More Action to Ban Puberty Blockers in Kids with Gender Dysphoria in Georgia.

Support Passage of SB30 in the Georgia House Committee.

By David McKalip, M.D.

Children should not be deprived of the natural process of puberty. That is the basis of a bill passed in the Georgia Senate to protect kids from doctors and hospitals working to prescribe “Puberty Blocker” medication for gender dysphoria (kids being told or somehow convinced they are not their biological sex). The use of such medication in these kids is usually designed to prevent puberty with several years of medications. This effectively cancels the puberty of these vulnerable children and causes lifelong negative effects on their body and mental health.

The chances have never been better for House passage this year.

SEE ACTION STEPS to call and email key House members below.

The Georgia Senate recognized this and passed SB30 on 3/3/2025 to prevent doctors and hospitals from prescribing these medications for kids and adolescents with gender confusion. This follows the prior 2023 ban in the state of extreme “gender” altering surgeries and use of cross-sex hormones in kids signed into law after passage by both the House and Senate. Sadly, the legislature kept Puberty blockers in kids alive then, but are working to change that now. Thankfully, the Georgia House now has taken up SB30 and assigned it to the Committee Public and Community Health.

The time for action to protect our kids is here. See ACTION STEPS BELOW on how to contact House members on key committees to ask them to vote yes.

We need to get Georgia on the right side of history and protect our kids from these medications. President Trump has issued an Executive Order “PROTECTING CHILDREN FROM CHEMICAL AND SURGICAL MUTILATION” 1/28/25 that works on the federal level but will not fully stop these practices at the state level and can end with a new administration.

The data is clear. These puberty blockers are NOT reversible when used to stop puberty permanently. The suicide rate in this population is not decreased through the use of puberty blockers in kids. There are medical risks and complications from using these medications in children. This and the history of this issue and more will be fully explained below.

ACTION NOW

• Start by PHONING your Representative in the House of the Georgia General Assembly . Calling is more effective than email at this point, but feel free to email them, but only after you have called them as well. (BE RESPECTFUL AND “matter of fact”).

  • Let them know you want them to do all they can to pass SB 30 in the House (vote Yes).

• Call these Key Committee members from the HOUSE COMMITTE on Public and Community Health. Start from top and call as many as you can.

  • Chair: Sharon Cooper, (404) 656-5069 ,sharon.cooper@house.ga.gov

  • Vice Chair: Gary Richardson, (404) 656-0254, gary.richardson@house.ga.gov

  • Houston Gaines (House Majority Vice Chair), (404) 656-5025, houston.gaines@house.ga.gov

  • James Burchett (Majority Whip), (404) 656-5024, james.burchett@house.ga.gov

  • Lee Hawkins (Also Chair of Health Committee), (404) 656-7855 lee.hawkins@house.ga.gov

  • Butch Parrish (Chairman, Rules), (404) 656-5141, butch.parrish@house.ga.gov

  • Darlene Taylor (Also is Chair of Health Subcommitte of Appropriations Committee), (404) 463-2246, darlene.taylor@house.ga.gov

  • Katie Dempsey, (404) 463-2248, katie.dempsey@house.ga.gov

  • Mike Cheokas, (404) 463-7853, mike.cheokas@house.ga.gov

  • Scott Hilton, (404) 656-0188, scott.hilton@house.ga.gov

  • John Lahood, (404) 656-5105, john.lahood@house.ga.gov

  • Angie O’Steen, (404) 656-0254, angie.o'steen@house.ga.gov

  • Devan Seabaugh, (404) 656-0152, devan.seabaugh@house.ga.gov

  • Dale Washburn, (404) 656-0152, dale.washburn@house.ga.gov

• Also: PHONE HOUSE SPEAKER JOHN BURNS. (BE RESPECTFUL AND “matter of fact”). House Speaker John Burns Call at (404) 656-5020 and, after call, email at jon.burns@house.ga.gov.

• You can also call the full House Majority (Republican) Leadership at these numbers (some were listed above with committee members).

  • Speaker Jon Burns (404) 656-5020 jon.burns@house.ga.gov

  • Jan Jones, Speaker Pro-Tempore (404) 656-5072 jan.jones@house.ga.gov

  • Chuck Efstration; (House Majority Leader) (404) 656-5052 chuck.efstration@house.ga.gov

  • Bruce Williamson, Majority Caucus Chairman, (404) 656-5025 bruce.williamson@house.ga.gov

  • Ginny Ehrhart, Majority Caucus Secretary/Treasurer, (404) 656-5024, ginny.ehrhart@house.ga.gov

  • Rob Leverett, Majority Caucus Chief Deputy Whip, (404) 656-5132 rob.leverett@house.ga.gov.

For emails

• If you want to email all House members at the same time, you can use this:

  sharon.cooper@house.ga.gov; gary.richardson@house.ga.gov; houston.gaines@house.ga.gov; james.burchett@house.ga.gov; lee.hawkins@house.ga.gov; butch.parrish@house.ga.gov; darlene.taylor@house.ga.gov; katie.dempsey@house.ga.gov; mike.cheokas@house.ga.gov; scott.hilton@house.ga.gov; john.lahood@house.ga.gov; angie.o'steen@house.ga.gov; devan.seabaugh@house.ga.gov; dale.washburn@house.ga.gov; jon.burns@house.ga.gov; jan.jones@house.ga.gov; chuck.efstration@house.ga.gov; bruce.williamson@house.ga.gov; ginny.ehrhart@house.ga.gov; rob.leverett@house.ga.gov

Subject: Pass SB 30 in the House to protect Kids from Inappropriate Puberty Blocker Use

Body: Compose a simple email asking the representative to stop the use of puberty blockers in gender dysphoria. OR use the language below.

Example:

Dear Representative,

Please work to pass SB 30 in the House to prevent the use of puberty blockers in those under 18 with gender confusion and gender dysphoria. Kids need to be protected during this difficult time in life. Other nations have banned the use of puberty blockers in kids with gender confusion. They cause harm to kids and effectively stop their natural puberty. The use of these drugs do NOT decrease suicide rates in this children. Please work hard to pass SB30 right away to protect Georgia Children.

Thank you,

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Puberty Blockers In Georgia and Around World

· Georgia outlawed so-called “Gender Affirming Surgeries” and Hormone Replacement Therapy for minors with gender dysphoria with adoption of SB140 in 2023. Puberty blockers were allowed to remain available for kids with gender dysphoria.

· The Georgia Medical Board was given loopholes to create “limited exceptions” to allow such “sex reassignment surgery” and any medication as “medically necessary”.

· President Trump has issued an Executive Order “PROTECTING CHILDREN FROM CHEMICAL AND SURGICAL MUTILATION” 1/28/25 that works on the federal level but will not fully stop these practices at the state level and can end with a new administration.

· Prescription of Puberty Blockers and the medical care associated with it creates a significant unethical revenue stream for doctors who then can refer these children out of state for “gender-affirming” surgeries and enable them to purchase out of state Hormone blockers online[ii].

· There are active Transgender programs in Georgia, including at Emory, Queermed (prescribes puberty blockers and has locations in Georgia), “Feminists Women Health Care”.

· Other Countries have reversed course on puberty blockers: UK, Sweden, Denmark, France.[iii]

· Research has demonstrated that suicide rates are not reduced in kids undergoing so-called “Gender affirming care”[iv]

· Georgia Children need protection from the so-called “gender-affirming” care industry that is profiting off these vulnerable kids.

Medical Facts

· Puberty is a normal process of development for children and can be stopped through the use of Puberty Blocker Medications in a way that can never be reversed. (Any “reversible” nature is solely in the precocious puberty population who need these agents for about a year or two at most).

· GnRH agonists (like LUPRON) stop the production of Estrogen and Testosterone in kids and prevent puberty.

· Disrupting puberty with medication is objectively harmful because puberty is NOT a Disease.

· Gender Dysphoria is not a disease, but a condition of emotional and psychological distress.

· Puberty blockers disrupt normal physical, cognitive, emotional and social development for kids.

· The disruption of puberty is a permanent loss for the child who can never return to that time in their life and that time is permanently stolen from them.

· Prior to the routine use of puberty blockers, the vast majority of youth with gender dysphoria identified with their natural sex by young adulthood[v]

· The vast majority of kids who routinely use puberty blockers later use or undergo cross-sex hormones and surgeries[vi].

· Lupron’s package insert warns of emotional lability, irritability, seizures, brain swelling, headache, blurred vision and loss of vision as potential side effects and recommends monitoring patients for development of new or worsening psychiatric symptoms[vii].

· After experimental treatment with puberty blockers, the British Medical Journal reports no psychological benefit to youth with gender dysphoria[viii].

· There is loss of bone density in up to 1/3 of gender dysphoric patient given puberty blockers and Adolescents routinely do not meet their optimal height and bone density with these drugs after sex-reassignment surgery[ix].

· Children lose fertility from puberty blockers and those blocked early never achieve orgasm[x].

· There are legitimate concerns about cognitive development in children taking puberty blockers[xi] and young adults treated with Lupron for legitimate medical reasons note impaired memory in a significant number[xii].

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[ii] https://www.emoryhealthcare.org/centers-programs/transgender-clinic/referrals-contacts (referrals from Emory to “gender-affirming” surgeries in other states_.;

https://queermed.com/?s=puberty

; https://feministcenter.org/gender-affirming-reproductive-healthcare/.

[iii] https://www.bbc.com/news/health-68549091 and https://www.euronews.com/health/2024/12/13/the-uk-is-the-latest-country-to-ban-puberty-blockers-for-trans-kids-why-is-europe-restrict

[iv] https://biologicalintegrity.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/General-Fact-Sheet-1.pdf

[v] Kenneth J. Zucker (2018) The myth of persistence:…” and Ristori J, Steensma TD. Gender dysphoria in childhood. Int Rev Psychiatry. 2016;28(1):13-20.

[vi] https://biologicalintegrity.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Fact-Sheet_-Risks-of-Puberty-Blockers.pdf (references 4-8)

[vii] https://www.lupronped.com/about-lupron-depot-ped?cid=ppc_ppd_msft_Lupron_Branded_lupronped.com_Phrase_USLUPR220485

[viii] https://www.bmj.com/content/372/bmj.n356.full

[ix] https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/jpem-2021-0180/html and https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article/100/2/E270/2814818?login=false

[x] https://www.thefp.com/p/top-trans-doctors-blow-the-whistle

[xi] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21514192/ and https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/apa.17150

[xii] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0306453007002144?via%3Dihub