Wyoming Bans Gender Transition Care for Minors

The News

Wyoming will bar minors from receiving medical treatments for gender transition, after the state’s Republican governor signed a bill on Friday that penalizes health care professionals who provide puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgeries to those under 18.

Background

With Gov. Mark Gordon’s signature, Wyoming joins 23 other states that have passed partial or total bans on gender-affirming care in recent years.

Wyoming’s bill, known as Senate File 99, was approved by lawmakers in both chambers earlier this month. Under the legislation, doctors, pharmacists and other health care providers who provide gender-affirming care could have their licenses suspended or revoked.

As in other states, proponents of the measure have argued that the treatments in minors are relatively new, and that the long-term effects are not well studied. The bill’s sponsor, Senator Anthony Bouchard, said that the law “prohibits the use of pharmaceuticals to alter normal adolescent development.’’

On Friday, Governor Gordon offered muted support for the measure.

“I signed SF99 because I support the protections this bill includes for children,” Mr. Gordon said in a statement. “However, it is my belief that the government is straying into the personal affairs of families.”

Transgender advocates in Wyoming said the conservative resistance to government intrusion is one reason similar measures have previously failed to pass. In prior sessions, some Republicans were sympathetic to the argument that the restrictions violated the rights of parents to make decisions for their children.

“The idea that the government is going to reach into your living room and tell you what kind of health care your kid can receive — I just can’t underline enough how backward that would be for Wyoming,’’ Sara Burlingame, a former Democratic state legislator, said in an interview.