Utah is poised to be the first state to pass a gender-affirming care ban in 2023

Utah is likely to become the first state to ban gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors this year.

The Utah Senate approved a bill Friday that would bar minors from receiving gender-affirming surgeries and place an indefinite moratorium on their access to puberty blockers and hormone therapy. 

The bill, which the Utah House of Representatives approved Thursday, would be prospective, so minors who were diagnosed with gender dysphoria before the bill’s effective date, May 3, 2023, would still be able to receive care if they meet a list of requirements.

The bill now heads to the desk of Gov. Spencer Cox, who became the second Republican governor last year to veto a bill that bars transgender students from playing girls’ sports. 

In an emotional letter about his veto, Cox cited research about the high risk of suicide among trans youths and additional research that has found that acceptance reduces the risk of suicide. 

“I don’t understand what they are going through or why they feel the way they do. But I want them to live,” he wrote. “And all the research shows that even a little acceptance and connection can reduce suicidality significantly.”

But Cox told local news station Fox 13 on Thursday, after the ban on gender-affirming care passed the House, that he did not plan to veto the bill. His office did not immediately return a request for additional comment.

State Sen. Michael Kennedy, a Republican who sponsored the bill and a family practice physician, told colleagues in a hearing last week that gender-affirming treatments “lack sufficient long-term research,” according to local radio station KUER.

“But still, our country is witnessing a radical and dangerous push for children to enter this version of health care,” he said.

State Sen. Daniel Thatcher, one of Kennedy’s Republican colleagues, disagreed and was the only Republican to speak out against a previous, though similar, version of the bill last week, KUER reported. He argued that though he and his colleagues might not understand gender-affirming care, “every credible medical organization on the planet says that that is the safest, best and most appropriate care to save those lives.” 

Accredited medical organizations — including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychological Association — have supported such care for minors.

Thatcher added that the bill could face legal challenges because it only prohibits the care for people who are transgender, but it does not prohibit the care for children who might need it for other reasons, KUER reported. The bill provides exemptions for intersex minors, for minors who experience early puberty and for those who have “medically necessary” reasons that don’t include treatment for gender dysphoria.

A judge blocked a similar law in Arkansas last year pending the outcome of a lawsuit, during which lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union argued that such bans on care are discriminatory, using reasoning similar to Thatcher’s.

Thatcher, who is recovering from multiple strokes, was absent from the Senate vote Friday.

A crowd of protestors gathered outside…