Utah legislators are cracking down on laws regarding medical treatments, name changes within schools, and legal name changes on birth certificates, which will all directly affect transgender minors. Recently, these bills have been read three times on the Utah Representative floor, causing major uproars from Democrats and Republicans alike. However, with each reading, these bills continue to move forward. As of January 20, all three of these bills have moved onto the Utah House for debate. 

SB0016 “enacts provisions regarding transgender medical treatments and procedures,” according to Senator Michael S. Kennedy (R, Utah) . For many transgender people, a key step in their lives is gender-affirming medical treatment, and this bill makes it even more difficult for those seeking these treatments to receive their treatments.  This bill requires medical professionals to receive additional training and meet other requirements before providing hormonal treatments. Furthermore, this bill prohibits medical providers from performing gender-affirming surgeries on minors, and if they do they can be sued for malpractice. 

This bill is being sponsored by Michael S. Kennedy, a Republican who has been serving in the Senate since 2013. Before joining the Senate, he was a Family Physician and is now the representative of Utah County. 

SB0093, also known as the “Vital Records Modifications” bill, gives guidelines as to the reasons a birth certificate can be changed. It states that the only reason a birth certificate can be changed is due to an error from the hospital, parents, or the Department of Health and Human Services. This would eliminate changes to birth certificates in the name of changing the legal sex or legal name on this document. 

This bill is being sponsored by Senator Daniel McCay (R, Salt Lake), who serves the Salt Lake County area, and has been in the house since 2019. Senator Mccay is a Republican who had jobs in Real Estate and Law. 

SB100 directly impacts schools, teachers, and students. This bill is known as the “School District Gender Identity Policies,” in summary, this bill states that if a student wants to change their name in the school system, the educator must inform the parents of the said student before changing their name or using their new preferred one. This bill has caused heavy discourse, as this is essentially outing students who are wanting to change their name in a safe environment like school, and possibly putting students in unsafe situations at home. This bill is being sponsored by Senator Todd D. Weiler(R, Salt Lake), who was appointed in 2012. He has a background profession in Law as well. 

Senior at Woodscross High School, Teagan Pinales, has been battling law after law that has affected her being able to play sports at a competitive level, and now being able to receive the Gender Affirming surgeries that have been offered to her. “It’s just frustrating that everything I went through… it wasn’t enough, and they (legislatures) are still attacking this community,” said Pinales.