Washington passes law protecting transgender youth

On May 9th, Governor Jay Inslee signed into law SB 5599, removing certain barriers to transgender youth finding safe shelter in Washington. As summarized by one of the bill’s sponsors Senator Marko Liias:

“Under current law, licensed shelters must notify parents if a child comes into their care, unless a compelling reason applies. This legislation allows licensed shelters to contact the Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) in lieu of parents in certain additional instances, like when a young person is seeking reproductive health services or gender-affirming care.”

Watching the slew of hateful and harmful anti-LGBTQ legislation and sentiment across the country — 474 bills throughout the United States according to the ACLU — I am proud to live in a state where the legislature takes the opposite approach and seeks to increase protections for transgender youth.

Yet no state or government is perfect, and Washington is not without its anti-LGBTQ advocates. For example, according to the ACLU, two anti-LGBTQ bills have been proposed in Washington. The first seeks to prohibit inmates from being housed in a correctional facility that “primarily houses persons of a different biological sex.

The second seeks to protect what it terms the “fundamental right of a minor child to have his or her parent direct the child’s upbringing, education, health care, and mental health.” A seemingly laudable goal on paper — until it requires schools to “out” LGBTQ children to their parents, or prevents schools from teaching subjects that certain parents find objectionable.

In short, we must always remain vigilant.

Photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash