04.27.2023
Media

Statement on North Dakota’s Series of Anti-Trans Laws

Advocates for Youth condemns North Dakota’s “bathroom bill,”  now a law, the latest measure attacking transgender health, rights, and existence to pass a state legislature.  The bill will bar transgender people from using facilities consistent with their gender in public buildings, forcing transgender women to use men’s bathrooms and locker rooms and transgender men to use women’s bathrooms and locker rooms. 

Everyone has the right to be safe and comfortable in restrooms. This law will put transgender people in discomfort and even danger. 

The new North Dakota law comes on the heels of last week’s ban on gender affirming care for minors – a law which makes providing this care a felony punishable by a decade in prison. Gender-affirming care is a course of treatment that has been endorsed by the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, and proven over decades to be vital to the mental health and wellbeing of transgender people. It is age-appropriate, life-saving, medically necessary care.  

North Dakota also recently passed a bill barring transgender athletes from all K-12 and college sports teams. 

North Dakota joins Republican-led legislatures around the country in making it a priority to endanger trans children and teens and their families. These politicians are harming transgender people and standing between families and their chosen medical care.

All over this country, we are witnessing a concerted effort to bring an end to the very existence of transgender people. It is imperative that everyone speak out against transphobia and look for ways to ensure transgender people in our communities are safe and supported. We should be celebrating all young people, including transgender young people, for who they are and helping them thrive – not codifying discrimination and bullying into our laws.