Q Center

February 1, 2024

Texas State Bill 14

As of September 2023, youth under the age of 18 are prohibited from accessing gender affirming care in the state of Texas. This law, State Bill 14, erodes avenues of support for trans youth and their families. In today’s post, we describe the law and provide a list of supportive recommendations to share with the folks in our community that are likely to be impacted the most by this law. 

Health Profession Advancing LGBTQ+ Equality sued Texas after Governor Abbot signed SB14. District Judge Hexsel sided with GLMA and said that if the law passed, it would hurt families and trans youth. The Texas Attorney’s Office didn’t agree and asked a higher court to review the decision. Despite GLMA and others filing an emergency appeal to the Texas Supreme Court to stop the law, the court dismissed the appeal on August 31, 2023 which cleared the path for the law to take effect on September 1, 2023. 

SB 14 is a harmful multi-directional approach to sever access to essential healthcare services for trans youth in Texas. It does this by targeting access to gender affirming care for trans youth, services providers, and funding. The law makes it impossible for trans youth to legally obtain gender affirming health care. The law prohibits healthcare services like hormone therapies, puberty blockers, and surgeries. By default, this forces people under 18 who have been receiving medical care to medically de-transition. There are some exceptions, but those who continue treatments are being forced to wean off the prohibited prescribed medications. 

The law also penalizes doctors who provide gender affirming care to youth. It requires the Texas Medical Board to revoke a provider’s medical license and renewals to practice medicine in Texas. Furthermore, access to public money in the form of funding or Medicaid payments is prohibited to any establishment like hospitals and schools that provide gender affirming care to youth. For example, under this law, trans youth that rely on Medicaid will be unable to pay using Medicaid. Because the law authorizes enforcement by the Texas Office of Attorney General (OAG), the OAG can bring someone to court in the county where the OAG believes a violation was committed which can result in criminalizing providers of gender affirming care to youth. 

This law harms trans youth and their families. Anti-trans bills like SB14 leverage the weight of the law against our community to oppress us. Below are a few organizations and efforts that continue to preserve in their efforts to improve the lives of our community.

  • Support the community by cultivating safe spaces for trans youth
  • Check out the UW Q Center for supportive resources and events
  • The Trans Education Network Texas provides resources and support for transgender Texans. 
  • Support efforts to mobilize the Equality Act that would provide protections for our LGBTQ+ community