ST. PAUL, Minn. — On Friday, the Judiciary and Public Safety Committee heard SF 63, a bill that would offer protections to individuals and families who come to Minnesota seeking gender-affirming healthcare, and it protects medical professionals who provide that care. Chief author Senator Erin Maye Quade (DFL-Apple Valley) spoke alongside advocates, young people, and legal and medical professions who support the bill, as well as Rep. Leigh Finke (DFL-St. Paul), the chief author of the House version of the bill.
“Across the United States, states are moving to ban gender affirming care, call parents who allow their children to access gender affirming care ‘child abusers,’ and seek to remove those children from those homes,” said Sen. Maye Quade. “A third of trans youth (nationally) are at risk of losing access to gender affirming care, and that is why Senate File 63 is so important. This bill will ensure that children are not taken from loving and supportive homes for accessing basic healthcare and it sends a much needed and strong message to the trans community, especially trans children, who are very loved and supported amidst this terrifying landscape.”
“We recently had our first conversation in the Minnesota House centered around protecting and fostering gender-affirming care, and today’s hearing in the Senate is an important step in showing the broad support trans people have in our state” said Rep. Finke. “Every day we hear about another state working to dismantle the rights of trans kids and their families. It’s crucial that we continue to push in all of Minnesota’s halls of power: Gender-affirming care is vital, life-saving health care, and it deserves to be protected.”
“What brings us here today is a concerted effort, in other states, to deny human rights that Minnesotans take for granted—rights like the right to have a family, access medically necessary health care, and to have children with a minimum of government interference,” said Christa Moseng, a lawyer in Minnesota’s executive branch and chair of MNclusive, a LGBTQIA+ resource group for state employees. “If there’s one thing that I know that a public official can safely say, it’s that Minnesota is not Florida, or Texas, or Oklahoma, or Utah. We do not threaten to pull families apart. We do not erase trans people from public life and accommodations… Senate File 63 would protect children, families, and caregivers in Minnesota from extraterritorial laws and orders that could interfere with the right to receive gender affirming healthcare in Minnesota… It would substantively strengthen Minnesota’s position as a human rights leader in the United States.”
The committee laid over SF 63 for future action.
Attached photo should be credited to Minnesota Senate DFL Media.
###
Learn more about Sen. Maye Quade.
