sex. It applies to Dei guidelines and initiatives in state and local governments and schools, including universities in university formation.
Morrisey described the programs as a “big problem” on Wednesday and said they were “blooming” in the state.
“We had to tidy up this chaos and I’m proud of it, but that’s really important and here it is why it is important: I want everyone to understand that everyone should be treated with dignity and respect,” said Morrisey. “We should look at people both under the eyes of God and the rule of law. This is about … don’t let anyone try to convince you that this is something other than that.”
Democrats in the Senate legal concerns About legislation and “a number of process -related irregularities” when the Republicans passed the legislation in the last minutes the legislative period. The ACLU-WV has threatened to complain when the draft law became law.
