GILLETTE, Wyo. — A multi-state project has announced its expansion into Wyoming to help transgender children who are looking for gender-affirming care outside of Wyoming. This comes months after Wyoming banned transition-related care.
Early this year, Gov. Mark Gordon signed a bill that made it illegal for Wyoming doctors to do procedures on children that involve gender transitioning or reassignment. This included gender-affirming care for kids. The law became law on July 1.
The Trans Youth Emergency Project will now include Wyoming, according to an announcement made on August 15 by Wyoming Equality and the Campaign for Southern Equality. This will help the families of transgender youth who are affected by the state’s ban on their expression by giving financial and practical support.
The two groups said that until a trans person turns 18, they can’t get hormone therapy, medications that prevent puberty, or surgery in Wyoming because of the law. The groups say that the rule doesn’t let transgender youth get the best medical care and that Wyoming families are being forced to make hard choices about how to support their kids.
Wyoming Equality’s Sara Burlingame said that people in Wyoming don’t want the government to get too involved in gender-affirming care. She thought that politicians in Wyoming and other states chose to listen to extreme special interest groups instead of voters when they decided to ban care for youth who change their gender.
Burlingame said in a statement, “Our community will remain strong and united in our support of a parent’s right to make healthcare decisions for their kids, trans or not.” “Through the Trans Youth Emergency Project, we will work to make sure that transgender youth and their families in Wyoming can keep getting the freedom and health care that the Wyoming Constitution guarantees.”
There is a movement in 25 states, and more than $500,000 has been given to 1,000 families and people in need as an emergency grant. This was done in partnership with state organizations in every state that does not allow gender-affirming care.
Van Bailey, a patient navigator for CSE’s Trans Youth Emergency Project, said that they talk to families of transgender youth every day who are scared about the future and don’t know where or when they’ll get their child the medicine they need to stay healthy and happy.
Bailey said in a statement, “These laws are cruelly forcing families to make choices that they can’t make. It is deeply unfair.” “It makes me proud that we can help and relieve some of the stress by talking families through their options and letting them know that the whole community is behind them and ready to help them get through this.”
The release says that since 2021, 26 states, including Wyoming, have passed laws that make it harder or impossible for transgender kids to get gender-affirming medical care.