A new push to ban medical treatments for transgender children

JAMES YOUNGER’S mother believed he should wear dresses and grow his hair long because he considered himself a girl. His father claimed the seven-year-old was perfectly content with trousers, short hair and being a boy. Almost every detail of the couple’s vicious custody battle was fought over their child’s gender identity. After his mother won, culture warriors piled in.

Ted Cruz, a senator from Texas, said the child was “a pawn in a left-wing political agenda”. A host of Republican politicians shared posts from a #ProtectJamesYounger social-media campaign. In October a judge awarded James’s parents joint custody, barring them from speaking publicly about the case. Since then its effects have rippled beyond one unhappy family. Lawmakers in a number of states say the Youngers’ row has prompted them to try to pass laws banning medical interventions that bring transgender children closer to the sex with which they identify.