It really is a brilliant strategy on the part of conservative states. As the political left goes further into ideological extremism they become more and more intolerant of restrictions on their behavior, which they view as righteous and sacrosanct. Zealotry breeds brittleness, meaning, any enforcement of practical and reasonable standards, even those protecting children, will drive leftists insane and make them want to leave.
The more socially normal a state becomes the less leftists want to live there, and there are a lot of states that would be much happier without them. Until recently, many state legislators and governors have been too afraid or too uninformed to take action against the invasion of deconstruction philosophies, but this is changing.
Florida has joined seven other states so far in officially outlawing "gender affirmation treatments" for minors, including hormone blockers and surgeries that could disrupt the natural biological processes of those children for the rest of their lives. Trans activists have admonished the laws as prejudiced and a violation of their rights, claiming that the treatments are "safe and reversible." However, scientists in the field admit that data on the long term consequences of hormone replacement and other therapies is far too limited to say for certain. In other words, the newest generation of children have become guinea pigs for a baseless experiment in mass de-gendering.
Red states want nothing to do with it, and leftist parents who gain considerable virtue signal points for having a trans child are so incensed that they are ready to leave for more woke shores. If they can't exploit their children to climb the victim status ladder, then they are taking their ball and going somewhere else.
The common argument among tans activist groups is that gender affirmation treatments "save lives." As noted, there is no long term data to support this claim. Beyond their appeals to emotion, activists can't offer any scientific evidence supporting gender fluid theories. There are many people who would in fact oppose the notion that "trans children" even exist, with far too many factors at play including peer pressure, parental manipulation and school indoctrination.
Politically, the leftist ability to impose hormone therapies and gender based surgeries on children would ostensibly lock those children into the woke fold for the rest of their lives. Take that ability away and the social justice movement loses a primary tool for perpetuating their ideology on the next generation. The effort to protect kids from gender cultism is indirectly driving further separation of normal Americans from woke leftists, and maybe that's a good thing.
