In March 2022, the Idaho House of Representatives, like legislatures in 13 other states, voted to criminalize providing gender-affirming medical care to transgender youth. When asked about the bill’s threat to the lives of trans youth, Republican State Rep. Julianne Young replied, “I see this conversation as an extension of the pro-life argument.… We’re not talking about the life of the child, but we are talking about the potential to give life to another generation.”

On the one hand, we want to emphasize that Young’s assertion, suggesting that trans people never have or raise children, is false. Not only do trans people have and raise children, they often do so biologically, using their own gametes. On the other hand, it is important not to reproduce the implicit logic of Young’s statement, that adoption, fostering, extended family […]