Navigate This Page:
➡️ Donate
➡️ How We Support
➡️ Spread the Word
➡️ Send a Message of Support
➡️ Legal Landscape
➡️ Get Support in Your State
➡️ Partner Organizations
➡️ Contact STYEP
Health care is a human right and everyone should be able to access the healthcare that they need in their hometown. But right now, lawmakers all across the South are passing extreme legislation banning best-practice medical care for transgender youth. As a result, 75% of transgender youth in the South now live in a state where a ban on gender affirming care has passed.
This barrage of cruel legislation is causing great distress for transgender youth and their families as they make plans for how to ensure youth can access health care. For some, this means traveling hundreds of miles several times a year; others are considering moving. Bottom line, families are doing everything they can to protect their children and make sure they have the care and support they need and deserve to thrive.
In response, the Campaign for Southern Equality has launched the Southern Trans Youth Emergency Project (STYEP), a new regional effort which provides rapid response support directly to the families of youth who are impacted by anti-transgender healthcare bans in the South. Through STYEP, and in close partnership with state and local organizations, we are providing grants, patient navigation support, and accurate information to impacted families to ensure that youth can access the care they need and deserve, even in the face of oppressive laws. We have developed a regional referral network of providers in access states and are helping as many families as we can through this time of crisis.
Donate to Support Trans Youth in the South
Bans on gender-affirming care are passing all across the South right now. Give now to support trans youth.
DonateWe Support Families in 4 Main Ways:
Patient Navigation
We help families understand their options for continuing care in other Southern states or states contiguous to the South, including referrals to medical providers in the regional network CSE has worked to coordinate.
Emergency Grants
Families of trans youth can receive grants of $500 to support immediate needs, including travel expenses, medication costs, and mental health or wellness needs.
Frontline Grants
State and local organizations working directly with youth and their families are partnering closely with the CSE team, and we provide direct funding to help fuel their frontline work supporting trans youth.
Ecosystem of Care
We collaborate with providers and organizations to create an ecosystem of care and support through Town Halls, Resilience Workshops, referrals to mental health care and more.
Spread the Word
Send a Message of Support:
We know that the love and support that exists for trans kids across the South is stronger than these dangerous laws. That’s why we’re collecting messages of hope and support for transgender kids and their families across the South. Click here to send a message, and we’ll get them to trans youth impacted by these cruel bans.
Landscape: Access to Gender-Affirming Care
Key: Ban in Effect • Ban Set to Take Effect • Ban Under Consideration • Restriction on Hold by Court Order • No Ban
Get Support in Your State:
We believe that these anti-transgender healthcare laws are flatly unconstitutional – and we hope to see them struck down in court as quickly as possible. But we remain clear-eyed that some of these bills will take effect; in some states, even the threat of the bills passing has caused a chilling effect on providers’ readiness to accept new patients. Families must take steps to prepare, and the Campaign for Southern Equality is here to help. There is no doubt that accessing this care will be time and resource intensive, but parents of transgender children will do everything in their power to do what’s best for their children. And supporters of trans equality must be there to support every step of the way. As we expand STYEP across the South, this list will continue to be updated. And if you don’t see your state listed, click here.
Arkansas
Since 2021, Arkansans have grappled with anti-transgender laws that prohibit transgender-related healthcare for people under the age of 18 – and while the law (Act 626) is not in effect because of a court order, its passage has exacerbated the lack of access to providers of gender-affirming hormone therapy and puberty blockers for trans people under 18. Many providers are not accepting new patients while litigation moves through the courts.
Families in Arkansas can seek support – including information, patient navigation, and emergency grants, through the Southern Trans Youth Emergency Project. In Arkansas, we are proud to partner with inTransitive.
Florida
Floridians are grappling with the passage of SB254, which bans gender-affirming care for transgender people under the age of 18 and also impacts access to affirming healthcare for transgender adults. This bill, which took effect immediately, comes after months of access being chipped away, a result of recent state administrative actions targeting access for transgender-related healthcare, including for people under the age of 18 and for adults who accessed their care through Medicaid coverage. Clinics have been forced to halt offering gender-affirming care services.
Families in Florida can seek support – including information, patient navigation, and emergency grants, through the Southern Trans Youth Emergency Project. In Florida, we are proud to partner with Equality Florida and Southern Legal Counsel.
Georgia
SB140, passed in March 2023, is a law that prohibits gender-affirming hormone therapy for people under the age of 18. The ban is set to take effect July 1. Youth already receiving care will be able to remain in care.
Families in Georgia can seek support – including information, patient navigation, and emergency grants, through the Southern Trans Youth Emergency Project. In Georgia, we are proud to partner with Georgia Equality.
Kentucky
SB150, passed in March 2023 following the legislature’s override of the Kentucky Governor’s veto, is a sweeping anti-LGBTQ+ bill – with several components that are especially dangerous when it comes to transgender youth accessing critical health care. The bill prohibits transgender-related healthcare in Kentucky for people under the age of 18, banning gender-affirming hormone therapy and puberty blockers. The ban is set to take effect on June 28, 2023.
Families in Kentucky can seek support from CSE and the Kentucky Health Justice Network. In Kentucky we are proud to partner with KHJN, who will provide information and patient navigation, while CSE will provide emergency grants through the Southern Trans Youth Emergency Project.
Mississippi
HB1125, signed February 28, 2023 in Mississippi, is a law that prohibits transgender-related healthcare in Mississippi for people under the age of 18, banning gender-affirming hormone therapy and puberty blockers. The ban took effect immediately and is currently in effect.
Families in Mississippi can seek support – including information, patient navigation, and emergency grants, through the Southern Trans Youth Emergency Project. In Mississippi, we are proud to partner with The TRANS Program, Mississippi Rising, the Immigrant Alliance for Justice & Equality, and more.
Oklahoma
Oklahoma’s SB613 is a law that restricts transition-related healthcare in Oklahoma for Two Spirit, transgender, and gender nonconforming (2STGNC+) people under the age of 18; under this law, care such as gender-affirming hormone therapy and puberty blockers will be inaccessible in Oklahoma for trans people until they turn 18.
NOTE: On May 18, the ACLU of Oklahoma, the American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal, and the law firm Jenner & Block LLP filed a binding agreement with the Oklahoma Attorney General’s office not to enforce SB 613 pending resolution of plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction in their challenge to the law. With the non-enforcement agreement, transgender adolescents should be able to continue access to gender-affirming care. Originally, SB613, which had an “emergency” provision attached to it, took effect immediately, on Monday, May 1.
During this uncertain time, families in Oklahoma can seek support – including information, patient navigation, and emergency grants, through the Southern Trans Youth Emergency Project. In Oklahoma, we are proud to partner with Freedom Oklahoma.
Tennessee
HB1/SB1, signed March 2 in Tennessee, is a law that prohibits transgender-related healthcare in Tennessee for people under the age of 18, banning gender-affirming hormone therapy and puberty blockers. The law is set to take effect on July 1, 2023, and while the letter of the law allows youth who have initiated care before that date to remain in care, many Tennessee providers are ceasing care for all youth patients on July 1.
Families in Tennessee can seek support – including information, patient navigation, and emergency grants, through the Southern Trans Youth Emergency Project. In Tennessee, we are proud to partner with OUTMemphis and inclusion tennessee.
West Virginia
HB 2007, signed March 29, 2023 in West Virginia, is a law that restricts transgender-related healthcare in West Virginia for people under the age of 18, banning gender-affirming hormone therapy and puberty blockers for some transgender youth. This restriction excludes youth who are diagnosed with “severe gender dysphoria” by at least two health care providers. The restriction is set to take effect on January 1, 2024.
Families in West Virginia can seek support – including information, patient navigation, and emergency grants, through the Southern Trans Youth Emergency Project. In WV, we are proud to partner with Fairness West Virginia.
Live in a Different Southern State But Need Support?
We understand that even in states that have not explicitly banned gender-affirming care, accessing care for youth can be challenging and require hours of travel. If your family is currently traveling long distances to access gender-affirming care, we are here to support with emergency funding and patient navigation about other options that may exist. No matter which Southern state where you live (AL, AR, FL, GA, KY, LA, MS, NC, OK, SC, TN, TX, VA, WV), we’d be honored to help.
Partners in the Southern Trans Youth Emergency Project:
Get to know the incredible partners we are collaborating with across the South to provide direct support to impacted transgender youth and their families.
Contact the Southern Trans Youth Emergency Project:
If you are seeking patient navigation services or an emergency grant from the Southern Trans Youth Emergency Project (STYEP), please click here and select your state, and fill out the form on your state’s page. If you have a different question about STYEP – or if you don’t see your state listed on the page but need support – fill out the form below.
