Indiana state Rep. Joanna King is transphobic, and she’s unapologetic about it. In the past, she supported the bill banning minors from accessing gender-affirming care.
Her argument is that kids should not have to undergo such life-changing procedures on a whim. One would think she loves minors too much and just wants to protect them. However, this new law she introduced will have you thinking again.
Her proposed bill would alter state child labor laws to allow minors to drop out of school after 8th grade. Only to work full-time on family and corporate farms. The bill, HB 1062, would allow minors as young as 14 to abandon education.
They will work 40 hours a week, year-round, during school hours. “Farm owners are not required to pay overtime and, in many cases, smaller farms are even exempt from the minimum wage,” political writer Robyn Pennacchia has revealed.
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“They are also allowed to hire children as young as 12 — and, even, under certain circumstances, kids as young as 10.” It is true that Indiana law does not specify any limitations on maximum working hours for minors under 16. But only as long as they do agricultural work.
State law also doesn’t specify the kinds of work children can do, though federal law does. Pennacchia also noted that while King supports parents deciding when to end their child’s education and force them into demanding agricultural labor, she opposes parents helping their children obtain gender-affirming care.
The state ban on gender-affirming care for minors came about in 2023, and it had King’s support. The law prohibits trans youth from both gender-affirming medication and surgery. And it also requires youth already undergoing care to detransition.
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“This is good public policy to protect our children from irreversible, harmful, life-altering procedures,” King said about the law. Even though many major American medical and psychiatric associations affirm that gender-affirming care is safe, effective, and essential for trans minors’ overall well-being.
Barely a month after Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb (D) signed the ban into law, U.S. District Court Judge James Patrick Hanlon issued an injunction to prevent the ban from going into effect. Hanlon argued that plaintiffs had “some likelihood of success” on their claims that the ban was unconstitutional.
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Over the past year, many other areas in the U.S. have banned gender-affirming care for minors, including Missouri and New Jersey. However, some places still protect minor access to such treatments. Meanwhile, whether kids can make such a decision remains a hot debate, with both sides making logical points.
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