Many children are currently experiencing an identity crisis, especially regarding gender identity. This is most often attributed to the prevalence of fatherlessness, divorce, and family breakdown in our society.
Children who do not have a stable family unit with a committed mother and father may feel lost and disconnected from the world. As a result, many young people seek acceptance and a sense of identity from harmful sources. Unfortunately, many are drawn to the transgender ideology, where they are promised a sense of identity and belonging, but often resulting in heartbreaking physical damage.
To help these children, several states have stepped up to the plate to protect them from irreversible harm of gender reassignment surgical procedures.
A recently passed Mississippi bill, House Bill 1125, has garnered attention for its potential impact on the safety of youth questioning their identity. The bill is known as the Regulate Experimental Adolescent Procedures (REAP) Act.
As states across the country grapple with issues related to gender identity, the REAP Act does not stand alone. Other states including Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Utah have passed laws or policies that restrict transgender-related procedures for people under the age of legal majority.
Laws in Alabama, Florida, and Arkansas are temporarily blocked as legal challenges wind their way through the courts. In at least 23 other states, legislatures are considering or have introduced bills that would similarly restrict this kind of medical treatment for youth identifying as transgender.
The Stand spoke with Jameson Taylor, AFA director of policy and legislative affairs, about how AFA helped champion the passage of the REAP Act.
The Stand: How did you become involved in this issue?
Jameson Taylor: My own work on this issue started about three years ago as it became clear that Mississippi children were being targeted for transgender transition surgeries. In 2021, I helped state Sen. Angela Hill (R) draft the Transgender 21 Act, with the intent of protecting minors from hormonal and surgical interventions.
We didn’t get that bill passed, but we did succeed in making Mississippi the second state in America (behind Arkansas) to protect women’s sports from transgender males. But Senate leadership killed Sen. Hill’s child protection bill again in 2022 by referring it to a very liberal Democrat chairman.
TS: How did the REAP Act come back to life?
JT: Over the summer of 2022, it was reported that the University of Mississippi Medical Center was allowing children as young as age 14 to receive transgender transition services. That discovery followed the release of a similar disturbing report that Vanderbilt University in Tennessee was making big money from youth transgender surgeries.
Prior to this, many state lawmakers wanted to pretend that the transgender craze hadn’t come to Mississippi. Once they found out that Mississippi taxpayers were supporting transgender services for minors, they had to act.
TS: Why did it get passed this time?
JP: It was about this time that Mississippi Speaker Philip Gunn (R) decided to support legislation to protect kids from transgender procedures. Along with Speaker Gunn, Lesley Davis of the Mississippi Advocacy Group led the way in advocating for this legislation. Lesley brought us all together, hosting meetings at her house and building our coalition.
Once the session started, AFA’s Meeke Addison helped promote the legislation. AFA was a strong partner in all this, but Speaker Gunn and Lesley Davis were the difference makers.
TS: What sets the REAP Act apart from other states’ bills?
JT: Mississippi’s REAP Act is strong. It prohibits transgender interventions and surgeries for children under the age of 18. In addition, it forbids government and Medicaid funding for these procedures. It also clearly states that “the practice of medicine shall not mean to provide gender transition services for any person under eighteen.”
In other words, our law confirms that these experimental procedures are pure quackery: They do not meet the medically recognized standard of care for children. For this reason, our law provides a 30-year window for patients to sue doctors and facilities that perform transgender procedures. As our law states, these procedures are “outside the applicable standard of care,” and doctors who perform them are guilty of “unprofessional conduct.”
TS: Looking ahead, are there any upcoming legal or political challenges related to this issue that Christians should be aware of?
JT: Arkansas was the first state to ban transgender transition procedures for minors. That law is still being litigated. Alabama’s and Florida’s laws are also in court. So far, at least 12 states have transgender surgery bans.
Christians need to get more involved in politics so that we can raise this number to 50% and then 100%. Children need to be protected from harmful, experimental medical procedures. They need to be protected from Big Medicine and Big Pharma, as well as Planned Parenthood, which has emerged as a major provider of hormonal therapy.
We need to pray, and churches and pastors need to speak out and work to pass legislation.
