The Montana state Senate on Wednesday passed Senate Bill 99, a contentious bill introduced by Sen. John Fuller, R-Kalispell, that would ban gender-affirming care for transgender minors in the state of Montana. The bill passed 30-20, with four Republicans joining all 16 Senate Democrats to vote in opposition. Senate Bill 99 will now progress to the House, where it will face a continued uphill battle as medical providers, LGBTQ+ advocates and transgender Montanans pitch a continued fight against its passage.
Senate Bill 99 prohibits a number of gender-affirming procedures for transgender children and teenagers, including hormone treatment, gender-affirming surgeries, and puberty blockers, or medications that temporarily suppress puberty to delay sexual development for adolescents experiencing gender dysphoria.
The bill also prohibits any entity that provides gender-affirming care from receiving state funding, bans Montana Medicaid from covering such procedures, and bars state employees from knowingly promoting gender-affirming medical care as an option to transgender minors.
The passage of the bill comes after a lengthy and contentious path through the Senate, which included a more than five-hour-long hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Jan. 27, during which opponents outnumbered proponents by nearly two-to-one.
During its second reading in the Senate on Tuesday, a number of Democratic senators, and one Republican, Sen. Wendy McKamey, of Great Falls, spoke in opposition to the bill, raising concerns over parental rights, the doctor-patient relationship, the wellbeing of transgender minors and the future of business and medicine in Montana.
Sen. Mary Ann Dunwell, D-Helena, expressed concerns that “in a session where we are trying to eliminate unnecessary red tape,” Senate Bill 99 would do “just the opposite.” Dunwell raised questions over how the state’s revenue department would manage the changes to funding rules and Medicaid reimbursements outlined in the legislation, calling it a “bureaucratic nightmare to administer.”
“Our efforts should be going towards providing mental health and comprehensive medical care to all of our children,” Sen. Susan Webber, D-Browning, said, applauding the transgender Montanans and their family members who testified at the Jan. 27 committee hearing.
Sen. Ryan Lynch, D-Butte, expressed concerns that the passage of the bill would harm Montana’s economy, saying that Senate Bill 99 “sends a very loud message to a lot of businesses that are looking at Montana,” who may seek out other markets that are “welcoming to all” if gender-affirming care is restricted in the state.
A number of Republican senators spoke in support of the bill, doubling down on rhetoric that questioned the legitimacy of gender-affirming care in Montana.
“You cannot change your sex because you cannot change your chromosomes. The creator has reserved that for himself,” Sen. Theresa Manzella, R-Hamilton, said, adding that she would not “wish that on anybody, quite honestly,” when referring to undergoing a gender transition.
Manzella referred to a widely cited study that showed 80% of transgender youth “grow out” of being transgender — a study that has been rejected by numerous medical providers given several methodological errors (28 of the 127 surveyed transgender adolescents in the study never returned their survey to the researchers, yet were still counted as participants who reportedly stopped identifying as transgender).
Sen. Keith Regier, R-Kalispell, also cited “thousands of de-transitioners who regret” undergoing gender-affirming surgeries and hormonal treatments.
According to the U.S. Transgender Survey, a survey of 27,715 transgender individuals in the United States, 8% reported de-transitioning at some point, 31% of whom cited facing harassment or discrimination after transitioning as the reason for their de-transition; 29% said it was because they had trouble finding employment after transitioning; and others cited pressure from a parent (36%), spouse (18%) or other family member (26%).
Sen. Greg Hertz, R-Polson, compared gender-affirming medical care to the lobotomy, which he said was “something that was scientifically backed by physicians for over two decades.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of where we’re going,” Hertz said.
All Senate Democrats voted against the bill on Wednesday, alongside Sen. McKamey; Sen. Walt Sales, R-Manhattan; Sen. Daniel Salomon, R-Ronan; and Sen. Terry Vermeire, R-Anaconda. The bill will now head to the House, where it will face a hearing in front of the House Judiciary Committee.