Bill prohibiting gender-affirming care passes final reading in House, sent back to Senate

Wyoming Tribune-Eagle - 3/6/2024

Mar. 6—CHEYENNE — A bill to ban gender-transitioning treatment of children passed its third and final reading in the Wyoming House of Representatives on Wednesday.

During its third reading, Rep. Steve Harshman, R-Casper, successfully added an amendment to Senate File 99, "Children gender change prohibition," that allowed minors to receive mental health treatment. However, the amendment adds that mental health treatment cannot include prescriptions prohibited in the bill: "Puberty suppression or blocking prescription drugs to stop or delay normal puberty."

Harshman said he didn't think the bill prevented any mental health treatment — however, adding the language helped clarify the bill's intent.

"Mental health treatment is encouraged," Harshman said.

Rep. Art Washut, R-Casper, tried and failed to put in an amendment during committee that would have allowed the psychological and psychiatric care of gender dysphoria. Rep. J.T. Larson, R-Rock Springs, brought a similar amendment during the third reading on Wednesday, right before Harshman's.

"We're looking at this bill with blinders," Larson said. "I think we need to be addressing the mental health piece because this is a consequence of what we're trying to do with the bill."

Larson's amendment, which failed, would have allowed "the psychological or psychiatric treatment of any diagnosis as defined by the most recent edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM)." The manual is published by the American Psychiatric Association, and is widely used by health care professionals to diagnose and treat mental health disorders.

Lawmakers who spoke against the amendment, however, argued this would create a loophole and allow a psychiatrist to prescribe hormone blockers as part of mental health treatment.

"(This amendment) negates the whole purpose of this bill, because that manual includes gender dysphoria," said Rep. Jeanette Ward, R-Casper.

Rep. Landon Brown, R-Cheyenne, said the bill was supposed to prohibit puberty blockers and sex changes and "not psychological evaluations." The amendment, he added, was one of the ways he could support the bill.

"The DSM is what we diagnose off of. It's not just fiction being thrown around out there," Brown said. "Whether we like it or not, that's what diagnosticians utilize if they have gender dysphoria."

Rep. Sarah Penn, R-Lander, said there was confusion about what the bill does and does not do.

"The bringer of the amendment said that this bill makes it so we can't address mental health," Penn said. "That's just not true."

The bill was passed, as amended, by a vote of 55-6, with House Speaker Albert Sommers, R-Pinedale, excused. The bill will now go back to the Senate, its chamber of origin, for a concurrence vote. Senators will have an opportunity to approve, deny or further amend any of the House's amendments to the bill.

Hannah Shields is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle's state government reporter. She can be reached at 307-633-3167 or hshields@wyomingnews.com. You can follow her on X @happyfeet004.

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