By Linda Hardman
Legislative Chair, DWGC
On Tuesday, January 9, South Carolina lawmakers officially began the second year of the two-year 125th General Assembly. All the seats in the House and Senate are up for election in November, so lots of grandstanding is taking place. There are two new Democratic Senators, Sen. Deon Tedder of Charleston County is replacing Marlon Kimpson, who accepted a Biden-appointed position, and Sen. Tamieka Isaac-Devine of Richland County, who was recently elected to replace the late John Scott, who had served 33 years. Lawmakers pre-filed more than 230 bills in November and December.
Not unexpectedly, the House introduced H.4624, which prohibits any school employee, and specifically nurses, counselors, teachers, and principals, from encouraging or coercing minors who do not identify with the sex assigned to them at birth from withholding that information from their parent or legal guardian. The bill also requires a staff member “who has reason to believe or knows that a student suffers from gender dysphoria, gender identity disorder, or other psychological conditions that can result in a person identifying with a gender different from that of their sex” to notify the student’s parent or legal guardian. On January 10, the House Medical, Military, Public and Municipal Affairs Committee easily passed the proposed ban with only a handful of Democrats voting against it.
The vote came after the subcommittee heard from 48 people, 47 of whom opposed the legislation. The only supporter was a lawyer for the Alliance Defending Freedom, a national group that opposes transgender care, who testified via zoom. Rep. J.A. Moore, D-North Charleston, said at the time, “This isn’t about understanding medical realities, it’s about politics.” House Majority Leader David Hiott, R-Pickens, a co-sponsor of the bill, retorted, “When God created us, he created us male and female. That’s it. All these other folks that want to change that from birth, change that through their life, we need to stand up against that.” Rep. John McCravy, R-Greenwood, said the bill was intended to protect “vulnerable children.” McCravy referenced statistics that were in stark contrasts of widely accepted, peer-reviewed research. One statistic he referenced said approximately 60% of transgender adults regretted their choice of going through gender reassignment procedures.
But a 2021 review of 27 studies, which covered the experiences of nearly 8,000 transgender patients, found that only 1 percent regretted their transition. Meanwhile, a January 2023 study, said to be the largest of its kind, found that transgender and non-binary youth using hormones and puberty blockers showed lowered signs of depression and anxiety.
Columbia pediatrician Dr. Deborah Greenhouse testified the bill will exacerbate mental health crises for children who are already battling social rejection, discrimination, and limited options for mental health support. The bill will ban surgery, puberty blockers and hormone therapy for minors, and bar public funds from being used for these procedures. There are 22 states that ban such care for those under age 18, including nearly every state surrounding South Carolina. Providers who defy the state ban on these services could be found guilty of unprofessional conduct and disciplined by their licensing agency.
Dr. Elizabeth Mack, president of the South Carolina Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, reports that the surgery is not currently performed in South Carolina, but that other transition care is widely approved and endorsed by the medical community as safe and necessary.
“There’s no mainstream entity that does not support gender-affirming care. These measures are only given after a careful protocol in consultation with the doctors and parents. Minors are not making these decisions solo,” Mack said.
There are an estimated 3700 transgender youth aged 13–17 in South Carolina. Erik Childs, a military veteran and parent of a transgender teen, criticized government involvement in personal health decisions. “I joined the military in my youth to defend this country,” Childs proclaimed. “I was deployed to fight religious extremism and help set up democracies in another country halfway across the globe, only to come back and now have to defend against a different faction of religious extremists in my own backyard.”
Other proposed bills of note:
H.4663, prohibits all state and local public entities, including school districts, from promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).
H.4701, enacts the “Restricting and Explicit and Adult-Designated Education Resources (Reader) Act” that creates the Public School Library Collection Standards and provides related requirements for school book vendors, the State Library, the State Board of Education and South Carolina Department of Education.
H4707, establishes statewide policies concerning sex identification, personal pronoun usage in K-12 public schools. It imposes related requirements for the classification of males and females in the comprehension health program, and sets a process for public review and hearings concerning instructional materials and objections.
H.4538, directs that every public school restroom and changing facility designated for one sex must be used by that sex.
H.4572, requires the South Carolina Department of Education to review and approve all school websites, computer applications, and computer software on school-issued devices to ensure websites, applications, and software are aligned to school approved curriculum.
H.4704, eliminates requirements for superintendents to possess a doctoral degree and amends the requirement for the state superintendent to possess a minimum of bachelor’s degree instead of a master’s degree.
SOURCES: The Post and Courier, The Greenville News, The South Carolina School Boards Association