Karen Celestino-Horseman: Transphobia in Indiana will hurt children

In 2022, Indiana’s legislative lawmakers tied for second place as the most conservative in the nation. This dubious honor was awarded by the Conservative Political Action Conference and the American Conservative Union Foundation through its Center for Legislative Accountability. Apparently, Indiana legislators are aiming to be number one as they have enacted one of the most hateful, ignorant pieces of legislation, with the surprising assistance of Gov. Eric Holcomb.

Specifically, I am talking about the passage into law of Senate Bill 480, a law intended to prevent children suffering from gender dysphoria from receiving medically necessary treatment. Contrary to what has been represented, gender-affirming surgery performed on minors is uncommon. Instead, minors most commonly are prescribed puberty blockers and hormone therapies so that, for example, a female trans child will not have to suffer the humiliation of growing facial hair, a deepening of the voice and other physiologic changes that a female trans child would find humiliating and disturbing.

Stalling puberty and physical change protects a child who was born in a body incompatible to his/her gender identity as he/she will undergo tremendous mental pressures if his/her body is forced to undergo physiological changes connected to puberty. The child’s self-esteem and identity can be damaged irreparably.

Puberty blockers and hormone therapies are drugs that do not cause permanent or long-term damage and are regularly prescribed for other medical conditions suffered by children. Puberty blockers are prescribed to treat children who enter puberty before the age of 8 (girls) and 9 (boys). Hormone therapies are prescribed for boys who have not yet begun puberty by age 14. Similarly, hormone therapies are prescribed for girls whose puberty is delayed or whose ovaries fail to develop.

SB 480 allows these same puberty blockers and hormone therapies to be prescribed as medical treatment for medical conditions other than gender dysphoria. Suicide is the fourth-highest cause of death among young people age 15 to 19. Transgender adolescents are 7.6 times more at risk for suicide than adolescents not suffering from gender dysphoria. Indiana legislators, untrained in medicine, psychology or psychiatry have decided they know more than the medical professionals about the mental health of these children and the necessary medical treatment to protect their mental health.

Not only have the governor and the legislators made it impossible for trans children to receive medical care in Indiana, but they have also made it illegal for a medical professional to advise about resources outside the state or to discuss a patient’s case with a medical professional in another state who is treating the child.

Some people are born with a gender identity that does not match their body characteristics. The physiological characteristics can be changed to match the individual’s gender identity but in no sense is that a decision made lightly, particularly when the individual is a minor. Current medical practices do not often allow gender-affirming surgery for a minor. Instead, the child spends his/her childhood or adolescence with the gender identity with which he/she identifies and thus when the child reaches adulthood, he/she has had the time and experience to ascertain if permanent gender-affirming actions such as surgery should be taken.

So why is the Indiana Legislature inflicting heartbreak upon these trans children and their families? Our Indiana legislators are uncomfortable with transgendered persons and want to keep them out of Indiana. Transphobic is the descriptor that comes to mind. Legislators afraid of children.•

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Celestino-Horseman is an Indianapolis attorney. Send comments to ibjedit@ibj.com.

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