While the state of California begins to cut budgets and slash state wages to deal with a $56 billion deficit, two state legislators thought this would be a good time to ask for $15 million dollars to pay for transgender services, including expensive and harmful sex-change operations and hormone therapy for those who can’t afford the treatments. The Transgender Wellness and Equity Fund proposal, AB 2218 introduced by Assemblyman Miguel Santiago (D-Los Angeles) and co-authored by Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), is scheduled to be heard in the Assembly Health Committee next Monday, May 18, 2020.
One of those planning to testify against the bill is a former transgender-identified man from Oklahoma named Laura Perry. She remembers coming to San Francisco over a decade ago to get a double mastectomy because she really believed she was a man trapped in a woman’s body. “I really thought that it was going to fix the problem,” she remembered hoping. I liked the physical result, “but I remember being devastated after a few weeks when I realized that my surgery hadn’t made me a man.”
Perry will be testifying against the bill with Dr. Quentin L. Van Meter, a board-certified Pediatric Endocrinologist with 40 years of experience. “Biological bedrock science proves that human beings are binary sexual beings with complementary anatomy that is intended to facilitate procreation,” Van Meter wrote in a letter opposing AB 2218. “There is absolutely no doubt about the extensively documented adverse effects of wrong-sex hormones.” … “The very same Endocrine Society who published the transgender care Guidelines (not standards of care) in 2009 and revised them in 2017, just published a consensus of Guidelines condemning the use of testosterone in adult women because of the harm it can do.”
AB 2218 establishes the $15 million Transgender Wellness and Equity Fund to provide grants to transgender-led nonprofits, hospitals, health care clinics, and other medical providers that provide puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for minors, as well as cross-sex hormones and “sex-change” operations for adults. All these drugs and procedures sterilize the recipient and permanently damage healthy body parts, and leave some suicidal.
“I can attest in my own life and the lives… of others that suicidal thoughts were worse [after surgery and hormone treatments],” Perry said. “When you have invested everything in your life,” including money to the point of bankruptcy, pushed family away, changed jobs, and legally changed your name and sex, it is devastating to “realize it’s not real and you have made all these changes that are permanent. … There were times when I was suicidal because I found no way out. … Without the grace and mercy of God,… I don’t know where I would be.”
Action Step
The Assembly Health Committee is having a hearing on AB 2218 on Monday, May 18th. Call the members of the Assembly Health Committee and tell them to vote on NO on SB 2218.
| Committee Members | District | Office & Contact Information |
|---|---|---|
| Jim Wood (Chair) | Dem – 02 | Contact Assembly Member Jim WoodCapitol Office, Room 6005P.O. Box 942849, Sacramento, CA 94249-0002; (916) 319-2002 |
| Chad Mayes (Vice Chair) | Ind – 42 | Contact Assembly Member Chad MayesCapitol Office, Room 4098P.O. Box 942849, Sacramento, CA 94249-0042; (916) 319-2042 |
| Cecilia M. Aguiar-Curry | Dem – 04 | Contact Assemby Member Cecilia M. Aguiar-CurryCapitol Office, Room 5144P.O. Box 942849, Sacramento, CA 94249-0004; (916) 319-2004 |
| Frank Bigelow | Rep – 05 | Contact Assembly Member Frank BigelowCapitol Office, Room 4158P.O. Box 942849, Sacramento, CA 94249-0005; (916) 319-2005 |
| Rob Bonta | Dem – 18 | Contact Assembly Member Rob BontaCapitol Office, Room 2148P.O. Box 942849, Sacramento, CA 94249-0018; (916) 319-2018 |
| Autumn R. Burke | Dem – 62 | Contact Assembly Member Autumn R. BurkeCapitol Office, Room 5150P.O. Box 942849, Sacramento, CA 94249-0062; (916) 319-2062 |
| Wendy Carrillo | Dem – 51 | Contact Assembly Member Wendy CarrilloCapitol Office, Room 4167P.O. Box 942849, Sacramento, CA 94249-0051; (916) 319-2051 |
| Heath Flora | Rep – 12 | Contact Assembly Member Heath FloraCapitol Office, Room 3098P.O. Box 942849, Sacramento, CA 94249-0012; (916) 319-2012 |
| Monique Limón | Dem – 37 | Contact Assembly Member Monique LimónCapitol Office, Room 6031P.O. Box 942849, Sacramento, CA 94249-0037; (916) 319-2037 |
| Kevin McCarty | Dem – 07 | Contact Assembly Member Kevin McCartyCapitol Office, Room 2136P.O. Box 942849, Sacramento, CA 94249-0007; (916) 319-2007 |
| Adrin Nazarian | Dem – 46 | Contact Assembly Member Adrin NazarianCapitol Office, Room 4146P.O. Box 942849, Sacramento, CA 94249-0046; (916) 319-2046 |
| James C. Ramos | Dem – 40 | Contact Assembly Member James C. RamosCapitol Office, Room 4162P.O. Box 942849, Sacramento, CA 94249-0040; (916) 319-2040 |
| Freddie Rodriguez | Dem – 52 | Contact Assembly Member Freddie Rodriguez Capitol Office, Room 2188P.O. Box 942849, Sacramento, CA 94249-0052; (916) 319-2052 |
| Miguel Santiago | Dem – 53 | Contact Assembly Member Miguel Santiago Capitol Office, Room 6027P.O. Box 942849, Sacramento, CA 94249-0053; (916) 319-2053 |
| Marie Waldron | Rep – 75 | Contact Assembly Member Marie Waldron Capitol Office, Room 3104P.O. Box 942849, Sacramento, CA 94249-0075; (916) 319-2075 |
