As AFN recently reported, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds (R) has signed measures meant to protect children. Senate File 538 bans anyone under the age of 18 from receiving so-called "gender-affirming" medical treatments, including puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and mutilation surgeries. Senate File 482 requires that boys use male facilities and girls use female facilities in schools, based on their born gender.
Drew Zahn of The FAMiLY Leader says lawmakers are just using their heads.
"It's especially good for girls who have very real privacy and security needs, maybe even those who have been victims of abuse in the past," he submits. "You don't want to have a girl being in a restroom and then having an adult male in there with her. That's just foolishness. It's a bad idea, and there's a reason that we preserve girls' intimate spaces for girls."
Zahn adds that people who are confused about gender do need understanding and compassion, but that is not what "affirming" care is.
"It is not compassionate care to … perform sterilizing medical treatment and mutilating surgeries on them, and it's not compassionate and care to the rest of the community to open up girls' bathrooms to boys and to men when alternate accommodations can easily be made," he reiterates.
Those who identify as transgender suffer a mental disorder called gender dysphoria, and surgery does not cure a mental problem.
