US House passes bill criminalizing gender transition for minors

The measure sponsored by congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene would introduce prison terms for performing sex change operations on children

The US House of Representatives has passed legislation that would criminalize performing gender transition treatments on minors, approving a bill sponsored by Georgia Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene.

The measure passed the House by a narrow 216-211 vote on Wednesday. To become law, it would also need to clear the Senate, a step widely seen as unlikely because it would require the backing of a bipartisan coalition to advance.

The bill, titled the “Protect Children’s Innocence Act,” seeks to impose penalties of up to 10 years in prison for “genital or bodily mutilation” or “chemical castration” of a minor. The text covers a range of medical interventions, surgeries, and the admission of puberty blockers and hormones for gender-changing purposes.

”Children are NOT experiments. No more drugs. No more surgeries. No more permanent harm. We need to let kids grow up without manipulation from adults to make life-altering decisions,” Greene said on X ahead of the vote, urging Congress to “protect America’s children.”

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The House action comes amid a broader push by US President Donald Trump to reverse federal policies on transgender issues. Since returning to office, he has signed executive orders ending government support for gender transition procedures for people under 19 and directing federal agencies to withdraw policies that recognize gender identity beyond biological sex.

Trump has also ordered bans on transgender participation in women’s sports at federally regulated events and reinstated restrictions on transgender individuals serving in the US military. The Pentagon has since barred anyone with a current or past diagnosis of gender dysphoria from enlisting or continuing service, with the Supreme Court upholding the ban.

In an address to Congress in March, Trump also urged lawmakers to adopt legislation “permanently banning and criminalizing sex changes on children.”

Democrats criticized Greene’s bill during debate on Wednesday, claiming Republicans were “obsessed” with transgender people and focusing on what they described as a “misunderstood and vulnerable 1 percent of the population.” Other legislators argued that the bill would interfere with parental decision-making and expose doctors to prosecution for following established medical practices.