Atlanta City Council member Liliana Bakhtiari has introduced a resolution that pushes back against state lawmakers’ recently passed law banning some treatments for transgender minors.
This past legislative session, Georgia’s Republican-led legislature passed Senate Bill 140 which bans health care providers from providing certain hormones and surgical treatment to children to align with their gender identity.
The crackdown on gender-affirming care went into effect July 1 and follows a pattern of restrictions implemented in other GOP-controlled states. The Atlanta-Journal Constitution reported that Georgia’s new law curtailing treatment to transgender children has caused some families to consider moving out of the state.
Bakhtiari introduced a resolution Tuesday urging the Atlanta Police Department to prioritize criminal cases under the law at the “lowest possible level,” and that APD avoid any investigations of reported cases.
“The law strips Georgia’s youth and parents of their right to make critical decisions about their children’s health care, including seeking and obtaining appropriate medical treatment, inflicting undue harm on one of the state’s most vulnerable groups,” the resolution reads.
The legislation also prohibits city funds from being used to catalog reports of potential violations of the state law or provide information on cases to any other government body.
Bakhtiari — who when elected became the first queer Muslim person to serve in public office in Georgia — introduced a similar piece of legislation last year that instructs APD to treat any violations of the state’s strict abortion law as low priority cases.
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens announced in May that the city would donate $55,000 to LGBTQ programs — including the largest investment in Atlanta’s transgender community to date.
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