January 23 2026, 08:15 
Transgender Utahans and their supporters marched through the state Capitol building on Wednesday to protest what one lawmaker called “possibly the most egregious anti-trans bill” yet introduced by Republicans during their years-long campaign attacking the LGBTQ+ community.
“I’m anticipating a big fight” over the bill, state Rep. Sahara Hayes (D) told the Utah News Dispatch at the protest. Hayes is Utah’s only out queer legislator, and she’s married to a trans woman.
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She called H.B. 183 the worst of a slew of new anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced this session.
The sweeping bill replaces the term gender with sex in the state; repeals previous provisions related to gender identity (including protections for housing, employment, and crime); prohibits amendments to the sex designation field of a birth certificate; requires use of the term “biological sex” when referring to gender on state documents; prohibits trans employees from interacting with children in state health care settings; and requires courts to favor parents who disavow a child’s gender identity if it differs from their sex assigned at birth in state custody disputes.
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Salt Lake City state Rep. Jen Dailey-Provost (D) said the “misguided” bill “could not be more mean-spirited.”
The demonstration drew more than 60 people who marched through the state capital on the legislature’s second day back in session. The demonstration followed protests the day before against fascist Republican and Trump administration policy, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the war in Gaza.
“We’re here because trans people are continuously being attacked in Utah and across the country. Frankly, we’ve had enough,” said Veronika DaVil, a drag artist who organized the Wednesday event.
Trans people are a “marginalized community that keeps being attacked over and over again to distract from larger issues,” she said, adding that “people need to stand up for the trans community because they can’t do it by themselves.”
“This is such a small community,” DaVil said. “Attacking trans people won’t make rent cheaper. Attacking trans people won’t make our groceries more affordable. It is a smoke screen.”
Kree Arias, a trans man and member of the grassroots activist group Utah March, said LGBTQ+ people are “under attack,” and H.B. 183 is just the latest example.
He hoped that alerting the public to the draconian legislation during the legislature’s first week back in session would increase the community’s visibility.
When asked what he’d say to lawmakers if he had a chance to meet with them, Aria replied, “I would like to just sit down with them and be like, ‘Hey, you know, this is who we are,’” he said.
“I don’t want to talk about our transness or our gayness, or any of that. I want to talk about who we are as people. We’re brothers, we’re sisters, we’re uncles,” he continued.
“‘This is what we’re about,'” he’d say, “being ourselves, being beautiful and proud.”
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