A bill signed by Utah Governor Spencer Cox has made it illegal for anyone to subject children to transgender treatments.

The bill means that hormone therapies and surgeries will not be permissible for minors in the state.

Senate Bill 16, which the governor signed a day after it was sent to his desk by the Utah Legislature, prohibits health care providers from “providing a hormonal transgender treatment to new patients who were not diagnosed with gender dysphoria before a certain date” and prohibits them from “performing sex characteristic surgical procedures on a minor for the purpose of effectuating a sex change.”

It also directs the Utah Department of Health and Human Services to conduct a “systematic review of the medical evidence regarding hormonal transgender treatments.”

In a statement, Cox said that the bill is “not perfect” and called for greater research into treatments for transgender youth.

“Legislation that impacts our most vulnerable youth requires careful consideration and deliberation,” said the Republican governor in the statement. “While not a perfect bill, we are grateful for Sen. (Michael) Kennedy’s more nuanced and thoughtful approach to this terribly divisive issue. More and more experts, states and countries around the world are pausing these permanent and life-altering treatments for new patients until more and better research can help determine the long-term consequences.”

Trans activists are offended that their lies are being exposed, trying to insist there is no harm done to minors put on puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones.

They want the public to believe the drugs are reversible and won’t cause long term harm. This is despite growing evidence that the drugs cause sterility, loss of sexual function, bone and brain development issues.

Binary spokeswoman Kirralie Smith commended the governor for signing the bill.

“Legislators must take responsibility for child protection,” she said.

“It is essential that more research is done and only best practices are available to vulnerable children.

“Watchful waiting is proving to be far more effective, and less cruel, than exposing children to harmful pathways with irreversible consequences.”