Tennessee Republicans on Wednesday introduced a measure to prohibit transgender youth under 18 from accessing gender-affirming health care, stating the legislature has a responsibility to “protect the health and welfare of minors.” The bill, titled the Protecting Children from Gender Mutilation Act, was introduced Wednesday by Tennessee Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson and House Majority Leader William Lamberth, both of whom won reelection on Tuesday in the midterm elections. Under the proposed measure, health care providers in Tennessee will be barred from providing gender-affirming medical care to minors “for the purpose of enabling a minor to identify with, or live as, a purported identity inconsistent with the minor’s sex.” The measure includes exceptions for youth that require treatments like puberty blockers, hormones and surgeries for reasons other than the treatment of gender dysphoria or “mental condition, disorder, disability, or abnormality.”

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