Two years after Utah passed a ban on access to gender-affirming care for transgender youth, a GOP state lawmaker is proposing expanding restrictions to adults.
A bill published Tuesday by Rep. Nicholeen Peck, R-Tooele, would prohibit any public funds from going toward gender-transition treatments and procedures, effectively blocking transgender Medicaid recipients from care, and potentially closing one of the largest transgender health programs in the state.
In the month since President Donald Trump’s inauguration, he has issued multiple executive orders taking aim at transgender adults, including a directive for federal agencies to only recognize gender as male or female and dismiss the existence of transgender, nonbinary or intersex people.
With “Transgender Medical Procedures Amendments,” or HB521, Utah joins several states that have seen bills introduced in the weeks following the order that would severely reduce adults’ access to gender-affirming care. Currently, according to LGBTQ+ rights-focused think tank Movement Advancement Project, 10 states have Medicaid policies that ban policies’ use toward transgender-related health care.
Such moves go against the recommendations of the American Medical Association, which “supports public and private health insurance coverage for treatment of gender dysphoria and opposes the denial of health insurance based on sexual orientation or gender identity.”
The Utah Medical Association, which is not affiliated with the American Medical Association, did not immediately respond to an inquiry regarding its position on the bill.
Peck did not respond to multiple requests for an interview on her bill before publication of this story.
The Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law estimated in 2022 that approximately 13,700 transgender adults live in Utah.
Public records obtained by The Salt Lake Tribune indicate House Majority Whip Karianne Lisonbee, of Clearfield, weighed introducing a similar bill in the months preceding the 2025 legislative session. Instead, she opted to introduce a bill that bans transgender people in correctional facilities from accessing gender-affirming care — except for hormone treatments they were previously prescribed — while incarcerated.
Lisonbee’s legislation comes less than a year after the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the state alleging it discriminated against an incarcerated transgender woman by providing inadequate medical care. Another bill introduced in the Senate would limit incarcerated transgender Utahns’ ability to change their name or sex designation on vital records.
On Friday, Gov. Spencer Cox signed a bill prohibiting transgender college students at public institutions from using dorms that align with their gender identity.
While Peck’s bill means transgender adults enrolled in Medicaid would not have insurance coverage for gender-affirming care, it would also make it more difficult for other transgender adults to access that care.
University of Utah Health is the academic medical center for the state’s flagship university, and operates one of Utah’s most robust transgender health programs. Because the university is publicly funded, Peck’s bill would likely impact the program’s ability to continue.
Its website includes numerous testimonials from transgender Utahns about how transitioning genders changed their lives. Reflecting on her struggle with depression and self-acceptance, the first patient to undergo gender confirmation surgery at University of Utah Health said in 2018, “I definitely feel complete. I feel whole.”
A spokesperson for University of Utah Health declined to comment on the impacts of the bill, or the care its Transgender Health Program currently provides.
“We are just really dismayed to see this come out,” said Marina Lowe, the policy director for LGBTQ+ advocacy organization Equality Utah. “I think there are obviously going to be some legal issues involved with it if it should move forward. ... There are, of course, real, concrete consequences that would come from the passage of a bill like this that will harm the transgender community in Utah.”
The flood of bills proposing restrictions on transgender Utahns follows an election cycle in which House Speaker Mike Schultz funded an anti-transgender political action committee. The entity mailed and texted ads attacking Democratic lawmakers and candidates for their opposition to laws passed over the last three years that likewise limit transgender Utahns’ access to care and participation in everyday life.
This story is developing and may be updated.
