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Since North Dakota banned gender affirming care for those under 18 in 2023, Dr. Luis Casas, pediatric endocrinologist, has filed a lawsuit challenging the ban on behalf of himself and his patients. The North Dakota Monitor reported that Casas alleges the law violates personal autonomy and equal protection rights under the state constitution. Bill Tveit, a Republican representative from Hazen who championed the ban, believes that transgender children are fantasizing, and quoting Bill Maher, he said, “if kids knew what they wanted to be at the age of 8, the world would be full of cowboys and princesses.” The trial began Monday, and a couple of Casas’ patients and their parents took the witness stand, testifying that gender affirming care, like hormone therapy and puberty blockers, increased their quality of life. One 16-year-old patient said she knew she was transgender since preschool, and before she received gender affirming care, she experienced alienation from her peers and suicidal thoughts. A parent of a 13 year old patient of Casas stated through tears that “In no way, shape or form is [the ban] protecting my child. It is doing more harm than you will ever imagine.” The trial is expected to wrap up next week.
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