Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon signed a bill on Friday that bans doctors from performing “gender transition” and sex change procedures on minors.
Under Senate File 99, any healthcare professional who provides a minor with puberty blockers, hormone therapy, or sex change surgeries will be subject to having their licenses suspended or revoked.
While he signed the bill, the governor did not seem enthusiastic about doing so.
“I signed SF99 because I support the protections this bill includes for children, however it is my belief that the government is straying into the personal affairs of families,” Governor Gordon said in a statement about the legislation.
Gordon continued, “Our legislature needs to sort out its intentions with regard to parental rights. While it inserts governmental prerogative in some places, it affirms parental rights in others.”
Of course, the American Civil Liberties Union of Wyoming opposes the ban.
“By signing this bill into law, Gov. Gordon has put the government in charge of making vital decisions traditionally reserved for parents in Wyoming,” ACLU of Wyoming Executive Director Libby Skarin said in the announcement. “This ban won’t stop Wyomingites from being trans, but it will deny them critical support that helps struggling transgender youth grow up to become thriving transgender adults.”
The law will go into effect on July 1.
