NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Gov. Bill Lee has approved legislation that bans gender-confirming treatment for young minors over objections that the series of bills unfairly discriminate an already vulnerable population.
It goes into effect immediately and bans doctors from providing gender-confirming hormone treatment, including puberty blockers, before they reach puberty.
The move makes Tennessee just the second state in the United States to enact such a ban after Arkansas approved a similar version earlier this year over a veto from Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson.
Lee quietly signed the measure on Tuesday without commenting on why he approved of the contentious legislation. Such bans have been opposed by several medical and child welfare groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association.
Treatments hormone therapy, surgery, facial hair removal, interventions for the modification of speech and communication, and behavioral adaptations such as genital tucking or packing, or chest binding.
