Illinois SB2474

Prohibition on treatment of persons under the age of 18 for gender dysphoria or gender discordance. (a) A medical doctor shall not prescribe, provide, administer, or deliver puberty-suppressing drugs or cross-sex hormones and shall not perform surgical orchiectomy or castration, urethroplasty, vaginoplasty, mastectomy, phalloplasty, or metoidioplasty on biologically healthy and anatomically normal persons under the age of 18 for the purpose of treating the subjective, internal psychological condition of gender dysphoria or gender discordance. (b) Any efforts to modify the anatomy, physiology, or biochemistry of a biologically healthy person under the age of 18 who experiences gender dysphoria or gender discordance shall be considered unprofessional conduct and shall be subject to discipline by the licensing entity or disciplinary review board with competent jurisdiction. (c) No medical doctor or mental health provider shall refer any person under the age of 18 to any medical doctor for chemical or surgical interventions to treat gender dysphoria or gender discordance.

(2) Being biologically male or biologically female is not a disorder, illness, deficiency, shortcoming, or error. Scientists and other medical professionals have recognized that biological sex is a neutral, objective, and immutable fact of human nature. (3) Puberty is not a disease or a disorder. (4) There is no conclusive, research-based evidence proving that if there is incongruence between one's objective and immutable biological sex (and its attendant healthy and normally functioning anatomy and physiology) and one's subjective, internal sense of being male or female that the problem resides in the body rather than the mind.

There is an obvious self-fulfilling nature to encouraging a young boy with [gender dysphoria] to socially impersonate a girl and then institute pubertal suppression. Given the well-established phenomenon of neuroplasticity, the repeated behavior of impersonating a girl alters the structure and function of the boy's brain in some way-potentially in a way that will make identity alignment with his biologic sex less likely. This, together with the suppression of puberty that prevents further endogenous masculinization of his brain, causes him to remain a gender non-conforming prepubertal boy disguised as a prepubertal girl.

The idea that mental health problems, including suicidality, are caused by gender dysphoria rather than the other way around (i.e., mental health and personality issues cause a vulnerability to experience gender dysphoria) is currently popular and politically correct. It is, however, unproven and as likely to be false as true.