I’m afraid I have some disappointing, and yet unsurprising, news. U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill has blocked House Bill 71 from taking effect Jan. 1. The bill would have protected children from irreversible puberty blocking medications and barbaric gender mutilation surgeries. Winmill issued his opinion Tuesday. 

Winmill, one of many leftist judges in Idaho, has issued a lot of damaging rulings over the years. This is probably Winmill at his worst, comparing gender mutilation to the protection of newly freed slaves after the Civil War, interracial marriage, and access to contraception. Not only that, Winmill relied on the extremely controversial guidelines of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health. His ruling ignores the fact that extremist ideological groups lobbied to change the way transgenderism is categorized, to the detriment of young people. 

So where do we go from here? I have some ideas, which our team will be discussing with lawmakers for consideration in the upcoming legislative session. For starters, it is even more important than ever that Idaho taxpayers stop subsidizing medical schools that teach how to perform gender surgeries. Additionally, when Idaho voters passed Medicaid expansion five years ago, they probably didn’t expect that the program would be used to pay for medical conditions tied directly to transgenderism. 

All this to say, we’re not done fighting. The corrupt medical industrial complex, along with the corrupt judiciary, won’t stand in our way of accomplishing the mission of protecting young people from the Left’s diabolical agenda. 

I cannot overstate how important it is that you take an active role in the upcoming session. It is critical that our lawmakers hear from you. This means that you are going to need to know how to reach out to your representatives and senators and make your voice heard by the people who are supposed to represent you. This is precisely why we are holding our upcoming Legislature 101 and 201 classes: to help prepare you for this important work ahead. If you have any questions, as always, feel free to reach out to me by emailing [email protected] or calling my cell, 208-921.6749.