Transgender America Fights Back

livemint.com:

Democratic-led states are establishing sanctuaries for those seeking gender transitions, part of a broad legal effort to resist Republican restrictions on medical interventions for transgender youth. The playbook is one used by U.S. cities that have provided sanctuary from federal authorities to migrants lacking permanent legal status, a custom dating to medieval times when fugitives took refuge in churches.

In the case of transgender youth, Democratic-run states are offering parents and doctors protection from enforcement by other states that have outlawed medical treatments that involve puberty blockers, hormones and surgeries for gender transition. Governors in 14 states, from New York to California to Hawaii, have signed legislation or executive orders allowing transgender families to take sanctuary in their states. Details vary, but range from noncompliance with subpoenas to blocking extradition for providing services banned in GOP states.

Most of these measures have yet to be tested in court. Jennifer Harris Dault, 40, just sold her house and left her job as a pastor in St. Louis after Missouri’s governor signed a bill in June banning gender-transitioning care for minors.

Those already receiving such treatments are exempt, but the state will revoke the license of any doctor or clinician who violates the ban on new cases. Harris Dault has two daughters, ages 8 and 6, one of whom transitioned to her current gender identity. The law prompted her to fear for her children’s future, she said.

“It’s so hard emotionally to continuously be in fight mode and wondering what comes next," Harris Dault said of living in Missouri. She is renting a home near Rochester, N.Y., with her husband and is looking for work. A central