A regional initiative based in the South is expanding into Wyoming to support transgender kids looking to travel out-of-state for their healthcare needs.
The Campaign for Southern Equality, an LGBTQ+ advocacy group located in North Carolina, recently announced its Trans Youth Emergency Project would now offer grants in all 25 states that have some kind of gender-affirming care ban.
That includes Wyoming, after a ban on that form of healthcare for minors went into effect on July 1.
The initiative offers trans kids and their parents financial and logistical support for traveling to out-of-state physicians when bans like Wyoming’s become law.
“When I think of states that have to set up special funds for people who can’t access care because their government has made it hard for them, I think of the South,” said Sara Burlingame, the executive director of nonprofit Wyoming Equality, which supports the initiative but isn’t directly involved. “I’ve never thought of Wyoming as fitting into that category before.”
The initiative’s website says Wyomingites can apply for grant funding of up to $500 to “support immediate needs, including travel expenses, medication costs, and mental health or wellness needs.”
Wyoming’s ban prohibits gender-affirming surgeries for minors, even though they’re not performed in the state, and most major medical associations and rights groups – including Wyoming Equality – oppose them regardless.
However, many physicians agree that other forms of gender-affirming care for youth that the ban outlaws can be critical in reducing feelings of depression among trans people.
“People get this wrong-headed idea that it’s just families who are very liberal and very progressive and are really promoting a kind of devil-may-care response to their teen child’s identity [who are seeking out gender-affirming care],” Burlingame said. “I think people are really shocked to discover the truth, which has always been the truth: that queer people, trans people, were born into every [type] of family that exists.”
Lawmakers passed SF 99, also known as “Chloe’s Law,” during the 2024 budget session. The ban was later signed by Gov. Mark Gordon.
It was initially named after a de-transitioner activist named Chloe Cole from California, who testified in favor of it at a committee meeting in Cheyenne.
Wyoming Public Radio previously reported that in 2023, a nonprofit organization led by three GOP state senators paid for the travel of at least one other activist’s favorable testimony on a similar version of “Chloe’s Law.”
The power disparity between state legislators and trans youth isn’t lost on Burlingame.
“There’s not a group that’s more vulnerable and underrepresented in Wyoming than transgender kids, right?” she said. “They don’t have a voting block, they don’t have big lobbying money, they were born here, they’re just trying to do their best.”
While gender-affirming care bans in other states have faced legal obstacles filed by advocacy groups, as of Sept. 10, Wyoming’s ban has yet to be challenged.
Editor’s note: LGBTQ young people in search of support can contact The Trevor Project 24/7 through our TrevorLifeline at 1-866-488-7386, via chat at TheTrevorProject.org/Get-Help, or by texting START to 678-678.
This reporting was made possible by a grant from the Corporation For Public Broadcasting, supporting state government coverage in the state. Wyoming Public Media and Jackson Hole Community Radio are partnering to cover state issues both on air and online.
