SW News: Republican lawmakers in the US state of Tennessee presented a bill on Wednesday, November 9, which would forbid transgender adolescents under 18 from receiving gender-affirming medical care. Stating that the government was obliged to "guard the health and welfare of minors", Jack Johnson, the majority leader in the Senate, and William Lamberth, the majority leader in the House, proposed the Protecting Children from Gender Mutilation Act.

If passed, House Bill 1 or Senate Bill 1 will prohibit doctors from performing gender change procedures on children and administering puberty inhibitors and cross-sex hormones used in transgender relationships. In addition, the law prohibits "enabling a minor to identify with or live as a purported identity inconsistent with the minor's sex" or "treating purported discomfort or distress from a discordance between the minor's sex and asserted identity. Patients and their families would be permitted to file lawsuits against medical professionals, facilities, and clinics that use such therapies.

The legislation will be debated during the 113th Tennessee General Assembly which is scheduled to convene on January 10, 2023.

A punishment of up to $25,000 might be imposed on anyone who violates the law, and the medical practitioners can end up in jail for not less than 20 years. However, the rule would exempt youngsters born with chromosomal problems or genetic flaws.

Both lawmakers said that a social media campaign by the Daily Wire and Contributor Matt Walsh who claimed Vanderbilt University Medical Center was offering gender-affirming treatment as a "money-making scam" played a role in their decision to draft the bill. The hospital's president and directors were sent a letter early last month from 60 Tennessee House Republicans, calling the clinic's methods "nothing short of abuse" and pledging immediate legislative action.

With the legislation, Tennessee would follow states like Alabama, Arizona, and Arkansas in outlawing such practices. Other states are considering similar measures. Administrative guidelines prohibiting similar operations for children were recently adopted in Florida.