Puerto Rico Governor Jenniffer González-Colón signed into law a bill (PS0350) protecting minors from gender transition procedures. Puerto Rico becomes the first U.S. territory to pass such a law, and it joins 27 state legislatures that have already passed laws protecting minors from gender transition procedures.

The law prohibits health care professionals from prescribing minors puberty blockers or cross sex hormones and from performing gender transition surgeries on minors. In Puerto Rico, the age of majority is 21 — significantly higher than in any U.S. state — so the law applies to all Puerto Ricans under the age of 21.

Those who violate the law face 15 years in prison, a $50,000 penalty, and the revocation of their medical licenses and permits. The law also prevents public funds from paying for gender transition procedures on minors.

The law begins with seven paragraphs of reasons explaining the legislature’s motives — motives which range from biological to moral.

NBC News records: “‘Minors, having not yet reached the necessary emotional, cognitive, and physical maturity, are particularly vulnerable to making decisions that can have irreversible consequences,’ the law reads. ‘Therefore, it is the State’s duty to ensure their comprehensive well-being.’”

Of course, Puerto Rico’s laws are written in Spanish, so the law does not literally read that way. NBC reported a translation for their English-speaking audience. By a simple experiment, this author was able to reproduce the exact same translation, which suggests that NBC’s Spanish-translation expert is none other than the world-famous “Google Translate.”

This paragraph is noteworthy for its concern for the “comprehensive well-being” (or “bienestar integral” in Spanish) of minors. This phrase suggests that human nature is fixed and is oriented to some good end, notions that assume an absolute system of morality. Thus, Puerto Rico’s law protects minors from gender transition procedures not only on the narrow grounds of biological reality and scientific data, but also on a broader, moral basis.

“The protection of our children and the well-being of all minors is fundamental and non-negotiable!” declared Puerto Rican Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz (New Progressive Party), who coauthored the bill. This is also translated from Spanish.

The bill’s other coauthor was Senator Joanne Rodríguez Veve, of the Proyecto Dignidad (Project Dignity) Party, a Puerto Rican political party that functions on explicitly Christian grounds. Even the name of the party evokes the Christian belief that all human beings share inherent dignity because they all bear the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27).

The bill passed overwhelmingly in both chambers. On April 3, the Senate approved the bill 22-2, and the House approved it 38-10 on April 7. The legislature sent the bill to the governor, then asked for its return. After making amendments (adding a title and clarifying which medical procedures are not prohibited), the Senate again passed the bill on June 19, this time in a 24-2 vote. On June 23, the House again passed the bill in a 47-4 vote. Governor González-Colón signed it into law on July 16.

Puerto Rican politics are more complicated than mainland American politics, with four parties represented in both chambers. Most of the parties are defined by their stance on Puerto Rico’s future, with the New Progressive Party (PNP) favoring statehood, the Popular Democratic Party (PPD) favoring its current commonwealth status, and the Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP) favoring independence. The recently founded Project Dignity Party (PD) has an explicitly Christian, anti-corruption platform.

On the second passage of the bill, only one political party voted against it. In the Puerto Rican Senate, the PNP holds 19 seats, the PPD holds five, the PIP holds two, and the PD holds one, with one seat held by an independent senator. In the Puerto Rican House, the PNP holds 36 seats, the PPD holds 13, the PIP holds 3, and the PD holds 1. All five members of the socialist-leaning PIP opposed the bill, along with one PPD house member, Ramón Torres Cruz.

This made for incredibly lopsided majorities in favor of the bill. The bill cleared both chambers by a ratio of 11-to-one or better.

Mainstream American media prefer to emphasize the “sharp criticism from activists.” Puerto Rico’s LGBTQ+ Federation Director Justin Jesús Santiago called the bill “cruel and inhumane” and threatened to challenge it in court. Yet this is clearly the position of a small minority of Puerto Ricans. In general, the island’s stance toward sexuality issues seems far more conservative — and aligned with transcendent truth — than ignorant stereotypes would allow.