Sen. Mike Lee introduces bill to ban taxpayer money from being used for gender transition research on youth
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Utah Sen. Mike Lee introduced a bill that would ban federal funds from being used for research on the gender transition of minors.
The Protecting Our Kids from Harmful Research Act would prevent taxpayer funds from being used on any research or publications that affirm a different gender identity from the child’s biological sex.
“The Federal Government should never fund research that harms kids. This bill will protect taxpayers from funding spurious research, but more importantly, it will protect kids from the permanent damage this irresponsible research can produce,” Lee, a Republican, said, according to a press release.
He was joined by other Republican senators, including Sen. James Lankford of Ohio, Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas.
Tuberville said that children can’t fully consent to an “irreversible, life-altering elective surgery.”
The Alabama senator has made headlines in the recent months for blocking military promotions because of a Pentagon policy that funds travel for service members to receive abortions — while Lee has supported Tuberville’s stance.
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Of the latest bill, Tuberville said, “Subjecting healthy, developing children to damaging and harmful procedures without a grave medical purpose is absolutely wrong, and taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to pay for these extreme and reckless practices.”
Meanwhile, Rubio hailed it as a “common sense” bill and Hawley said it is the responsibility of Congress “to protect children across this nation from these abusive treatments.”
Other organizations like Heritage Action, American Principles Project and Students for Life have also backed the bill.
Lee initially introduced the Protecting Our Kids from Harmful Research Act in 2021. At the time Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., introduced a companion bill in the House.
“Add mutilating children to the National Institute of Horrors’ (NIH) long list of funding evil research,” she said about the federal health agency.
In Utah, a law that bans transgender surgeries for children and teens was finalized in January. At the time, LGBTQ groups promised a lawsuit.
The state also placed an indefinite moratorium on new treatments including puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for minors, as the Deseret News previously reported.
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Marina Lowe, policy director for Equality Utah, said that the law “is essentially a ban on access to medical care for transgender youth.”
“Everywhere where one has been passed, there is litigation because it’s the government stepping in between parents and children and their doctors.”
The legislation has an exception; it allows minors, who were already going through treatment before the law passed, to continue taking or wean off of medication before the end of the year, as CNN reported.
Apart from Utah, 21 other red states have banned surgery and other treatments for transgender youth, including Idaho, Montana and Texas. Other states like Florida also include criminalizing those providing illegal medical treatments for transgender youth.
