Marjorie Taylor Greene’s trans youth care ban passes US House after three Democrats break ranks

A bill that would criminalise gender-affirming care for trans young people just barely passed its first vote, and three Democrats helped it to pass.

House bill HR 3492, dubbed the ‘Protect Children’s Innocence Act’, passed through the US House with a slim majority in a 216–211 vote on Wednesday (17 December).

Brought by infamously anti-trans Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene, the legislation would make it a federal crime to prescribe potentially life-saving gender-affirming healthcare such as puberty blockers to under-18s.

Those found guilty of violating the law, should it pass, could face up to 10 years imprisonment and considerable fines.

Wednesday’s vote went beyond party lines, with four Republicans joining the 207 Democrats voting against the bill, while three Democrats – Henry Cueller, Vincente Gonzalez Jr, and Don Davis – voted for the ban with 213 Republicans. Six members, three from both parties, did not vote.

The bill would have failed by a single seat had the Democratic candidates not joined the Republican majority in approving its passage.

Greene, who introduced the law in May, thanked all three Democrats for their votes in a celebratory post on X/Twitter, saying she was “very happy” the bill had passed.

It will now go to the US Senate, who will vote whether to pass the legislation on to US president Donald Trump. Political analysts claim it is unlikely to pass a Senate vote, according to The Guardian.

Journalist Erin Reed noted in a post on Bluesky that, while the bill’s passage and Democratic defections are concerning, the four Republicans voting against the bill is “significant.”

“There’s leverage there. Somewhere,” she said. “There’s concern that this isn’t a winning move in swing districts.”

Trans youth healthcare ban could cost lives, experts warn

American Civil Liberties Union spokesperson, Mike Zamore, blasted “ill-equipped” politicians who voted in favour of the bill, accusing them of criminalising care based on “ideology” alone, rather than facts.

“We strongly condemn the passage of this measure and urge members of the Senate to do everything in their power to prevent it from ever becoming law.”

Proposed in May, this is Greene’s third attempt to introduce the bill into federal law after it failed to pass committee approval in 2022 and 2023.

She has baselessly claimed the measures would block what she spuriously describes as forms of “castration” and “mutilation,” while failing to provide evidence to justify her views.

The American Medical Association told LGBTQ+ Nation that Greene’s bill did not reflect the “research landscape” on puberty blockers, neither did it acknowledge the “conservative approach” to trans healthcare.

A spokesperson noted that medical professionals typically reserve medical interventions for “older adolescents and adults” rather than children.

The Trevor Project, an LGBTQ+ youth suicide prevention charity, warned that Greene’s measures would have a “detrimental impact” on trans youth and could cost lives.

“It’s no hyperbole to say that restricting this medically necessary care risks the lives of transgender and non-binary youth in communities all across the US,” the charity’s vice president of public engagement, Rodrigo Heng-Lehtinen, said.