The so-called “Oklahoma Save Adolescents from Experimentation (SAFE) Act” by Republican Representative Tom Gann, attempts to ban lifesaving care for transgender youth by making it illegal for healthcare professionals to provide gender-affirming services.

While the bill prohibits lifesaving healthcare for trans youth, it simultaneously protects harmful, nonconsensual surgeries on intersex minors, and follows another common theme of erasure and misgendering in these legislative attacks: it doesn’t use the words “transgender” and “intersex” even once.

The proposed act also creates financial barriers by prohibiting insurance coverage for trans youth who would need medically necessary gender-affirming healthcare, and creates power for non-supportive parents to claim gender-affirming care as a ‘violation’ to their child in court.

Trans youth know who they are, and this acts like these are putting lives at risk: More than half of trans children were at risk of suicide this past year, and access to gender-affirming care is linked to being at lower risk of attempting suicide by nearly 40 percent in transgender and nonbinary youth.

Gender-affirming care is also linked to long-term mental health benefits: a study of 2,500 trans folks found that over a 10-year period, the odds of getting mental health treatment decreased by 8 percent for every year since receiving gender-affirming surgery, according to the American Journal of Psychiatry.

Read more stories by trans folks on how gender-affirming care has been lifesaving: https://bit.ly/33K8DK9

OK HB 3240’s first reading is scheduled for 7th Feb, 2022 and would become effective on 1st Nov, 2022 if approved.