Gender-affirming care ban for transgender minors has second hearing

A bill to ban gender-affirming care for transgender minors received nearly three hours of testimony Monday in its designated House committee, the first major action on the legislation since it passed out of the Senate in early February.

Senate Bill 99 — part of a national wave of bills seeking to curb transgender health care and, more broadly, LGBTQ expression and public accommodations — would prohibit health care providers in Montana from providing puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to anyone under age 18...