The Devitts have seen the Idaho Legislature and the governor approve a wave of anti-LGBTQ+ bills in recent years.
I don’t follow Idaho politics, but I would bet that not a single law passed in this “wave of anti-LGBTQ+” bills is actually anti-LGB. Instead, what I suspect is that all have to do with is protecting women’s rights against transgender encroachment.
Michael and Dr. Angie Devitt, both medical professionals, watched their trans daughter, Eve, testify against a bill years ago that outlawed gender-affirming care for minors.
That they believe that kids can consent to life-altering treatments like castration is especially worrisome. If you read the linked story about Eve’s testimony, you find that Eve started transitioning at 14, has been on hormones three years, and plans at 18 to have sexual reassignment surgery. This will render Eve infertile and incapable orgasm. It is difficult to see this as a great outcome.
The counterargument is always that gender dysphoric kids would otherwise commit suicide and that this medical/social transition is the only path by which they can be saved from that fate. There is little evidence to suggest that this true, and the largest study we have on outcomes (https://doi.org/10.1111/apa.70533) showed gender reassignment making matters worse. The authors concluded that severe psychiatric disorders are common in individuals under age 23 referred for gender services, do not appear to be caused mainly by gender dysphoria itself, and do not lessen after medical transition. They argued that psychiatric conditions should be prioritized for treatment regardless of gender identity, and highlighted that in some cases, medical transition might be linked to worsening mental health.