44 South Carolina Medical Providers Sign Letter Opposing Bill Targeting Transgender Youth for Exclusion from School Sports
COLUMBIA, SC – Today more than 40 medical professionals from across South Carolina released a letter expressing strong opposition to H3477, legislation that would prohibit transgender youth in middle and high school from participating in student athletics. Signatories of the statement, an effort coordinated by SC United for Justice & Equality, include physicians, nurses, physician assistants, psychiatrists, and mental health professionals. Nearly all of the signers work directly with transgender adolescents or adults.
The letter’s release comes the same day that H3477 will be heard by the South Carolina House Special Laws subcommittee, on Tuesday, February 23 at 11:00am. A representative from the SC United for Justice & Equality coalition plans to read from the letter as part of the testimony against H3477.
The letter (available here) reads, in part:
“Participation in athletics is a vital part of students’ well-being, including their physical, social, and emotional health; involvement in student sports provides young people with lessons about leadership, self-discipline, success, and failure. Transgender students, like other students, deserve the same chances to learn teamwork, sportsmanship, leadership and self-discipline, and to build a sense of belonging with their peers.”
“Beyond that, we have significant concerns about the ethical and legal implications of H3477. The methods proposed for identifying trans athletes are invasive, and releasing the results of the methods are illegal under medical privacy laws. Releasing the results could also traumatically “out” a child, forcing them to disclose their gender identity, before they may be ready to share.”
“Discriminatory legislation runs counter to the growing consensus in the medical community that treating trans young people with affirmation and respect is a central means of improving their health outcomes. Major medical associations, including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Academy of Family Medicine, recognize that supporting transgender youth is critical to their health and well-being.”
Elizabeth Mack, M.D., a pediatric critical care physician in Charleston, said today:
“On behalf of the 40+ medical providers in South Carolina who have signed this letter, I urge lawmakers in Columbia to lead with compassion and vote no on H3477. I ask that they trust our professional experience when we underline how vital it is to include, affirm, and respect transgender students for who they are – not exclude them.”
“The American Academy of Pediatrics advocates for policies and laws that protect youth who identify as transgender from discrimination. Many of our youth are already experiencing significant isolation and distress related to the pandemic. Transgender youth have the best chance to thrive and the best opportunity for positive health outcomes when they are supported and affirmed. But H3477 does the opposite of that. This bill is neither narrow nor innocuous – it is a blatant attack on transgender youth, and medical providers and child health advocates across South Carolina understand how damaging it will be for the children and teens that we care for every day.”
Medical professionals who want to add their name to the statement can click here to sign on.
Advocates from the SC United for Justice & Equality coalition are available to speak with media about the legislation and its damaging impact on transgender youth.