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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah lawmakers are set to debate on the second day of the 2023 legislative session whether minors can access gender affirming care or receive puberty blockers.
SB16, which is sponsored by Sen. Michael Kennedy, R-Alpine, would prohibit primary and secondary sex characteristic surgeries for the purpose of gender confirmation on anyone under the age of 18, and an amendment to the bill would also place a moratorium on minors from receiving puberty blockers. Gender-confirmation surgeries are medical treatments that transgender and nonbinary people sometimes use to transition or alter their sexual characteristics.
Members of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee will discuss Kennedy's bill at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, making it one of the first high-profile bills up for debate this session.
Kennedy, a family doctor, said he has been working on the bill for several months and welcomed the discussion.
"I want this bill to be firm, I want it to be responsible and I want it to be compassionate," he told reporters Tuesday. "I believe that we're striking the balance in spite of the claims from one side or the other that it's not enough or it's too much. I believe at this point we're coming to a point that's better and closer to what I want."
Rather than placing an immediate ban on puberty blockers for minors, Kennedy said the amendment would stop new patients from entering into treatment plans, but it would allow current patients to continue working with their doctors. The bill would hold doctors harmless who are already prescribing gender-confirming care and provide regulations for the procedures going forward, Kennedy said.
After the Utah Legislature barred transgender girls from competing in high school sports last year, the state faced a court challenge from the ACLU, and the ban was placed on hold. Asked whether SB16 would prompt similar lawsuits, Kennedy said it's possible, but he believes the law would be allowed to stand.
Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, said it's "amazing that we haven't had any regulatory process for the dispensement of puberty blockers."
Kennedy said "for more than 10 years we've been practicing without any government input at all."
Senate Minority Leader Luz Escamilla, D-Salt Lake City, said she is looking forward to the debate over the bill, but pointed out that transgender youth have a well-above average rate of suicide, and said she wants to make sure youth still have options.
"Our concern ... is that this medical process is keeping many of our youth alive," she said. "They have the highest rate of suicide, so we want to make sure that as we're seeing this comprehensive approach with regulatory pieces ... that we're not limiting the ability of our youth to keep themselves alive. ... We want to make sure there's compassion, like you said, in this conversation as well."
The Health and Human Services Committee is also hearing a bill on Wednesday that would require schools to give parents access to information regarding their child and would prohibit schools from treating students "in a manner that relates to a gender identity that does not correspond with the student's sex" without first getting permission from parents.
SB100, sponsored by Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross, is the second bill related to transgender issues the committee will consider on Wednesday.
