Health Care

A party faction that includes several GOP governors says government shouldn’t get involved.

Nearly half of the states have restricted gender-affirming care for children, sparking protests across the country. | Timothy D. Easley/AP

By Daniel Payne

10/31/2024 03:29 PM EDT

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Donald Trump is spending more on ads criticizing Kamala Harris’ support for transgender rights than he is on any other subject in the campaign’s closing days — and down-ballot Republicans are following suit, believing the issue can tip close races.

But nationwide, the GOP is finding it’s easier to oppose trans rights in theory than in reality — when it means kicking a child off a team or blocking parents from proceeding with medical care recommended by a doctor. Some Republicans are even warning their party’s stance conflicts with conservative values on individual and parental rights.

“Why would you want the state to be making these decisions?” said Barbara Comstock, a Republican who represented a northern Virginia House district for two terms ending in 2018. “It opens a Pandora’s box when you don’t allow the parents and the doctors to make this decision.”

The sharp focus on transgender rights may not only lay the groundwork for the next phase of the culture war but also foreshadow more efforts to restrict federal protections for transgender kids’ ability to transition, play sports or use facilities in accord with their gender identity. The fights could test the party’s core beliefs — about using the power of federal and state governments in ways that affect localities and families.

Though nearly half of states have banned gender-affirming care for minors or barred transgender students from sports leagues aligned with their identity, six Republican governors have vetoed restrictions, some concerned of government overreach.

“There’s a struggle going on in the party right now,” said Alex Lundry, a conservative pollster who opposes the bans, for “the ideal size and role of government.”

LGBTQ advocates in 2021 warned South Dakota lawmakers that passing a bill to ban state residents from updating the sex on their birth certificates would spark a costly legal battle. | Stephen Groves/AP

In North Dakota, Gov. Doug Burgum said he was uncomfortable with the use of “the heavy hand of state government” in a bill he vetoed, which restricted teachers from using transgender students’ preferred pronouns without teacher and administrator permission.

Arkansas’ then-Gov. Asa Hutchinson said a bill he vetoed would have created “new standards of legislative interference with physicians and parents.”

And in Ohio, Gov. Mike DeWine used the language of the anti-abortion movement in describing his veto of a bill banning gender-affirming care as “pro-life.”

Even so, across races for the White House, Congress and state legislatures, Republicans are using the issue as a wedge to differentiate........

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