1. United States
2. S.C.
3. Letter

As a South Carolinian and your constituent, I am writing to urge you to oppose S240, which would target and discriminate transgender, nonbinary, and queer youth in foster care. This bill seeks to amend South Carolina’s child welfare laws to mandate that foster parents affirming a child’s "biological sex" – narrowly defined based on anatomy and genetics instead of gender identity – be considered a "positive factor" in child welfare, custody, and foster care decisions. It would prohibit courts and agencies from recognizing a caregiver’s refusal to support a child’s gender identity as evidence of abuse, neglect, or unfit parenting, allowing anti-LGBTQ+ caregivers to foster trans youth. It could also open the door to so-called "conversion therapy," which is junk science that has been debunked by every leading expert. There are relatively few trans youth in foster care, and they deserve our love and affirmation – not cruel policies that could force them to live with unsupportive caregivers. Many young people in foster care have already experienced neglect – and this will only harm them more. It's not right, and we should reject this. You have an opportunity to show that in South Carolina, we don't let politics get in the way of supporting our foster youth. I urge you to please oppose any legislation introduced this year that singles out LGBTQ youth for unfair treatment. Thank you,