Wyoming’s Republican Governor Mark Gordon made some big moves with legislation involving abortion and gender-affirming care for minors. I’m not saying much about the abortion part because abortion will never be fully banned, so it’s not worth anyone fighting over anyway. It’s something that politicians are using to pit people against each other for votes, but the reality is that it will never be banned in full, only regulated.
However, Gov. Gordon made a huge move that will protect children from radical liberal parents who put their kids through gender-affirming care and the doctors who perform such treatments. AP reported:
While rejecting the abortion bill, Gordon signed into law a measure that makes Wyoming the latest state to ban gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors, saying he supports the bill’s protections for minors. He added, however, that he also thinks such legislation amounts to the government “straying into the personal affairs of families.”
At least 24 states have adopted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming medical care for minors, and most of those states have been sued. A federal judge struck down Arkansas’ ban as unconstitutional. In Idaho and Montana, judges’ orders are in place temporarily blocking enforcement of the bans.
Wyoming lawmakers also passed bills this session enforcing parental rights in education. Gordon said the Legislature needs to “sort out its intentions” on parental rights.
MikesGroover, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons