Today, Fair Wisconsin will testify before the Assembly Committee on Health, Aging, and Long-term Care in opposition to AB 104, a bill that would ban access to medically-necessary health care for trans youth. In addition to mobilizing community members to testify in-person and collecting written testimony to submit on behalf of Wisconsinites, Fair Wisconsin’s Executive Director Abigail Swetz will testify in opposition to AB 104. In her testimony, Swetz will address the trans youth of Wisconsin and their families, in addition to the committee. Full testimony from Swetz is below and attached.
“Good afternoon to the Assembly Committee on Health, Aging, and Long-term Care. I am Abigail Swetz, and I am the executive director of Fair Wisconsin, Wisconsin’s only statewide LGBTQ+ civil rights and political advocacy organization. I am here today to speak in opposition to Assembly Bill 104, but I’m not here to speak only to the members of this committee. I am here to support our trans kids and their families, because they are who most need to hear the voices of all of us who care enough about their well-being to oppose this dangerous bill. And so my testimony is directed to the trans kids of Wisconsin and their families.
Dear Trans Kids,
There are so many of us in this state who love you exactly as you are and exactly as you are becoming. We know your health care is medically-necessary because we know you are necessary. Treatment for gender dysphoria is medically-necessary because, when your gender dysphoria is treated, you experience less psychological distress and your mental health drastically improves with rates of depression, anxiety, and suicidality going down significantly. Providing you with high-quality health care is how we ensure you thrive and make it possible for you to live in a body that feels like home. This state is a better place because you are in it and because you have the opportunity to thrive.
Your journey is your own, and your medical care is designed to honor it as you move towards thriving. Your doctors tailor your highly-individualized care to your needs, just as all doctors do to treat every type of medical condition. There is no one-size-fits-all approach for anything in medicine, including health care for trans youth, and that is precisely why a ban on medically-necessary, individualized health care is so dangerous.
Speaking to your parents and families for a moment, you are all on a journey, too. Thank you for being on it, for loving your kid, for wanting the best for them. You’ve been to the doctor’s appointments. You know that your kid will be able to access different age-appropriate interventions as they grow up. I know you just want them to grow up – to grow into happy, healthy adults. You love them at all ages, so you want their care to be the best it can be at every age. You trust your doctors. They know the standards of care that have been rigorously researched and well-established by international experts and supported by every major professional medical association in our country and beyond. You respect the science because you respect your kid’s needs.
I’m not trans, and I also know that I do not need to understand every detail and nuance of a kid’s identity to believe you when you say you know who you are and you know what you need. You are being perpetually put in a position of having to defend your own existence and the value of your own lives. You deserve better. I respect your right to the freedom to live as you want to live. I hope this committee and this legislature can, too.
Love,
Abby (and so many others)
To this esteemed committee, you must stop debating the humanity, validity, even the existence of these children. You must stop doubting the love and care their families hold for them. You must guarantee their medically-necessary, individualized, age-appropriate, high-quality, respectful care. The struggles trans kids and their families face are not a self-fulfilling prophecy. They are created by society, and today, they are created by you. It does not have to be this way.
Vote no on AB 104, and never bring it back. Thank you.”
Fair Wisconsin is Wisconsin’s only statewide LGBTQ+ civil rights and political advocacy organization.
