Utah Protects Vulnerable Children From Radical Gender Treatments

Three cheers for Utah: The Beehive State just protected children from radical transgender treatments. This common-sense policy is compassionate and evidence-based, and more states should take up this issue for the sake of vulnerable kids.

Utah’s new law, authored by Sen. Mike Kennedy and Rep. Katy Hall, overwhelmingly passed the state legislature last week. Gov. Spencer Cox signed it on Saturday. It prohibits all gender-reassignment surgeries for children and ends hormone therapies, as well. These treatments are known to be invasive and are often irreversible, while potentially causing serious health challenges, including strokes, heart attacks, and cancer. The law creates strong legal protections for children who are harmed by these treatments.

The new law also calls on the executive branch to conduct a systematic review of the evidence on hormone therapies on minors. If this review is conducted properly, it will undoubtedly conclude that the risks outweigh the benefits, and that children should be protected from these harmful procedures.

Sure enough, that’s what the most progressive European countries have already concluded, as Do No Harm has shown. Gox. Cox acknowledged this fact when signing the law: “More and more experts, states, and countries around the world are pausing these permanent and life-altering treatments for new patients until more and better research can help determine the long-term consequences.”

Thanks to this new law, Utah children who believe they are transgender are much more likely to receive the medical care they need, including psychotherapy sessions. That stands in stark contrast to typical American approach – pushed by radical activists – of treatments and surgeries as quickly and as early as possible. Research has shown that most children who believe they are transgender do not maintain that belief into adulthood, while existing mental health issues that contribute to this feeling deserve to be addressed in therapy.

Naturally, trans activists are savaging Utah and trying to stop other states from following its lead. But policymakers nationwide should ignore them and look to Utah for inspiration. Vulnerable children deserve better than radical gender ideology. They deserve compassion and caution, and Utah deserves praise for giving it to them.