Arkansas just passed the ‘single most extreme anti-trans law’ targeting healthcare for kids

The Arkansas Senate has passed a bill that would prevent medical practitioners from providing healthcare to trans minors in a shocking blow to the LGBT+ community.

The senate passed HB 1570 on Monday (29 March), making Arkansas the first state to ban puberty blockers and hormone treatment for trans youth.

The bill will now go to governor Asa Hutchinson to be signed into law. LGBT+ rights activists are calling on the governor to veto the dehumanising law.

Chase Strangio, deputy director for transgender justice at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), said HB 1570 is “the single most extreme anti-trans law to ever pass through a state legislature”.

Celebrities, human rights organisations and LGBT+ communities across the United States reacted with fury to the news, with many criticising legislators for attacking and targeting children.

In a video recorded for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Laverne Cox hit out at Arkansas politicians for “targeting children”.

“It’s exhausting,” Cox said in the emotional video. “I encourage us to look at this in the context of years-long attempts to stigmatise and further marginalise trans people and have that stigma codified into law.

“This is not new. We’ve seen bathroom bills, we’ve seen other bills in previous years, and now we see bills like HB 1570, which would criminalise doctors providing healthcare – medically necessary health care – to children.”