Arikan Introduces Bill to Stop Gender Transition Without Parental Consent
Del. Lauren Arikan (R-7B Harford County) introduced HB 722 in the Health and Government Operations committee which would prevent a child from a gender transition without parental consent.
The bipartisan legislation prohibits a healthcare provider from knowingly engaging in or causing certain medical or surgical procedures to be performed on a minor without the consent of the parent, guardian, or custodian of the minor if performed for the purpose of attempting to alter the appearance of, or affirm the minor’s perception of, the minor’s gender or sex and the appearance or perception is inconsistent with the minor’s sex; establishing certain penalties for a violation of the act.
For example, the bill states that removing a minor’s healthy or non-diseased body parts or tissue is prohibited.
According to Arikan, this bill is needed to protect minors from life-altering, often permanent procedures that have not been proven as necessary or helpful in the treatment of gender dysphoria.
“Maryland should not become a permissive state experimenting on children, especially seeing what other countries are doing to protect minors, such as Sweden and Finland,” said the District 7B Delegate.
“Current Maryland law does not protect parents’ rights to be the primarydecision-makers for their children’s health and well-being when it comes to transgender medical practices.”
Arikan said that Maryland is one out of five states that allow preteens to receive mental health treatment without parental consent. And she points out an amendment was defeated on Tuesday to HB 522 requiring parental consent was shot down in the House of Delegates when minors engage in telehealth appointments during school hours.
Arikan was joined on her witness panel by Jamie Reed. Jamie Reed hails from St. Louis and is a gay and liberal woman.
She resigned from The Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital after witnessing alarming practices being taken upon children without proper restraints or parental consent and clearly in opposition to her promise to “do no harm.”
Also joining Arikan on the witness panel is Ismail Royer of the Religious Freedom Institute; Lisa Geraghty, the Maryland mother of a child who almost transitioned; Jerry Lawler, a psychologist and founder of the International Association of Therapists for Desisters and Detransitioners; and Dr. Henry Mosley, an epidemiologist in public health and emeritus professor in the Department of Population, Family, and Reproduction Health at Johns Hopkins.
This bill has bipartisan supports as Republicans Delegates Chris Adams, Brian Chisholm, Mark Fisher, Jefferson Ghrist, Robin Grammer, Wayne Hartman, Nic Kipke, Nino Mangione, Matt Morgan, Ryan Nawrocki, Jesse Pippy, Teresa Reilly, Kathy Szeliga, William Valentine, and William Wivell and three Democrats Sheree Sample-Hughes, Gary Simmons and Kym Taylor are cosponsors of Arikan’s bill.
