A new bill introduced in the Utah Legislature seeks to create a study of certain medications that are prescribed to transgender youth in order to help them transition.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Brad Daw (R-Orem), would create such a study, and direct it to “conduct a review of any available scientific research related to the administration of a gonadotropin releasing hormone agent to a minor for the purpose of facilitating the minor’s desire to present or appear in a manner that is inconsistent with the minor’s sex, and any side effects of that use.”
Daw, told Salt Lake City’s FOX 13 in a text message that in investigating the topic of minors who undergo a gender transition, he became concerned about the short-term and long-term side effects of puberty blockers that are used to assist in a transition.
“I believe that having the state take a closer at this is worth doing,” Daw said.
If approved, the bill would require any information about transition-related medications to be submitted by November to the Utah State Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee.
The doctor in charge of running the study would be required to have a degree in medicine, pharmacology or a related field, according to the bill.
Opponents of the bill worry that the study may be used by opponents of transgender rights to propose more sweeping bills — similar to those introduced in other states this year — to restrict minors’ ability to access to hormones or puberty blockers by punishing prescribers.
“It’s a much better bill in terms of not trying to restrict people’s access,” Candice Metzler, the director of Transgender Education Advocates of Utah, told FOX 13 when comparing it to legislation in other states.
But Metzler said her group still does not support the bill, arguing that there is already government-funded and peer-reviewed research on the subject that is easy enough for lawmakers to access if they so wish.
She also objects to language in the bill referring to a minor’s biological sex.
“Sex is not what people identify with,” said Metzler. “I just think part of the problem is the language further complicates things and it does leave questions about what the purpose of the study is.”
Electronics retail giant Best Buy offered to screen donations from its employee resource groups going to LGBTQ organizations or causes after being pressured by a conservative think tank that holds shares in the company.
According to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing recently made public, Best Buy engaged in a months-long email exchange with the National Center for Public Policy Research, a self-described "nonpartisan, free-market conservative think tank."
In those emails, which began on December 11, 2023, NCPPR sent the company a shareholder proposal asking the retailer to produce -- and distribute at its annual shareholder meeting in June -- a report analyzing how its partnerships with LGBTQ organizations benefit the company's business, according to NBC News.
Kansas Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed a bill seeking to block the ability of transgender youth to access gender-affirming treatments.
The bill, passed largely along party lines by both chambers of the Republican-led Legislature, prohibits any entity receiving state funds from providing or subsidizing gender-affirming treatments for minors.
It also prohibits individuals or entities receiving state funds, or state employees in their official capacity, from encouraging youth who are suffering from gender dysphoria to pursue either medical or social transition.
A Texas court blocked Republican State Attorney General Ken Paxton's office from demanding information and documents from PFLAG that might reveal the identities of families seeking out gender-affirming care for transgender children.
Last week, Travis County District Court Judge Amy Clark Meachum issued a temporary injunction blocking Paxton's office from demanding the information, writing that "immediate and irreparable injury, loss, or damage will result to PFLAG and its members" if Paxton's office is able to obtain information about the group's members, which number close to 600 in Texas alone.
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