A group in North Carolina called Campaign for Southern Equality fights for LGBTQ+ rights. They just recently stated that their Trans Youth Emergency Project will now give grants in all 25 states that ban some kind of gender-affirming care.
A regional program that started in the South is now spreading to Wyoming to help transgender kids who need to get medical care outside of Wyoming.
A North Carolina-based LGBTQ+ rights group called Campaign for Southern Equality recently said that its Trans Youth Emergency Project would now give grants in all 25 states that ban some kind of gender-affirming care.
That includes Wyoming, which stopped letting children get that kind of health care on July 1.
The program helps transgender children and their parents get to doctors in other states when bans like Wyoming’s become law by giving them money and making travel easier.
“I think of the South when I think of states that have to set up special funds for people who can’t get care because their government has made it hard for them,” said Sara Burlingame, executive director of the non-profit Wyoming Equality. Her group supports the effort but isn’t directly involved. “I never thought of Wyoming as being in that group before.”
On the website for the project, people from Wyoming can apply for grants of up to $500 to “support immediate needs, such as travel costs, medication costs, and mental health or wellness needs.”
Even though they’re not done in Wyoming, gender-affirming surgeries for minors are illegal, and most big medical associations and rights groups, including Wyoming Equality, are against them.
However, a lot of doctors say that other gender-affirming care for teens and young adults that the ban doesn’t allow can be very helpful in lowering trans people’s depression.
As Burlingame put it, “people get the wrong idea that families who are very liberal and progressive and really don’t care about their teen child’s identity are the only ones who are looking for gender-affirming care.” As for the truth, it has always been true: gay and trans people were born into every kind of family. I think people are shocked to learn this.
It is also known as “Chloe’s Law.” SF 99 was passed by lawmakers during the 2024 budget session. After that, Gov. Mark Gordon signed the law.
At first, it was named for Chloe Cole, a de-transitioner supporter from California who spoke in favor of it at a committee meeting in Cheyenne.
Wyoming Public Radio previously said that in 2023, a nonprofit group run by three Republican state senators paid for at least one other activist to testify in favor of a similar version of “Chloe’s Law.”
Burlingame is aware of the power difference between state lawmakers and transgender kids.
The girl asked, “Is there a group in Wyoming that is more at risk and underrepresented than transgender kids?” “They were born here, they don’t have a voting bloc, and they don’t have a lot of money. They’re just trying to do their best.”
The bans on gender-affirming care in other states have been challenged in court by support groups, but as of September 10, Wyoming’s ban had not been challenged.