Columbia DSA unequivocally denounces the South Carolina legislature's latest attempt to deprive trans people in the state of their healthcare and basic human rights. Senate Bill 274—like the repeated and failed attempts to entirely ban abortion in the state—seeks to place personal medical decisions into the hands of corrupt politicians acting in defiance of both the consensus of the medical community and any meaningful understanding of the word freedom. This bill would especially impact trans people of color in South Carolina, who already face greater discrimination and larger obstacles to healthcare access.
All of this under the guise of protecting children, when in reality Senate Bill 274 goes beyond children. Instead it would ban trans people from receiving gender affirming care up to the age of 21. And they won't stop there, without a doubt they will slowly raise the age until a full ban is in effect. The tyrannical forces in this state would impose the government on doctors and their patients, limiting liberty and criminalizing doctors.
The bill does not stop at healthcare, however. It also requires educators to take time out of their already impossible schedules to form opinions on and then report the sex and gender status of children in their care. The obscenity of this should be shocking, even to South Carolina Republicans.
The idea that healthcare is a human right is fundamental to us as socialists, and trans healthcare is a non-negotiable part of the future we hope to build. Education is another fundamental human right, and South Carolina's students should not be subjected to legislators' worrying schoolyard curiosity.
Furthermore, we will continue to oppose and defy any and all illegitimate attempts to erase, discriminate against, or otherwise delegitimize trans individuals. We are here, and we are here to stay. South Carolina is our home, and we will not be threatened into silence or complacency. It is our birthright to live in a safe community, with equal treatment and protection under the law, and Senate Bill 274, among other previous anti-trans bills in the SC legislature, would deny us that birthright—this of course, we cannot and will not accept.
