Race Day Live On Friday, Utah lawmakers had a heated discussion about how to house transgender individuals who are in state custody.
About 100 people gathered at the statehouse to protest the proposed bill. The bill, known as HB252, is sponsored by Majority Whip Karianne Lisonbee, a Republican from Clearfield.
It aims to regulate the medical care and housing conditions of people in state custody, which includes prisons, jails, and juvenile facilities.
The bill also changes the laws about sexual relations between inmates and staff members, increasing the age limit for “youth receiving state services” from 21 to 25.
The House Judiciary Committee voted to advance the bill by a vote of 8-2 after a 30-minute discussion and public comments.
Two Democratic representatives from Salt Lake County, Verona Mauga and Grant Miller, voted against it. The bill does not provide any new funds and is expected to take effect on May 7, 2025.
The bill has a key focus on transgender healthcare. It says that inmates do not have the right to ask for certain treatments related to transgender healthcare while in state custody.
These treatments include cross-sex hormone therapy, surgery for primary or secondary sex characteristics, and other related surgeries.
However, if an individual has already received treatment before being put in state custody, the bill allows them to continue those treatments.
It also encourages therapy and mental health treatments for transgender inmates experiencing gender dysphoria.
A major part of the bill involves housing arrangements for transgender minors. The bill mandates that juvenile inmates must be housed based on their sex, which has caused concern for some lawmakers, especially Rep. Grant Miller.
Miller expressed concern about how transgender minors might be affected emotionally and physically if housed with inmates of the opposite sex, particularly a transgender female minor being housed with young males.
He pointed out that this could create serious safety issues and was the main reason for his opposition to the bill.
In response, Lisonbee defended the bill, saying she worked with the Department of Corrections to ensure inmates have the best chance of succeeding while serving their sentences, no matter their circumstances.
She emphasized that correctional facilities are not the right places for making long-term medical decisions like hormone therapy or surgeries, as these could cause problems for prison operations and inmate privacy.
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The debate surrounding transgender rights in prison continues to be a hot topic in the U.S. The federal government has also been involved, with former President Trump signing an executive order on his first day in office.
This order aimed to protect women’s spaces from transgender individuals who identify as women and banned federal funds for surgeries or treatments to alter an inmate’s gender.
The public response to HB252 has been mixed. During the House Judiciary Committee meeting, April Gardner thanked Lisonbee for not completely banning transgender healthcare but still criticized the bill for creating a divide between inmates who have already received treatment and those who haven’t.
Gardner called the bill harmful because it assumes that only people who have received treatment before being placed in custody are “really” transgender.
The bill will now be discussed in a Senate committee before moving forward.
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