Local

OK lawmakers offer millions to university hospital systems with transgender care restriction

The Highlights
  • Oklahoma lawmakers will vote to spend nearly $1.2 Billion in Federal dollars given to the state.
  • A section indicating how funds will be spent on health care systems with ties state universities comes with a caveat.
  • If they take the money, they will have to limit how they practice transgender medicine on children under the age of 18.
  • The Mayo Clinic defines “gender dysphoria” as one being unable to feel their gender identity matches their actual biological sex.

TULSA, Okla. — Oklahoma lawmakers returning to the state capitol Wednesday will vote to spend nearly $1.2 Billion in Federal dollars given to the state through the American Rescue Plan, but a section indicating how funds will be spent on health care systems with ties state universities comes with a caveat, if they take the money, they will have to limit how they practice transgender medicine on children under the age of 18.

House Bill 1007XX gives $39.4 Million to the University Hospitals Authority for the construction and equipment of a new children’s behavior healthcare center. After HB 1007XX lays out the specific allocation of money, it goes into the barring of “gender reassignment medical treatment” and the definitions of what that entails.

The definitions fall into three categories of medicine that are prohibited: (1) intervening in the development of certain sexual characteristics, (2) surgically altering a child’s appearance to match anything but the gender they were born with, and (3) barring the use of medical therapies or using medicine to treat gender dysphoria.

RELATED>>>Transgender bathroom law challenged by Oklahoma ACLU lawsuit

The Mayo Clinic defines “gender dysphoria” as one being unable to feel their gender identity matches their actual biological sex.

The section of HB 1007XX dealing with the new children’s mental health center does not bar counseling on the topic, treatment for other mental health issues like depression or anxiety, and it does not bar “fixing services provided to individuals born with ambiguous genitalia, incomplete genitalia, or both male and female anatomy, or biochemically verifiable disorder of sex development (DSD)”.

Transgender rights advocates are planning a day of action on Thursday at the state capitol where they will protest in the building and attempt to meet with lawmakers to amend the bill on the floor of the House or Senate before it passes and heads to Governor Kevin Stitt’s office.

“The way this bill is written shows that the authors have no idea how any of this works, but simply shows they are trying to be mean and use the LGBT community once again to stir up fear for their political gains, " said Alex Wade, interim director of Oklahomans for Equality in Tulsa.

Wade said the fact that someone is talking about going under the knife at a mental health care facility shows a lack of understanding about what happens to someone who is seeking to transition.

“First of all, there are no physicians in the state anywhere offering sexual reassignment under the knife surgery to anyone under 18,” Wade said. “They don’t exist. When we’re talking about health care for trans kids, we’re talking about things like hormones’, medications, and mental health care.”

Wade said he was disturbed by the fact that bill attacked a religiously-neutral place where many LGBT seek health care.

“Most of the health care systems in this state have some kind of religious connection, you can tell simply by their names,” he said. “When people ask us [Oklahomans for Equality] about health care needs and where to go, I usually send them to the university affiliated systems because they are simply there to do medicine. Now we have to start questioning what was a safe place.”

Wade said the bill starts to attack a place that has been focused simply on the health of the body and the mind, and though offers religious services to an extent, has in the past left religious matters to the church in a church setting.

“This bill says to families of trans kids, we don’t want you in Oklahoma anymore, and mark my words, they will leave,” Wade said. “They understand these are private health care decisions between them and their doctors, and they understand this issue far better than most lawmakers who only hear about this issue and use it to stir the pot. People will leave Oklahoma to get the health care their children need, and when they leave, we’re talking about them packing up and moving out altogether.”

RELATED>>>Students say they tried to stop attack of transgender student on school bus

Because of the bill, OU Health announced it would cease certain gender medicine services across its system to be in compliance with the new law, but also stated, it never planned to offer what the bill is banning at its new facility once construction is complete.

OU Health said in a statement:

The funding will modernize our technical infrastructure, bring National Cancer Institute-level cancer care to northeast Oklahoma and allow us to deliver the most advanced inpatient and outpatient resources in the country for young people who need mental and behavioral health care. The Legislature restricted the use of the funds from benefitting facilities performing certain gender medicine services. The new mental and behavioral health facility was never intended to provide such care. The OU Health Senior Leadership team is proactively planning the ceasing of certain gender medicine services across our facilities and that plan is already under development.

As the state’s flagship academic health system, OU Health remains committed to providing excellent, comprehensive medical care to all patients while following all state and federal laws and regulatory governing bodies.

We appreciate our long-standing, collaborative relationship with the Legislature, and we look forward to future efforts to move our institution and our state forward.

The bill is considered to be the first step in what will likely be an attempt to strictly limit a parents ability to seek transgender health care for their children altogether when the legislature reconvenes next year for regular session.

Listen

news

weather

traffic

mobile apps

Everything you love about krmg.com and more! Tap on any of the buttons below to download our app.

amazon alexa

Enable our Skill today to listen live at home on your Alexa Devices!