Nevada 's GOP governor signs bill to require 'child sex changes' to be covered by insurance companies

On Monday, Nevada's Republican Governor Joe Lombardo signed a bill that forces insurance companies to pay for minors to get sex changes as long as the procedure is "recommended by a psychologist, psychiatrist or other mental health professional" as well as a physician. 

"I implore people to read the bill in its entirety," he told a reporter on Tuesday. "And you will see it’s not as draconian or detrimental or immoral as people are portraying it to be."

According to Nevada Current, Lombardo also signed a bill that requires the state's Department of Corrections to develop regulations around the housing of transgender inmates as well as providing medical and mental health care for them. 

In a statement, Democratic state Senator Melanie Scheible said, “At a time when states across the country are passing draconian laws to restrict trans and nonbinary people’s right to exist, Nevada is doing the opposite.” 

Lombardo stopped short of allowing Nevada to become another sanctuary state for gender dysphoric youth when he vetoed Senate Bill 302 earlier this month. The bill would have prevented medical providers from losing their licenses for providing gender-affirming care and would have prohibited his office from assisting in out-of-state prosecutions. 

In his veto message, he said the law prevented him from having "the ability to be certain that all gender-affirming care related to minors comports with state law.” He continued, "It also decreases the Executive Branch’s authority to ensure the highest public health and child safety standards for Nevadans."

In a tweet, Nevada RNC Committeewoman Sigal Chattah said, "Unfortunately Nevada’s “GOP” Governor is becoming a laughingstock across the nation.

Founder of the Center for American Liberty Harmeet K. Dhillon claimed on Twitter the governor used the transgender bills as a bargaining chip to get the legislature to "give him a Las Vegas Stadium for the Oakland A's."

This comes as Republican-led states across the country have banned sex changes for minors, with 20 states so far doing so. At the same time, Democrat states such as California, New York and Vermont are becoming sanctuary states for gender dysphoric youth to flee to.