State Sen. Mike Kennedy and the Utah Legislature voted to end the transgender surgery and hormones ban for kids with gender dysphoria
The measure was signed by the governor a day after the Legislature sent it to his desk. Utah forbids trans surgery for kids and doesn’t allow hormones for kids who haven’t yet been diagnosed with gender dysphoria. The state’s Republican-dominated Legislature prioritized the ban and considered a first draft of the measure less than 10 days ago, two days after the Legislature opened this year’s session Jan. 17.
Cox stated in a statement that his decision was based on his belief that it was wise to halt the treatments until more and better research could help determine the long-term consequences.
“While we understand our words will be of little comfort to those who disagree with us, we sincerely hope that we can treat our transgender families with more love and respect as we work to better understand the science and consequences behind these procedures,” he said.
In its letter to Cox, the civil rights organization said it was deeply concerned about “the damaging and potentially catastrophic effects this law will have on people’s lives and medical care and the grave violations of people’s constitutional rights it will cause.
“By cutting off medical treatment supported by every major medical association in the United States, the bill compromises the health and well-being of adolescents with gender dysphoria. Doctors and parents can’t fulfill their professional obligations if the only evidence-based treatment available for this serious medical condition is restricted.
The bill’s sponsor, state Sen. Mike Kennedy, a Republican family doctor has said government oversight is necessary for vital health care policy related to gender and youth.
State Senator Tom Cox signed a bill lowering tuition, pay and benefits for state teachers to attend private schools – a landmark year for public education debates
Cox also signed another measure that would give students school-choice style scholarships to attend schools outside the public education system. The bill also increased teacher pay and benefits in an effort to ease the state’s teacher shortage.
At least a dozen other states are considering similar legislation in what has emerged as a landmark year for school choice battles. The debates have stirred up some teachers’ unions’ concerns about the privatization of public education. If enacted, they could transform the nature of state government’s relationship with the education system and deepen contrasts between how going to school looks in many red versus blue states.
Students can attend private schools in Utah with the help of $42 million in taxpayer funds. The scholarships would double the state’s weighted funding for students to their schools. In order to appease the state’s teachers’ union, $6,000 in salary and benefits was included in the bill.
“School choice works best when we adequately fund public education and we remove unnecessary regulations that burden our public schools and make it difficult for them to succeed,” Cox said.
TransGender Attacks on the Republican Party: Senator Thatcher and his QTalks at the Utah House Committee on Human Rights (Au-Au)
This transcript was created using speech recognition software. While it has been reviewed by human transcribers, it may contain errors. Please review the episode audio before quoting from this transcript and [email protected] any questions.
His work includes access to justice, mental-health services, suicide prevention, and school safety. Let’s give Senator Thatcher a QTalks welcome.
QTalks are a series of events for the queer community, run by an LGBTQ rights group called Equality Utah. Senator Thatcher was not the typical guest.
Anti-trans legislation has become an animating force in the Republican Party, going after everything from youth sports to gender-affirming care. There have been several bills introduced this year. When the bills come up in Utah, the Republicans in the super majority vote for them, except for Thatcher, who has become a vocal supporter of trans kids, even as he puts him at odds with his party.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/02/opinion/trans-gender-attacks-republican-party.html
When I walked into a Senate and saw the hate-crimes laws, I was like, well, okay, but I wasn’t afraid to talk about it
Do you know, at the time, my attitude was more that it’s none of my business. It doesn’t matter if I like it or don’t. It doesn’t matter if I understand it or don’t. The question is, what should the government do about it? And the answer is nothing. We should leave you alone.
I looked at both parties when I decided to get involved in politics. And I chose to be a Republican because I believe that the government should do less things to us. And so for me, I was asked about LGBTQ issues when I was running. And my response was always, it’s none of my business. It’s none of my business.
Well, so there were several things came together. I work on this hate-crimes legislation a lot. And that was what started opening my eyes to the injustice that was happening in the LGBTQ community.
Behavioral health and suicide prevention was one of the things that I have done in my work and in this position. And so as I started operating in the suicide-prevention space, one of the things that really stood out to me was how disproportionately it impacts and affects the LGBTQ community, and especially transgender youth.
Say something to me about that. How did you realize that? What conversations were you having, where all of a sudden, you were engaging in the mental-health crisis, and you’re seeing that this is affecting one particular slice of the community disproportionately?
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/02/opinion/trans-gender-attacks-republican-party.html
What changed your life? Transgender attacks in the House of a friend’s father, and what changed your understanding of what happened to you in that time
And he called me back an hour or two later and said, will you come to my friend’s house? And so my wife and I went to a house. And I was introduced to a transgender young man, a teenager. And his father told me the story of this kid’s life, of growing up, of how difficult things were.
And I’ll tell you, it changed my life. It made a huge difference to my life because when I listen, it’s not generic. It’s not random. It’s not faceless. Real people are affected by anti-trans legislation.
So you start to care about what is happening to this community. What was the new understanding about your talks with Republicans like at that time? How did they talk about your interest in this community to you?
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/02/opinion/trans-gender-attacks-republican-party.html
When The Sports Act Gets Closer, It Gets Worrying. That’s how Governor Thatcher and I came to the Utah Legislature
But that’s part of the battle that I’ve been fighting all along. I am more libertarian in that I believe the government should stop doing things and leave us alone. We have the Constitution. We do have the responsibility to protect and preserve rights.
Did you know when you became interested in this community, that it was going to be problematic for religious and political reasons?
I have the letter in front of me, here. In it, he cited the potentially unintended consequences of the law, the flaws in the policy-making process. He said the issue was overblown due to the fact that there was a single female player in Utah at the time.
I can tell you that the bill is unconstitutional on its face, because I am not an attorney. You cannot single out any group for protection from the law. This isn’t fuzzy.
The small group of powerful individuals makes candidates beholden to them. So when the sports bill came up for a vote in March, 2022, just over a month before his party convention, Thatcher’s delegates pushed him to change his stance on transgender athletes in schools.
Thatcher had to deal with an unusual feature of Utah politics as his district got redder. Voters actually don’t directly elect their state representatives. It’s complicated, but basically, there’s a small group of delegates in charge of picking candidates during party primaries.
Thatcher was up to speak again after these new bills were introduced. And he said no a second time. Governor Cox has already signed the law that both of them passed. It’s widely expected to be challenged in court.
I want to say that we love you. We care deeply about you. We need you to be OK. And we want to help you in any way possible. Cox’s veto letter is generating a lot of attention. In it, a poignant argument that such laws target vulnerable kids who already have high rates of suicide.
The same day the governor sent out that letter, saying that he was going to veto it, the president of the Senate responded, saying that the legislature was going to vote on whether to override the governor’s veto. Did you expect that?
At the urging of several of my closest transgender friends, I considered, briefly, changing my vote so that I could do better at convention, so that I could win with the delegates, so that I can show that I’m conservative. Well, in my world, conservative does not mean turning your back on your principles. It does not mean voting against the Constitution. And it does not mean waffling when you know in your heart what the right thing is to do. Mr. President, I cannot support the veto override.
I had someone say if you get 9, I will be number 10. I will not leave on that ledge if it is not going to make any difference because most people do not want a problem where they can’t make a difference. And that was the decision that I had to make.
You are trying to convince Republicans that they might be able to help you, but obviously you were facing a difficult electoral map. Was there ever a time that you thought about voting in favor of the override?
I consult with people I love and care about and also with people who matter to me like Equality Utah and the leading voices in the trans community. The conversation was about this. Three Republican challengers, all of whom are insane, wouldn’t hesitate to pass a bill that would hurt your kids and hurt your community. If I do what I think I’m going to do, I probably lose.
And we had that conversation. The person that I respect the most in Utah called me up. And she said, don’t be so selfish. The Senate needs you more than it needs you to fall on a sword. I thought the last person in the world who would ever counsel me to do something different was my conscience.
Here is the thing. She was correct. She was correct. From a purely political standpoint, she was right because I went to — our caucus meeting came after voting against the bill the first time. Before the governor vetoed it, after I had voted no, I started meeting with my delegates. Well, I talked to maybe 80 of them and every single one of them said, we are opposed to the position you took on this bill.
Yes. I didn’t have a single delegate say that they appreciated the principled stand you took. They didn’t care. They told me that if I didn’t speak out against the governor’s veto, I’d be fired.
I am a deeply religious man. I told God that if he wants me to vote against my conscience, he has to give me peace. How do you say that it is wrong, but I will do the wrong thing to make up for it later? It is my belief that is that slippery slope that you don’t come back from. You take a step down that slope, but don’t know how steep it is or how smooth it is.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/02/opinion/trans-gender-attacks-republican-party.html
Trans Gender Attacks Republican Party (Traditional Viewpoint). House Bill 11 Student Eligibility in Interscholastic Activities. Thank You, Mr. President
House Bill 11, Student Eligibility in Interscholastic Activities. Thank you, Mr. President. The Senate vote will be taken to override the veto of House Bill 11.
And I had this complete and total feeling of peace with walking onto that floor and standing up and saying, I cannot say that left is right and up is down and black is white.
Not one state that has passed a bill like this has actually had it upheld. The thing we’re doing is political theater and it won’t take effect. So we won’t get any of the benefits from passing this bill. But we will get absolutely all of the harms.
Even though Thatcher had been prepared to lose his seat following his two no votes on the sports bill, when it came time for the party convention last April, that’s not what happened. He won the nomination again.
All of these people who were in lockstep, saying, we don’t want Thatcher, he’s a moderate, we don’t want Thatcher, he’s a liberal, out loud, they were saying, you’re dead. We are not going to support you. But it’s a secret ballot. Sixty percent of them marked their ballot for me even though they didn’t support or vote for me. I don’t think it’s as bad as people think. But it’s still pretty dang bad.
After the break, Utah State Republicans double down on anti-trans legislation. But Thatcher says it’s a strategy that’s going to come back to haunt the party.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/02/opinion/trans-gender-attacks-republican-party.html
Transgender Attacks in the Republican Party: Why Is There So Many Disputes? Why I’m afraid to admit it, but what I can do about it
I knew the bills were coming. We had been talking about these bills for a year and everyone knew they were coming. I thought it would be worse than it is.
And this time, even though the political stakes were lower for Thatcher, the personal ones were higher. He’d had a series of strokes at the end of 2020.
My doctor wanted me not to return to the legislature. My doctor wanted me to take a year off. I was warned by my doctor that if I spoke, I could have another episode.
Senator Thatcher, you seem to think that logic and facts can change the minds of your Republican peers. Do you think that they are arguing on this issue in good faith, truly?
My colleagues and my peers, yes. However, there’s something behind it. And that’s what you have to understand. One day, these Republicans are going to go dunk on trans kids, but they didn’t wake up that day. They are being manipulated.
People will believe any lie if they want it to be true or if they’re afraid that it’s true. There is an evil force that gets a benefit from pushing specific agendas.
It is. It is an agenda. A lot of the anti-trans legislation comes from Christian nationalist groups like the ADF, which have pushed copycat legislation all over the country. You’ve mentioned that you’re deeply religious and a Christian.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/02/opinion/trans-gender-attacks-republican-party.html
Transgender Attacks in the Repuban Party: Why are You Here? Why Are You Here, Why You Are Here, and Why You Shouldn’t
People who claim to be Christian tell me that I can not be a Christian unless I hate certain people. Well, I don’t know who your Christ is but he kind of sucks.
But these laws are proliferating as part of an organized and well-funded push, which has become part of the heart of the Republican Party by groups like the ADF.
But as a Republican right now, you are a lone voice, almost, on this issue. I’d like to just get some understanding about why you think your party has gone so deep into what has become a very polarizing and very powerful issue for them.
Well, here’s the thing. They are told that the kids pop up because we have made it popular. Bullshit. It’s becoming more common because it is becoming safer. It is not a safe place to be. But it’s safer.
As it becomes safer for people to come out, more and more people are going to realize this is someone I care about. This person is part of the family. This is a friend. This is a child of a friend.
My best friend from college has a trans kid. One of my dearest friends from high school contacted me last year, out of the blue, and said that they hadn’t spoken since high school. Two of my kids are trans. Thanks for sticking up for my kids.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/02/opinion/trans-gender-attacks-republican-party.html
Trans-Gender Attacks in the Republican Party: How do we see ourselves sitting in the modern party? What do we want to see in the future?
I would like to know how you view yourself sitting in the modern Republican Party, and what it says about the current state of the Republican Party that you have faced blow back with your beliefs.
There are Republicans that I can’t vote for. The problem is that there is no space for me in the Democratic party if we don’t believe in smaller government and more individual rights. So as a whole, I can’t change parties because the other side doesn’t believe in keeping government within the bounds of the Constitution.
But more and more, the Republican Party doesn’t do that either. I still think they will come around. If we want it, we need to start electing people who are moral. If you don’t know what your core principles are, then it’s easy to fall for the flavor of the week. What are we mad about this week? We have to run a bill. I like the idea of three-year-olds playing soccer. Do you like to watch three-year-olds play soccer? They don’t know where the lines are. They have no idea where the goals are. They want to kick the ball. And it’s just this mass of every single kid on the field, all running around, trying to kick the ball. They don’t care where it goes. They want to kick the ball as hard as possible. That’s politics today.
Absolutely. Let me be clear. Number one, this is not sustainable. And it’s going to be pretty hard to come back from this position. This is one of the reasons why single voter change is going to happen as more and more voters have more and more people in their lives.
I think what’s going to happen is the first party that says, you know what? We will return to the Constitution. We are going to be talking about individual rights. We’re going to protect civil liberty, I think that’s the party that wins for the next 10 years.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/02/opinion/trans-gender-attacks-republican-party.html
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