About the gender affirming care resolution
What is gender affirming care?
Gender affirming care is care that aids in a trans person achieving the body they desire through the altering of secondary sex characteristics. This includes Hormone Replacement Therapy such as testosterone or estrogen, and surgeries. This care has a high success rate and a very low regret rate - lower than common surgeries like knee surgeries, hip replacements, or even similar cosmetic procedures like breast surgeries.
Why do we need a resolution for it?
The DFL Platform currently does not have anything specific about transgender care or transgender rights. The Trump administration has been attacking the trans community since the Inauguration in January 2025. There is no better time to be explicit and proactive about our values when it comes to trans lives.
Why should I vote for it?
It’s important that we take steps now to codify our support for trans lives into our platform and into our party values. This is a community under immense threat and strain, and voting for this resolution demonstrates not only that we in the DFL support trans lives, but that we are willing to stand up with them.
When can I vote?
The State Convention will be issuing information about the balloting process as the convention gets closer.
What about kids?
Fundamentally as Democrats, we should all support the right to make medical decisions without government interference. Trans health care for minors is an important aspect of that - the government should not interfere with medical care that parents, their child, and their medical providers agree is necessary. We must uphold that basic principle.
Study after study has shown marked improvement for transgender minors who receive care. This care is not rushed or entered into without careful consideration - the diagnostic requirements insist on the child themselves articulating their gender clearly and consistently over a significant time period. Interventions are limited to puberty blockers, hormones, and maybe chest surgery, in very limited cases.
The rightwing likes to use the specter of children “being rushed into transition” and “regretting it later,” but the evidence simply does not bear that out. It’s also worthwhile to note that we do not take “you’ll regret it” as a reason to restrict access to abortion care, and we should not take it for transgender care either.