On Feb. 14, Gov. Cox signed HB269 without comment. This bill, titled Privacy Protections in Sex-designated Areas, bans transgender Utahns from selecting dorms that match their gender identities.
Banning trans individuals from spaces that match their gender identities is well-known to increase the violence and harassment they claim to mitigate. These policies have devastating effects on the mental health of the already at-risk trans community.
The Intrusive Hyperfixation on Trans People
Legislation like HB269 is part of a recent pattern defined by MAGA’s obsession with transgender people, both federally and locally. The party that supposedly advocates for small government and individual freedom has no problem pushing overly intrusive laws when they impact women and LGBTQ+ people.
The party that adamantly claims to be “pro-life” can’t seem to stop making decisions that statistically increase deaths.
Utah Republican representatives, like Stephanie Gricius, the sponsor of HB269, get elected on a platform of personal freedoms and fiscal responsibility. Once they’re in office they pass legislation that wastes government time and money on efforts to strip marginalized communities of their freedoms.
Gender and Sex Vary for Everyone
The current political fixation on trans people, especially trans youth, is disturbing and bolsters false rhetoric. Sex and gender are not rigid categories. They are experiences that look different for everyone.
About 1.7% of people are intersex, and hormonal imbalances in testosterone and estrogen are common in both men and women. 5-10% of cisgender adult women have hyperandrogenism, which causes them to have high naturally occurring levels of testosterone. An estimated 30% of men over the age of 40 test low in testosterone.
Some people experience chromosome differences. Any combination of XX or XY chromosomes is possible, such as XXY, XXX and XO. These chromosome variations can result in any sex phenotype. They are oftentimes only detectable via blood or genetic testing as they often do not have noticeable physical or mental effects.
It is completely possible for someone to go their whole life unaware of hormonal imbalances and sex organ or chromosome differences that could by some definitions qualify them as something other than the sex written on their birth certificate.
As far as transitioning goes, gender-affirming care is much more common in cisgender people for both children and adults. People whose experiences don’t fit into the gender binary system have always existed, and they are not always transgender or non-binary.
A 2019 study compared insurance data cataloging gender-affirming surgeries across multiple demographics. The results found that the vast majority of gender-affirming care is administered to individuals who identify as the same gender they were assigned at birth.
Cisgendered adult men undergo 80% of gender-affirming breast reduction surgeries, and 97% of surgeries on minors are undergone by cis-gendered boys. The trans community is not targeted by bills like HB269 because of what they do. They are targeted because of who they are. This is blatant discrimination.
The Cis-Women Scapegoat
HB269, line 533, states the reason for this discrimination as, “To preserve the individual privacy of males and females.” In no way does setting a legal precedent to question the appearance of people’s genitals “preserve privacy.”
The push for these private details to affect people’s daily lives is intrusive and unnecessary. The paramount concern cited among anti-trans policymakers is the safety of cisgender women. But these politicians have never cared about women’s safety. In fact, many of them are known to continually endanger the lives of women.
Trump said in a Jan. 20 executive order, “Efforts to eradicate the biological reality of sex fundamentally attacks women by depriving them of their dignity, safety and well-being.” Trump has been found liable for depriving at least 27 women of dignity, safety and well-being by raping them, in some cases multiple times.
Gov. Cox and Rep. Gricius publicly support Trump. Supporting a rapist is condoning rape.
Violent crimes that disproportionately affect women, such as rape, are 33% higher in Utah compared to the national average. These crimes further disproportionately affect trans women, who experience the highest rate of assault compared to any other demographic. Men are the most common perpetrators of all violent crimes every year universally.
Gov. Cox’s Self-Proclaimed ‘Mercy’
In 2024, Gov. Cox vetoed HB11, which would have banned trans youth from competing in public middle or high school sports.
“I don’t understand what they are going through or why they feel the way they do. But I want them to live,” Gov. Cox said in a letter released shortly after the veto. “All the research shows that even a little acceptance and connection can reduce suicidality significantly,” said Cox.
Cox’s silence while signing HB269 into law sounds so loud when contrasted with how much he had to say last year in defense of the trans community. Cox’s letter went on to cite 86% of trans youth reporting suicidality alongside the 56% of trans youth that have attempted suicide. Cox also mentions the four transgender kids playing high school sports in Utah and one transgender student playing girls’ sports. His letter goes on to critique the cruelty of targeting such a small community.
“Rarely has so much fear and anger been directed at so few,” Cox said.
It is unclear why Cox seems to believe the five trans children he felt needed to be protected last year are immune to his recent attack on their livelihoods. Even before these children are old enough to enter college and consider college housing, they are being forced to live in a world where they are discriminated against by powerful government leaders that once claimed to, in Cox’s own words, “err on the side of kindness, mercy and compassion.”
What happened to Gov. Cox’s kindness, mercy and compassion?
Treating all people with kindness, mercy and compassion is a basic ethic, not a controversial political stance. We must support the members of our community regardless of what has become politically acceptable or culturally demonized amid the new executive administration.
