ANNAPOLIS – Lawmakers are considering a bill that would target transgender healthcare for minors — the first time bans on gender-affirming care have been introduced at the state level.
The bill, Protect the Kids Act, would prohibit licensed medical professionals from prescribing cross-sex hormone therapy like hormones or hormone blockers. The penalty for both is a felony and imprisonment up to a life sentence.
“We don’t let parents neuter their children,” Del. Lauren Arikan, the primary bill sponsor, told Capital News Service. “But essentially, that’s what these procedures do. They’re, in many cases, permanently taking away reproductive abilities of a minor child.”
Arikan, who is a Republican representing Harford County, believes providing gender-affirming care to children is “akin to child abuse.”
But transgender rights activists think it is necessary to publicly oppose the bill.
“This was the first time that we’ve had a trans healthcare ban introduced in Maryland,” Charlotte Persephone Hoffman, the policy director with Trans Maryland said in testimony at the bill hearing. “It’s our job to be there for the trans community.”
There are an estimated 8,000 transgender youth ages 13-17 in the state of Maryland, according to the Williams Institute, a research institute based out of the UCLA School of Law.
Gender-affirming medications and surgeries for minors are currently banned in 25 states, with six states making it a felony for medical practitioners to violate the ban. Maryland is one of 14 states that has a safeguard law in place. The Trans Health Equity Act, passed in 2023, requires that Medicaid covers gender-affirming care.
This is not the first time Arikan has introduced a bill dealing with transgender rights. In 2024, she proposed a bill prohibiting health care providers from performing surgeries or engaging in practices on a minor without consent of a parent or guardian. If violated, medical practitioners would be guilty of a misdemeanor, subject to imprisonment between one and three years.
While last year’s bill stalled in committee, Arikan’s bill this legislative session would ramp up both restrictions and the penalty for violation significantly, a decision made because of further research, said Arikan.
Those who testified had been in the statehouse since Tuesday afternoon for the hearing initially scheduled at 1 pm. But the bill wasn’t heard until after 9 pm, so numbers dwindled and those hoping to sit in on the hearing were comfortably scattered in the back of the room. Still, tensions were high and emotional testimony was given from both proponents and opponents of the bill.
Henry Mosley, a physician epidemiologist and professor emeritus at Johns Hopkins University, testified for the bill, telling lawmakers the current state of research leaves too much room for concern about the long term effects of certain therapies.
There are studies proving the short-term relief that hormones can have on gender dysphoria and other mental health conditions, Mosley said.
“However, there are no long-term studies yet,” Mosley said. “We don’t know what happens after five or 10 years.”
Mosley said he also is worried about the personal consequences these decisions have on people.
“There are young adults that are now detransitioning,” Mosley said. “They are regretting decisions they made as a child and are making efforts to reverse their gender transition.”
The bill also bans children from being put on puberty blockers, a medication that delays the effects of puberty on transgender individuals. If usage is stopped, puberty of the patient’s sex assigned at birth will continue.
While there was some bipartisan support with Del. Sheree Sample-Hughes, a Democrat representing Dorchester and Wicomico Counties co-sponsoring the bill, Arikan said she introduced this bill to begin talks in the legislature.
“I just wanted to start the conversation,” Arikan said. “I believe that in some period of time, maybe it’s 15 years, maybe it’s 25 years, we are going to be on the wrong side of history with this issue.”
But transgender individuals and activists are adamantly against the bill. Chloe Celeste is 16 years old and said she is the “exact person” the bill targets.
“Since starting gender affirming hormone therapy with the guidance of my doctors and my parents over a year ago I have been more confident, self aware and overall happier than I have ever been in my life,” Celeste said. “Anyone who knew me pre-transition can vouch for that.”
Celeste referred to the bill as the “so-called Protect the Kids Act” that would force her and other transgender minors off their “life saving medication.”
Others testified in support as well. A public school teacher, Alexa Sciuto, discussed the detransitioning rates.
“There is no evidence of a high rate of regret,” Sciuto said. “In fact, there is a more demonstrably high rate of regret amongst heterosexual marriages, and we love those.”
After Arikan’s less drastic bill on transgender care for minors stalled last year without getting a vote, there is little confidence the Protect the Kids Act will pass in the Democrat-dominated legislature.
But those against the bill were upset that it was even introduced in the state.
“I think we’re definitely going to see more attacks on trans people in Maryland, especially as the second Trump administration progresses,” Hoffman said. “We’re definitely seeing conservative voices emboldened.”
