Dear Friends,
After two years of fighting in federal court, we’ve won. Challengers to Idaho’s Vulnerable Child Protection Act have dismissed their lawsuit entirely and Idaho is now free to fully enforce our law protecting children in Idaho from harmful and irreversible gender transition procedures.
This victory is more than just a legal win on paper. It’s a victory for parents, children, and the principle that kids suffering from gender dysphoria need love, support, and medical care rooted in biological reality. What they don’t need is life-altering drugs and surgeries with permanent consequences and added confusion.
Idaho’s Vulnerable Child Protection Act protects children in Idaho by prohibiting doctors from providing puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and transition surgeries to children under 18 to alter their appearance or affirm their “gender identity” when that identity differs from their biological sex. The law makes providing these procedures a felony, recognizing that children cannot consent to experimental treatments with permanent consequences.
When the state legislature passed this law in 2023, activists immediately sued to block it. A federal district judge initially sided with them, issuing an injunction that prevented Idaho from enforcing the law statewide. This meant doctors could continue performing these procedures on children across Idaho despite our state law.
I immediately appealed the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, and in April 2024, the Supreme Court granted Idaho’s request, ruling that the lower court had overstepped by blocking the law for everyone in the state. The Court narrowed the injunction to apply only to the two families who sued, allowing Idaho to enforce our child protection law for all other children statewide. The case continued in the lower court until this week, when the challengers asked to dismiss their lawsuit entirely. The dismissal ends the remaining injunction, allowing Idaho to fully enforce our protections for all children in Idaho.
Idaho was among the first states to pass a law protecting children from these dangerous procedures. We’ve witnessed firsthand the devastating consequences of drugs and procedures used on children with gender dysphoria, and it’s a preventable tragedy. The state has a duty to protect and support all children, and that’s why I’m proud to defend Idaho’s law that ensures children are not subjected to these life-altering drugs and procedures.
The dismissal of this case also coincides with the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling this week upholding Tennessee’s similar law protecting children from these harmful practices. As more states follow Idaho’s lead in protecting vulnerable children, our victory sends a clear message that states have the authority to protect children from this evil.
This fight has always been about more than just one law. It’s about supporting biological reality over ideology, and it’s about Idaho’s sovereignty to enact laws that reflect our values and protect our families. I was proud to fight for this law, and I am grateful that we’ve won the ability to protect Idaho’s kids from these procedures going forward.
Best regards,
