‘TOXIC ISSUE’

Utah Guv Tries to Justify His Ban on Gender-Affirming Care

The Republican said he needs to see more data on the care’s effects.

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox tried to justify a bill he signed in January that prohibits gender-affirming healthcare for children who are transgender. In an interview with NBC News’ Meet the Press, the Republican, who became the first governor to sign a bill like this, said he must see more data on the care’s effects. “It’s about whether we might potentially be harming young people, not having enough evidence to see what the long-term results of this are and providing better psychiatric help for those young people who are going through this,” he said. However, the American Psychiatric Association, which doesn’t classify gender dysphoria as a mental disorder, actually recommends supporting people with it because forcing them to be cisgender is “unethical” and impacts their mental health severely. Cox insisted that transgender rights are a “toxic issue” so a “rational conversation” is difficult. “And what Utah did was just push pause until we get better data. We have a mandate in the bill to go out and look at the best data all across the country and then make a decision.”