1. United States
2. Utah
3. Letter

I am writing to demand that you vote against HB 174, legislation that would permanently ban healthcare providers from administering hormonal transgender treatments to minors after late January 2028. This bill represents an egregious government overreach that places politicians directly between doctors, parents, and their children in making critical medical decisions. Utah can disagree better than this. This legislation ignores the taxpayer-funded study that showed no negative effects from these treatments. Utah families paid for research to inform policy decisions, yet lawmakers are choosing to disregard the very evidence they commissioned. When government dismisses its own scientific findings to advance a political agenda, it betrays the public trust and wastes taxpayer dollars on research it never intended to follow. Disagreeing better means respecting the evidence we paid to collect. Medical decisions of this complexity belong exclusively in exam rooms with qualified healthcare professionals, not in legislative chambers with politicians who lack medical training. Licensed physicians spend years studying pediatric endocrinology and gender dysphoria. Parents know their children better than any legislator ever could. Yet HB 174 strips both doctors and parents of their authority, replacing medical expertise and parental judgment with a blanket government mandate. This is not disagreeing better, this is government intrusion at its worst. The real-world consequences will be devastating. As Sen. Jen Plumb noted during debate, transitioning teens already feel unloved and unheard. This ban will force families to either uproot their entire lives and move to other states or watch their children suffer without medically appropriate care. Sen. Kathleen Riebe has met numerous people who transitioned and found their lives to be so much happier, yet this legislation dismisses their experiences and the clinical evidence supporting their treatment. Parents make difficult medical decisions for their children every day regarding cancer treatments, psychiatric medications, and surgical interventions. The government does not second-guess those choices. HB 174 sets a dangerous precedent where political considerations override both parental rights and medical evidence. Vote no on HB 174 and show Utah that you can disagree better by trusting families and their doctors to make these deeply personal healthcare decisions without government interference.