Utah’s Republican governor Spencer Cox signed a bill on Saturday that ban youths in the state from receiving gender-affirming health care. The bill will, among other measures, ban hormone treatment for minors who have not been diagnosed with gender dysphoria. However, as actor and LGBTQ advocate George Takei points out, the bill will not affect cisgender youth in the least.
Takei states that the bill will not prevent testosterone boosters (often used to treat constitutional delay of growth and puberty or hypogonadism), nor will they prevent girls from receiving breast augmentation surgery. In other words, the bill will only apply to trans youth seeking to affirm their gender.
The Utah legislature made the anti-trans bill a priority, considering the measure’s first draft no later than two days after the current session was called to order on Jan. 17. Cox issued a statement saying that it was his decision to pause “these permanent and life-altering treatments for new patients until more and better research can help determine the long-term consequences,” according to Yahoo News.
The ACLU has been highly critical of the bill and had urged Cox, who has not publicly stated any position on transgender care prior to signing the bill, to veto the measures.
According to NPR, the ACLU informed Cox via letter that the legislation would have “damaging and potentially catastrophic effects” on people’s lives. The organization further stated, “By cutting off medical treatment supported by every major medical association in the United States, the bill compromises the health and well-being of adolescents with gender dysphoria. It ties the hands of doctors and parents by restricting access to the only evidence-based treatment available for this serious medical condition and impedes their ability to fulfill their professional obligations.” The organization will challenge the new bill in court.
18 other states are currently considering similar bills prohibiting affirmative health care for trans youth.