tonight. the battle over medical care for trans youth. >> to say this is a bill protecting children is completely disingenuous. >> at least 20 states passing

laws banning treatment. >> minor children suffering from gender dysphoria need appropriate health care, not body mutilation. >> thousands of families caught in the middle, facing an uncertain future. >> you would be willing to move out of state if that's what it came to? >> if that's what it took to protect my child, absolutely. >> one florida family's journey. >> i just didn't feel like i was a girl. >> this was one of the last pictures that was taken of him. >> why it's so personal for one kentucky state lawmaker. >> he gave up on the world. he gave up on finding his place in it. >> the legal fight ahead. plus, rare access inside a florida clinic, committed to providing care despite the ban. >> these people can be as mad as they want about my existence. stay mad about it. >> why the highest-ranking open official says it's a matter of

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when you find your reason to go on, let it pull you past the doubt. past the pain, and past your limits. no matter what, we go on. biofreeze ♪ ♪ >> reporter: 13-year-old aiden pace is spending his summer like a lot of teen boys. earning allowance. and doing what little brothers

do. >> i'll go to my, like, sister's room and just sit there and bug her. >> he's played this game like -- >> reporter: he was just 10 when he came out to his family as transgender. how would you describe what were you going through in fifth grade? >> i just didn't have the words. i just didn't feel like i was a girl. >> reporter: how did that conversation go, mom? >> he wrote me a letter and brought it to me. i think from the time he was 2 there was always that thinking that this would be our reality someday. i did not know any trans people before we started this journey. i learned from him. >> reporter: with the support of his mom debbie and his whole family, aiden began medically-supervised gender-affirming care. what was it like for you knowing that were you starting treatment? >> i was really excited. i begged her all day to stay at home so i could be at home the first day. >> we are doing everything that we can to make sure that all of our patients have access to

care. >> reporter: ain't's treatment has been administered under the watchful eye of joey knowles' team at spectrum health. it specializes in treating the lgbtq plus community. >> i thought there should be better options for lgbtq people. >> reporter: but here in a state of florida, it's a in many parts of the country efforts to ban care is taking holding. >> lawmakers passed a bill out of committee that would ban gender-affirming care for minors. >> reporter: at least 20 states have passed laws banning medical or surgical treatment for transgender youth. six of those bans have either been temporarily or permanently blocked. lawmakers supporting the bills argue they're protecting children. >> minor children suffering from gender dysphoria need

appropriate mental health care, not body mutilation. >> i vote no. >> reporter: while critics say these bans are more harmful than helpful. >> gender-affirming care saves lives. >> reporter: there are risks to any medical treatment, but it's supported by a number of medical groups like the american medical association as safe and medically necessary. >> the treatment options for gender-affirming care for transgender youth really are evidence-based. >> reporter: admiral rachel levine is a pediatrician and she's the highest-ranking openly-transgender federal official in the country. what would you say to folk whose think that they're being reasonable by saying why can't children wait until they're 18? >> adolescence is hard, puberty is hard. what if you're going through the wrong puberty. what if you inside feel that are you female but now you're going through a male puberty? >> reporter: the argument is, well, they're too young to know.

>> i want to make it clear that for pre-pew bittal children there are no medical procedures done. the standard of care allows them to explore that with therapy. >> reporter: when you speak out against these bills, what do you cite as the harm? >> well, gender affirming care is medical care. gender affirming care is mental health care. it is literally suicide prevention care. >> so back here is henry's room, which is pretty much, pretty much the way he left it. >> reporter: as he left it. it looks like a pretty classic teenage kids closet. >> this is one of the last pictures that was taken of him. >> reporter: in kentucky, a mother's worst fear karen bou

karenbur karenburg is reflecting on his life. she watched her trans son henry embrace his identity. >> he played in his high school band. i minean the kid double majoredn political science and history. minored in jewish studies at george washington university. >> reporter: henry was 13 when he came out publicly. he says the backlash was fierce. >> it was bad. it was bad. the child came out. first week of school. december was his first suicide attempt. like eight weeks later. and what he told me is that he thought when he came out that everything would fit into place. that all the kids would realize why it was that he had never fit in. and instead what happened is he

was all alone. >> reporter: this is henry at 16, speaking out in front of kentucky state lawmakers. >> unfortunately for me and other trans kids, going to the bathroom can and scary experience. when i use the boys room, there's no problem. when i have to use the girls room i was constantly harassed and picked on. >> i was like, wow, how did you get to be a kentucky state senator, and why are you the person who gets to decide where my kid can be. i just decide this was the seat i was going to run for. >> reporter: as a college student, henry worked on his mom's state senate campaign out of this basement and went on to work for the human rights campaign. but last winter, henry took his own life. he was 24. what killed henry? >> he gave up on the world. he gave up on finding his place in it. >> reporter: do you think that the legislation across this

country that is anti-trans contributes or has an impact in any way on the trans people? >> there's no doubt in my mind. >> reporter: soon after his passing, the kentucky legislature went back into session, with lawmakers filing 11 bills surrounding the lgbtq plus community. >> to say this is a bill protecting children is completely disingenuous. and to call this a parent's rights bill is an absolute despicable affront. to me personally. >> reporter: in march, kentucky state bill 150 was signed into law. the bill mandates that students can only use restrooms designated for their sex assigned at birth and prohibits jep der-affirming care for minors and forbids teaching gender identity or expression to

students. >> one supportive adult can make all the difference. one might hope that be a parent or relative. sometimes it's a teacher or coach or a religious advisor or someone else in their life. >> reporter: after karen's legislative session ended if may, she says she finally had a chance to process henry's passing. what feeling overcomes you when you walk in this room? >> so much hope. hope for the future, hope that things would get better. and an understanding that if they will, it won't be with ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> reporter: aiden's mom has hopes for his future. she, too, is arming him with his family's love and support. you would be willing to move out of state if that's what it comes to? >> if that's what it takes to protect my child, absolutely.

>> reporter: debbie lost her husband to pancreatic cancer a year ago. now a single parent to three children she grapples with what's best for all of them. what keeps you up at night? >> the fear of his safety, the fear of being able to get the treatment that i know that he needs, but i also take comfort in knowing that like his sisters are on board if we had to pack it up and go. >> are you excited to be off for summer in. >> reporter: for now, aiden has been continuing hormone therapy under an exception in the new law for trans youth who started their treatment before it went into effect. governor desantis says this ban is about stopping kids from being indoctrinated, right? being coerced into getting this treatment. did anyone coerce you into getting treatment? no? whose idea was it to seek treatment? >> mine. >> reporter: but uncertainty over his next refill looms overhead. >> you can imagine not being able to do the best for your child. and if you couldn't do that for

your child, how would that make you feel? it makes you feel helpless. >> reporter: when we come back, a rare glimpse inside this florida clinic, fighting back. >> i'm not going anywhere, and these people can be as mad as they want about my existence. >> reporter: from medical professionals to trans teens. >> don't let it stop it just for being who you are and how you identify. they're probably just jealous. >> reporter: we'll be right back. i told myself i was ok with my moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis symptoms. with my psoriatic arthritis symptoms. but just ok isn't ok. and i was done settling. if you still have symptoms after a tnf blocker like humira or enbrel, rinvoq is different and may help. rinvoq is a once-daily pill that can dramatically relieve

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♪ ♪ all right, gang, good morning, good morning. let's get started today. >> reporter: in the sunshine state, ground zero of governor desantis' culture wars, this medical clinic stands out from the rest. >> let's make some magic happen! woo! >> i felt affirmed from the very moment i stepped foot in that door. one of my first times presenting femme hi feminine in public. i didn't have any fear or any regrets. >> reporter: spectrum health specializes in gender-affirming care. what do you think spectrum provides that makes it different than a normal health care provide center. >> compassion and understanding. >> reporter: lana dunn started

her own treatment here before joining the staff. what was it like starting hormones? >> it's like a milestone. it sets a moment in time that you're going to remember the rest of your life. it's almost like having a second birthday really. >> reporter: spectrum is mostly staffed by members of the trans community, making it a safe haven for kids seeking gender-affirming care. >> i wanted to give back to the trans community. because i see a community that is constantly under siege, constantly under attack from all these negative elements in the world, for no discernible reason, other than hatred or discrimination. >> reporter: the wide-reaching florida senate bill, 254, was signed into law in may, banning gender-affirming care for minors and creating barriers for adults. >> you have a movement in what i would say rogue elements of the medical establishment to do things that's base lit mutilation of minors. >> reporter: many laws like this across the country follow model

legislation, pushed by conservative think tanks like the heritage foundation. >> my goal is that the best care that we can find is actually give ton given to these kids. >> reporter: they say they hold thousands of meetings with congress and administration officials each year. >> most of the legislation is based on two model bills. one called help not harm, that was developed by the family policy alliance and the other one called the just facts act by do no harm. and we have generally supported both of their model legislations, because precisely because they don't criminalize the procedure, they empower the victims and in particular, the minors so that, you know, they come to regret or realize that the procedures actually did them great harm. they'll have some recourse later legally. >> reporter: i was looking at the mission statement for the heritage foundation. of your five core values, one is limited government, the other is

individual freedom. it seems to me that banning this type of care flies in the face of that. >> conservatives believe in limited government. we're not anarchists. no parent has the right to do anything he wants to do with his or her child. and no government has the right either. parents are doing what medical practitioners tell them to do. >> reporter: one of the florida bill provisions is that only doctors can provide gender-affirming treatment. >> we only have nurse-practitioners working here now. the way they worded the law is it can only be provided by an m.d. or d.o. thus excluding any other providers. >> our views would be different if some of these things were happening at least in a clinically-controlled setting. >> reporter: joey says it is an attempt to cut access. >> it does not require any kind of speciality care.

the only purpose to do this was to literally interrupt the care being delivered in the state of florida. >> reporter: nurse-practitioners hold either masters or doctoral degrees and can provide primary care, diagnose patients and prescribe medication. >> mds and d.o.s make sometimes double or triple the salary of a nurse-practitioner. for this reason, when you look at the organizations serving the transgender community, most end up being charity like spectrum health and most are employing nurse-practitioners. >> we're not talking about some subtle cosmetic procedure, we're talking about major systematic, bodily interventions on the bodies of children. >> we've got just under 2500 transgender patients in our clinic alone. for those under 18, single digits per year that may have surgery, and it's very important to note that the ones that are having surgery, they're not 7 or

8 or 10, right? they're 16 or 1, a 7. a lot of times students want to get this taken care of between high school and college. >> i would argue going through puberty as my assigned sex at birth had irreversible changes, irreversible effects on my body that i regret. >> reporter: what are those effects that you wish you could undo? >> facial hair, body hair in general, the shape of my body, the distribution of fat throughout my body. they seem like trivial things, but they lead to significant amounts of dysphoria for myself and a lot of other people as well. >> if at any time you're running out of medication or you're low on medication, please let us know right away. >> reporter: joey had his patients, including aiden, fill the maximum prescription allowed by the state prior to the ban going into effect in may. but the clock is ticking on a permanent solution. >> we're searching to expand and have a physician join our team, but as you can imagine, with

everything happening in florida, it's not very easy to attract people. >> reporter: joey has cared for so many trans teens in this part of florida, he asked a few to share their thoughts with us. >> how are you guys? like are you okay right now? generally sometimes i am a breather. i need to go on a little trans vacay, you know? >> i'm off the edge, what's happening. but i always tell myself and my grandmother also told me, be who you are, don't let anyone get in your way. >> mam-hm. personally i don't really care because i'm used to t but at the same time i like dancing at them. >> dancing at them? >> i dance at them. like this. >> they're probably jealous we're so super cool. >> what would you say to governor desantis if he were sitting here? >> i would say governor desantis, there is evil in this world, and it's not me. it's what's being perpetrated on

the transgender community on an unprecedented scale in this state right now. it's unreasonable. it's unconscionable and unjustifiable. and that's evil in this world. and these people can be as mad as they want about my existence. stay mad about it. >> reporter: stay with us. i used to wait to run my dishwasher 'til it was super full. now, i dish differently. i run it daily. weekdays... weekends... sometimes after a big snack. you might think that's wasteful, but it's not. 'cause even half loads use 80% less water than handwashing. saving up to $130 a year on utilities. and with cascade platinum plus, you just... scrape. load. done. so next time you're waiting to run it, just run it. dare to dish differently. when you find your reason to go on, let it pull you past the doubt. past the pain, and past your limits.

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