SALT LAKE CITY — A series of bills dealing with transgender youth will have their first hearings on Wednesday.
The Senate Health & Human Services Committee will hear Senate Bill 16, sponsored by Sen. Mike Kennedy, R-Alpine; Senate Bill 100, sponsored by Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross; and Senate Bill 93, sponsored by Sen. Dan McCay, R-Riverton.
SB16 would ban sex characteristic surgical procedures on transgender youth until age 18. That is not something currently done. An amended version of Sen. Kennedy's bill would also impose a moratorium on future hormone treatment options for transgender youth, at least until some regulation is imposed on physicians who practice transgender health care.
Sen. Kennedy's bill has been closely watched by LGBTQ rights groups. Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, he said he believes negotiations have made it "more palatable" for everyone.
He has faced criticism the bill interferes with parental choice and could open the state up to a lawsuit.
"As a state, I believe we have a right, particularly with our children, and remember — this bill only applies to children — and when it comes to our children we should be particularly protective as well as respectful of parental and children relationship and their health care providers relationship," he said. "And I think this bill strikes a balance."
Senate Minority Leader Luz Escamilla, D-Salt Lake City, said she can support some level of regulation of health care providers but had concerns the bill goes too far.
"This medical process is keeping many of our youth alive as they have the highest rate of suicide," she said. "So we want to make sure as we see this comprehensive approach with regulatory pieces which I agree with, we should be looking… that we’re not limiting the ability of our youth to keep themselves alive because this is a very important part of who they are."
SB100 would block local school districts from shielding information from parents about their child, including information about their gender identity. It also bans changing a child's gender designation or using a different name without written parental permission.
SB93 would prohibit a name or a gender change on a birth certificate for anyone under 18. In a 2021 ruling, the Utah Supreme Court ordered judges across the state to grant gender marker changes after years of legislative inaction.
Meanwhile, a bill was introduced on Tuesday that would reverse part of the state's ban on conversion therapy, a widely discredited practice that attempts to change someone's gender identity or sexual orientation. House Bill 228, sponsored by Rep. Mike Peterson, R-North Logan, and Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, would keep in place bans on physical therapies like electro-shock. However, it would allow "talk therapy" to resume.
That has been long-opposed by LGBTQ rights groups. On Tuesday, Equality Utah said it would be fighting all these bills.
