Open Letter from Medical Professionals Across the South Opposing Anti-Transgender Legislation

As medical professionals serving Southerners, we have an obligation to advocate for the health of all of our patients and oppose discrimination. That’s why we strongly oppose legislation that targets transgender young people for discrimination.

Several bills currently filed or being drafted in state legislatures seek to prohibit doctors from providing medically necessary care to transgender children under the age of 18. Some bills even make it a felony for physicians to deliver this vital care to their patients.

These bills run counter to the growing consensus in the medical community that improving access to gender-affirming care is a central means of improving health outcomes for transgender people. Major medical associations, including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Academy of Family Medicine, recognize that supporting transgender youth is critical to their health and well-being.

Many credible studies of trans youth populations have demonstrated that gender-affirming care is linked to significantly reduced rates of depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and suicide attempts. Gender-affirming care reduces reliance on self-prescribed and self-administered hormone use, which can be dangerous without the oversight of a physician.

To put it plainly, gender-affirming care saves lives and allows trans young people to thrive.

Anti-transgender bills would not only violate the rights and freedoms of transgender young people – they are also an attempt to prohibit medical professionals from doing our jobs, an effort to force us to violate existing standards of medical care for transgender patients.

We believe that all people, including transgender people, should be treated with dignity and respect no matter where they live.

For all of these reasons, we stand united in opposition to anti-transgender legislation and in support of gender-affirming care for transgender youth.

Signed,