Bills targeting transgender youth clear Senate, but fail to gain final passage on Sine Die
Two anti-LGBTQ bills passed on Thursday in the Georgia Senate, but failed to clear the House before the end of the 2024 legislative session. They were among multiple "culture war" bills that did not manage to successfully pass through both chambers of the state legislature.
HB 1170 initially sought to ensure that overdose medications were available in municipal buildings, but was amended with a last-minute addition that banned the use of puberty blockers to treat gender dysphoria in transgender children.
Puberty blockers are a medication used to temporarily delay the onset of puberty, and are often prescribed to transgender children as a way of treating gender dysphoria.
HB 1170’s main proponent, Sen. Ben Watson (R-Savannah), has repeatedly claimed that puberty blockers pose an irreversible risk to young children, a reversal from his position on the issue last year. A 2023 bill that banned hormone replacement therapy for transgender minors notably carved out an exception for puberty blockers.
“We did leave in the puberty-blocking ages, which will give what is termed as a ‘mental pause’ in allowing them to continue with mental health therapy that does not do irreversible changes,” Watson said in 2023 while introducing the bill. “As a matter of fact, when you stop the puberty blockers, in about 18 months, you go through puberty.”
While presenting this year's bill, Watson repeatedly claimed that puberty blockers cause irreversible harm when prescribed to minors.
The Pediatric Endocrine Society released a statement declaring puberty blockers, hormone therapy and gender confirmation surgery to be safe and effective treatments for gender dysphoria.
More: Georgia House bill banning gender-affirming care for trans children passes in Senate committee
The new bill also would have erased exemptions for minors who were already prescribed puberty blockers and hormone replacement therapy before the bill passed.
Senate Democrats took the floor to oppose the bill, saying that the new amendments contradict the original intention of the legislation.
“HB 1170 was meticulously crafted by amazing addiction and recovery advocates, who worked for months to push solutions to help combat the opioid epidemic that is plaguing our state,” said state Sen. Sonya Halpern (D-Atlanta). “This incredible bill, intended to save lives from drug overdose, has been twisted into crippling legislation that will inevitably lead to an increase in suicide and a mental health crisis for Georgia’s youth.”
Another bill targeting the LBGTQ community, HB 1104, would have restricted transgender athletes from participating in sports programs of their choice or using school bathrooms that align with their gender identity under a section borrowed from SB 438.
Neither bill ever resurfaced in the House, and thus failed to gain passage by the end of the legislative session. Because Georgia's legislature runs in a 2-year cycle, bills that haven't passed by the end of this session must be officially refiled during the 2025 legislative session.
More: Tack-ons to bill to protect student-athlete mental health include transgender bathrooms, sex ed
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Bills targeting trans youth clear Senate, but fail to gain final passage
