Today, the U.S. House of Representatives voted on and passed H.R. 734, a bill that attempts to ban transgender student-athletes from participating in sports. PRH Board Member, family medicine physician, and provider of gender-affirming care in Texas and Louisiana, Dr. Bhavik Kumar, responds:
“As states across the country attempt to control the lives and autonomy of transgender and nonbinary people of all ages, I am concerned for the safety of our nation as our legislators attempted to pass a nationwide bill banning trans youth from participating in sports consistent with their gender identity.
Discrimination based on gender is damaging to the developmental well-being of children.
“Discrimination based on gender is damaging to the developmental well-being of children. No one should fear ostracization, shame, punishment, or isolation for being who they are. As a physician who regularly provides affirming health care for trans and nonbinary communities, it is highly concerning that our politicians are hellbent on making the lives of trans youth so controlled by the gender binaries so deeply rooted in white supremacist control. While I know this bill will fail in the Senate and has no chance of being signed into law, I am disappointed that there is so much time wasted in our legislative bodies on attempts to constrain and restrict people’s lives by political and religious ideology.
“I trust trans youth to know themselves and who they are. I trust that they want to play, to know comradery, to experience being a part of a team, just like any young person. Let trans kids play. Let them live.”
