Bill Banning Gender Affirming Care For Youth Dies In House

By Arren Kimbel-Sannit Keith Schubert, Daily Montanan

January 26, 2021

Legislation to prevent doctors from providing gender-affirming care to minors in Montana has died on the House floor after several Republicans joined with Democrats to vote the controversial bill down, 49-51.

House Bill 113 had passed a floor vote in the House only Monday, along with companion legislation that would compel transgender student athletes to compete in sports teams corresponding to their gender assigned at birth. The vote Tuesday, a third reading, is typically perfunctory; it’s relatively uncommon for the fate of a bill to change between second and third reads.

Lawmakers did not take a final vote on the sports bill, as legislative staff are still drafting a fiscal note at the request of House Democratic leadership, who have warned that the proposal could cause the state to lose out on substantial tourism dollars. Both pieces of legislation were sponsored by Rep. John Fuller, R-Whitefish, who told the Daily Montanan he was “disappointed” to see five of his colleagues switch their votes, but that it was too soon to say the bill was absolutely dead — technically, lawmakers could make a motion to reconsider the vote within 24 hours.

“Thank goodness,” said Dr. Lauren Wilson, vice president of Montana’s chapter of American Academy of Pediatrics, a critic of both bills. “When this was first brought up, there was a real lack of understanding about what medical care for transgender kids even means. This bill was really based on fear and misinformation. I think the information is slowly percolating, and people are realizing how incredibly damaging this bill would have been, both to transgender kids and to Montana as a whole.”

There were some signs that the bill could be in trouble during debate on Jan. 25, when it passed on a narrow 53-47 vote. Democrats and activists for LGBTQ youth said the bill wasn’t only possibly unconstitutional, it also could worsen the existing high incidence of depression, suicidal ideation and other mental illnesses among trans people.

This argument was apparently compelling for some in the Republican majority, such as Rep. Geraldine Custer, R-Forsyth, who said on Monday that she felt the bill “flew in the face” of conservative ideals of liberty and self-determination while also inserting the Legislature in the relationship between a well-trained doctor and their patient.

House Majority Leader Sue Vinton, Reps. Wendy McKamey, Denley Loge, Tom Welch and Marta Bertoglio were among the Republican lawmakers who supported HB113 on second read but voted down the bill on Tuesday.

“I think sometimes, when people sleep on it, they take another look at what they heard,” said House Minority Leader Kim Abbott, D-Helena. “The opposition from medical providers in the state was substantial.”

She said the vote on Tuesday gives her some hope that House Bill could face a similar fate when it goes up for a third read.

In a tweet following the vote, Wilson said that pediatricians were calling lawmakers Monday night and Tuesday morning trying to explain to them what gender-affirming medical care actually involves.

Unlike some state legislatures, where dead bills can occasionally come back as amendments late in the session, the defeat of HB113 on the floor Tuesday essentially spells the end of the effort.

“I was hopeful this would happen, and I am glad we don’t have to follow it to the Senate,” said S.J. Howell, executive director of Montanan Women Vote.

Editor’s note: This story was updated at 2:46 pm on Jan. 26 to include comment from Rep. John Fuller, R-Whitefish.

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