Bill banning hormone therapy for transgender inmates heads to governor's desk
The Utah State Correctional Facility is pictured from a 'free speech zone' set up about two miles from the facility in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024 as the state prepared to execute death row inmate Taberon Honie just after midnight. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)
The Utah Legislature gave final passage on Thursday to a bill that would restrict certain treatments for transgender inmates in the state's prisons, jails and juvenile detention facilities.
Sponsored by House Majority Whip Karianne Lisonbee, R-Clearfield, HB252 passed the Senate Thursday and is headed to the governor's desk. It passed along party lines in both the House and Senate, with Democrats in opposition.
The bill would require all minors in a detention center to be housed in accordance to their sex assigned at birth, while prohibiting the use of puberty blockers. It also prevents sexual relations between staff and people housed in juvenile detention centers (people up to 25 years old are sometimes housed in these centers).
And, the bill prevents the state's county jails and two prisons from administering 'cross-sex hormone treatment' and any kind of gender-affirming surgeries for adult inmates. People who started treatment before incarceration would be allowed to continue it.
SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Elective and cosmetic surgeries are already unavailable to inmates in the two state prisons, the Utah Department of Corrections confirmed to Utah News Dispatch on Thursday.
According to data from the Utah Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees health care in the state's two prisons, there are currently 33 Utah inmates receiving hormone replacement therapy — 29 transitioned from male to female, and the remaining four transitioned from female to male.
Of those 33, seven were receiving hormone replacement therapy at the time of their incarceration. The remaining 26 requested the treatment while in prison. Had Lisonbee's bill been in place prior to their incarceration, they wouldn't have been able to receive treatment. The legislation is not retroactive.
Lisonbee's law is part of a national movement imposing restrictions on transgender inmates. On Jan. 20, President Donald Trump issued an executive order titled 'Defending women from gender ideology extremism and restoring biological truth to the federal government' that, among other things, required federal agencies to house inmates in accordance with their biological sex.
'When we have people in custody, whether that's in adult custody or youth custody, a lot of parts of their lives are under restriction. It's a different environment. They can't drive, they can't decide where they live, they can't leave the premises,' said Sen. Derrin Owens, R-Fountain Green, who sponsored the bill in the Senate. 'It's a highly structured society.'
Bill to restrict transgender students in Utah college dorms heads to Gov. Cox
But opponents to the bill cited safety concerns, specifically around housing.
'Being a teenager is hard enough; being a teenager in secure care is a particularly precarious situation,' said Rep. Grant Miller, a Salt Lake Democrat and public defender. 'I can only imagine the difficulties, for example, of a trans female minor being housed with young males. I think that presents a meaningful safety issue.'
Miller also had concerns that the bill could spur a lawsuit over lack of access to health care.
HB252 is the latest bill passed by lawmakers that deals with transgender Utahns — Cox recently signed HB269, which restricts where transgender college students can and can't live in public universities.
During previous sessions, lawmakers have passed laws banning access to gender-affirming care for minors, dictating what bathrooms transgender people can use in government buildings, and preventing transgender teens from playing girls sports.
'I hope we're about done with bills in this body that target this population,' said Sen. Jen Plumb, D-Salt Lake City, before she voted 'no' on the bill Thursday.
While the state does not allow any kind of cosmetic or elective surgeries for inmates, it does have a policy for them to receive hormone replacement therapy.
Per the Utah Department of Health and Human Services, those inmates undergo a lengthy screening and evaluation from nurses, a mental health therapist, a psychologist, and possibly more health care professionals.
CONTACT US
The review considers the medical, mental health and security risks or benefits to the inmate — prior to the initiation of treatment, the inmate is required to participate in group therapy for at least one year 'in an attempt to effectively treat the symptoms of Gender Dysphoria,' the policy states.
For their first year of treatment, the inmate undergoes a re-evaluation every 90 days. After that, they get a re-evaluation every 180 days. The treatment can also be discontinued, according to department policy, if the individual isn't compliant with recommended mental health treatment, or a health care professional decides they no longer meet the criteria.
That policy was the subject of a lawsuit earlier this year, when former President Joe Biden's Department of Justice found the Utah Department of Corrections had 'imposed unnecessary barriers to treatment for gender dysphoria' on an inmate. That lawsuit was dismissed in January, according to court records.
SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
an hour ago
GOP House Homeland chairman Green to retire from Congress early
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The House Homeland Security Committee's chairman, Republican Rep. Mark Green of Tennessee, announced Monday that he will retire from Congress once the House votes again on the sprawling tax and budget policy bill backed by President Donald Trump. In a statement, Green said he was offered a private sector opportunity that was 'that was too exciting to pass up' so he informed House Speaker Mike Johnson on Monday of his retirement plans. The move comes more than a year after Green announced he wouldn't run again in 2024, but changed his mind when fellow Republicans implored him to stick around. Green's next election would have been in 2026. Green voted for Trump's sweeping legislation when it passed the House last month. The bill is now in the Senate's hands, and would need to return to the House for agreement on any changes. Trump wants the bill on his desk for his signature by July 4. Green's delayed departure could help with the GOP's narrow margins in the House. Republican leaders need every vote they can get on their big tax bill, which they managed to pass last month by a single vote and will have to pass again once changes are made in the Senate. They now have a 220-212 majority. 'It was the honor of a lifetime to represent the people of Tennessee in Congress," Green said. "They asked me to deliver on the conservative values and principles we all hold dear, and I did my level best to do so.' Green's seat will be decided in a special election. The timing will depend on when he leaves office. Ahead of his 2024 reelection, Green had announced that February 2024 he would not run again. The decision was revealed a day after the impeachment of then-President Joe Biden's Homeland Security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. But many fellow Republicans had called on him to reconsider, and he jumped back into the running just two weeks later. He was unopposed in the Republican primary and then defeated Democrat Megan Barry — the former Nashville mayor who resigned in 2018 in scandal — by more than 21 percentage points in November 2024. Green, 60, has served since 2019 in the 7th Congressional District, which was redrawn in 2022 to include a significant portion of Nashville. The city was carved up three ways in the 2022 redistricting so Republicans could flip a Democratic district in Congress that had covered Music City, which they successfully did. Green previously served as an Army surgeon and in the state Senate and is from Montgomery County. Green flirted running for governor in 2017, but suspended his campaign after he was nominated by former President Donald Trump to become the Army secretary. He later withdrew his nomination due to criticism over his remarks about Muslims and LGBTQ+ Americans.
2 hours ago
World Cup host city organizers acknowledge immigration crackdown may impact next year's tournament
NEW YORK -- Philadelphia's host city executive for the 2026 World Cup says organizers accept that an immigration crackdown by President Donald Trump's administration may be among the outside events that impact next year's tournament. "There are certainly things that are happening at the national level, the international level, there are going to be geopolitical issues that we don't even know right now that are going affect the tournament next year, so we recognize that we're planning within uncertainty,' Meg Kane said Monday at a gathering of the 11 U.S. host city leaders, one year and two days ahead of the tournament opener. The World Cup will be played at 16 stadiums in the U.S., Mexico and Canada from June 11 to July 19 next year, a tournament expanded to 48 nations and 104 games. All matches from the quarterfinals on will be in the U.S., with the final at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. 'Whether it's the Olympics, whether it's a World Cup, whether it's a Super Bowl, you name it, anytime you've got a major international sporting event, geopolitics is going to have a role,' said Alex Vasry, CEO of the New York/New Jersey host committee. Kane said the host committees must adapt to decisions made by others. 'One of the things that I think we all recognize is that we have to be really good at operating within that uncertainty,' Kane said. 'I think for each of our cities, we want to be prepared to make any person that is coming and makes the decision to come to the United States or come to this World Cup feel that they are welcome. We do not play a role necessarily in what is happening in terms of the decisions that are made.' Trump's travel ban on citizens from 12 countries exempted athletes, coaches, staff and relatives while not mentioning fans. 'We allow for FIFA to continue having constructive conversations with the administrations around visas, around workforce, around tourism,' Kane said. FIFA is running the World Cup for the first time without a local organizing committee in the host nation. Asked in late April whether FIFA president Gianni Infantino was available to discuss the tournament, FIFA director of media relations Bryan Swanson forwarded the request to a member of the media relations staff, who did not make Infantino available. Legislation approved by the House of Representatives and awaiting action in the Senate would appropriate $625 million to the Federal Emergency Management Agency 'for security, planning, and other costs related to the 2026 FIFA World Cup.' The 11 U.S. host committees have been consulting with each other on issues such as transportation for teams and VIPs, and for arranging fan fests. At the last major soccer tournament in the U.S., the 2024 Copa America final at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, started 82 minutes late after fans breached security gates. 'Certainly we were not involved in the planning or the logistics for that particular match,' said Alina Hudak, CEO of the Miami World Cup host committee. She said local police 'have done an extensive review of the after-action reports related to that in collaboration with the stadium and so all of the things that happened are in fact being reviewed and addressed and I can assure you that everything is being done within our power to make sure that the appropriate measures are being placed, the appropriate perimeters.'
2 hours ago
Minnesota budget deal cuts health care for adults who entered the US illegally
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Adults living in the U.S. illegally will be excluded from a state-run health care program under an overall budget deal that the closely divided Minnesota Legislature convened to pass in a special session Monday. Repealing a 2023 state law that made those immigrants eligible for the MinnesotaCare program for the working poor was a priority for Republicans in the negotiations that produced the budget agreement. The Legislature is split 101-100, with the House tied and Democrats holding just a one-seat majority in the Senate, and the health care compromise was a bitter pill for Democrats to accept. The change is expected to affect about 17,000 residents. After an emotional near four-hour debate, the House aroved the bill 68-65. Under the agreement, the top House Democratic leader, Melissa Hortman, of Brooklyn Park, was the only member of her caucus to vote yes. The bill then went to the Senate, where it passed 37-30. Democratic Majority Leader Erin Murphy, of St. Paul, called it 'a wound on the soul of Minnesota,' but kept her promise to vote yes as part of the deal, calling it "among the most painful votes I've ever taken." Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, who insisted on maintaining eligibility for children who aren't in the country legally, has promised to sign the legislation, and all 13 other bills scheduled for action in the special session, to complete a $66 billion, two-year budget that will take effect July 1. 'This is 100% about the GOP campaign against immigrants,' said House Democratic Floor Leader Jamie Long, of Minneapolis, who voted no. 'From Trump's renewed travel ban announced this week, to his effort to expel those with protected status, to harassing students here to study, to disproportionate military and law enforcement responses that we've seen from Minneapolis to L.A., this all comes back to attacking immigrants and the name of dividing us.' But GOP Rep. Jeff Backer, of Browns Valley, the lead author of the bill, said taxpayers shouldn't have to subsidize health care for people who aren't in the country legally. Backer said California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, has proposed freezing enrollment for immigrants without legal status in a similar state-funded program and that Illinois' Democratic governor, JB Pritzker, has proposed cutting a similar program. He said residents can still buy health insurance on the private market regardless of their immigration status. 'This is about being fiscally responsible,' Backer said. Enrollment by people who entered the country illegally in MinnesotaCare has run triple the initial projections, which Republicans said could have pushed the costs over $600 million over the next four years. Critics said the change won't save any money because those affected will forego preventive care and need much more expensive care later. 'People don't suddenly stop getting sick when they don't have insurance, but they do put off seeking care until a condition gets bad enough to require a visit to the emergency room, increasing overall health care costs for everyone,' Bernie Burnham, president of the Minnesota AFL-CIO, told reporters at a news conference organized by the critics. Walz and legislative leaders agreed on the broad framework for the budget over four weeks ago, contrasting the bipartisan cooperation that produced it with the deep divisions at the federal level in Washington. But with the tie in the House and the razor-thin Senate Democratic majority, few major policy initiatives got off the ground before the regular session ended May 19. Leaders announced Friday that the details were settled and that they had enough votes to pass everything in the budget package.
