Transgender

In January, Utah banned gender-affirming care for minors.

A recent school board meeting in the Jordan School District got heated when the topic of transgender students using bathrooms was brought up.

New laws targeting LGBTQ+ people are proliferating in GOP-led states, but the conversations often lack a clear understanding of how many people will be directly affected. Data collection on the number of LGBTQ+ people living in the U.S. has been relatively scant.

In a year that saw polarized policymaking around transgender Americans, MPR News and KUER teamed up to tell the story of how gender-affirming care bans and care shields are affecting access in Minnesota and Utah.

Colorado and Idaho represent two different poles of state-level political homogenization. Both are fast-growing Rocky Mountain states that have been transformed by the influx of new, like-minded residents.

Some players said Dungeons & Dragons lets them take a break from the real world. Since it’s fantasy, they get to leave parts of the real world that they don’t like at the door.

Intermountain Health’s gender care surgical director was already seeing patients when the provider decided to shelve a range of care known as “bottom surgeries.”

The pride flags were removed in March, but LGBTQ+ students and allies said they’re still waiting for a response from the Alpine School District’s school board.

Gender-affirming care bans have passed in at least 13 states this year — including conservative Utah and South Dakota — and are being considered in two dozen more. The new laws have forced families to adapt to a shifting legal landscape with an unforeseen sense of panic and urgency.

Mental health providers and physicians who treat transgender youth are grappling with how to care for their patients in the wake of Utah’s gender-affirming care ban.

The are worries that gender-affirming care bans, and a sweep of other trans legislation nationwide, are driving people “back into the closet for safety.”

Lawmakers have only 45 days to write, debate and pass laws each year in Utah. The last couple of days of the session are always a mad rush of legislation.