A Utah state employee accused Republican Governor Spencer Cox of engaging in “reprehensible censorship” for ordering a review that included flagging content related to radical gender and racial ideology in state documents, according to emails viewed by The Daily Wire.
An employee with the Utah Department of Health attacked Cox, accusing him of “dehumanizing” minorities and saying more should be done to “push back” against the review, emails obtained by Do No Harm show. The employee made the comment amid a sensitive content review that directed officials at Utah’s Department of Health to go through content and watch for words like “anti-racism,” “environmental justice,” “gender identity,” “LGBTQ(IA+),” “Racism,” “transgender,” “white privilege,” “white fragility,” abortion, and more.
The call to “push back” was apparently made during a staff meeting and passed along by public information officer Charla Haley, whose job is to communicate with the public about what’s happening at the health department, to other employees in the Utah Department of Health in an email on January 10, 2024.
“Why isn’t more being done to push back against the Sensitive Content Assignment issued by the governor’s office?” the quote shared by Haley read. “This effort to remove references to health equity, race, gender identity, ethnicity, and sexual orientation is reprehensible censorship that invisibilizes communities who have already experienced disproportionate negative health outcomes from systemic oppression. It is dehumanizing and will further marginalize diverse people in Utah, including employees and Partners.”
Utah Department of Health and Human Services Director Mike Grass said in an email to The Daily Wire that Haley passed the message along to other employees “who had some questions.” It was not clear what the questions were.
“With respect to the comment sent by Charla Haley, this was simply a direct quote written by an employee made during a staff meeting. She passed it along to three staff members who had some questions,” the Utah Department of Health told The Daily Wire.
Kurt Miceli, the medical Director of Do No Harm, said the comment showed that there were political ideologues embedded in Utah’s Department of Health and Human Services.
“What Do No Harm has uncovered makes it clear that there are political ideologues in Utah’s DHHS who are interested in pushing an agenda, not science,” he said. “These activists within Utah’s DHHS should stop pushing their political agenda and spend more time helping the people of their state.”
A few hours after passing along the quote attacking the governor, Haley sent an email to another health department employee telling them to pull “concerning” handouts “for the time being.”
“So, you might want to go through some of your handouts that might be concerning and pull them for the time being. Your disease reports should be fine for now and we can review them and rebrand them after the 15th,” she wrote.
Grass told The Daily Wire that the reference to rebranding had to do with a merger, and the department was not trying to hide DEI-focused materials.
“DHHS is compliant with the governor’s directive. DHHS materials were not rebranded to hide references to DEI activities; however, materials were revised to comply with the governor’s directive and the department’s internal policies,” he said. “Additionally, the department’s efforts to rebrand and the references to rebranding were necessary due to the merger between the Utah Department of Health and the Utah Department of Human Services in July 2022. After the merger, the department’s website continued to contain documents with old logos. The rebranding comments simply referred to making sure they all had the new logo.”
Grass said those conducting the review were “instructed to watch for certain words” and “the context in which those words were used during the review process.”
“The use of those words alone did not necessarily result in revisions to particular materials,” he said.
In another email sent to a health department employee in February 2024, Haley shared a rant from someone named “Mikey” who she said was “definitely in touch with his emotions.” In the rant, “Mikey” said that parents should allow their kids to identify as transgender.
“The LGBTQIA+ community does not want your children. They want to give a safe space for your child when you decide they are no longer your child because they came out as gay or trans. YOU, as a parent, are a failure if you feel that is the only acceptable response to your child telling you what has been plaguing their minds the most,” the person wrote.
In another email from April 16, 2024, obtained by Do No Harm, a then-health department employee, Andrea Hood, discussed editing an LGBT-focused resource to get it through the content review process.
“I was wondering if we want to edit this resource for parents and submit it through the DHHS ‘sensitive topics’ review process,” she wrote. “What are your thoughts? I created it to go with Inclusive Spaces training but I think it could be useful on its own. I’m open to making adjustments to it if there are pieces that might be particularly scrutinized we can brainstorm how to do that.”
The resource pushed parents to get involved in politics and embrace their kids’ gender expression.
The resource said that using “chosen name & pronouns,” supporting “gender expression,” encouraging “inclusive practices,” and being “active in the legislative process,” would “increase the likelihood of your LGBTQ+ child having a healthy and happy future.”
The resource also said to “speak up when you hear stereotypes about LGBTQ+ people,” and “talk with your religious leaders to help your congregation become more supportive of LGBTQ+ people.”
The inclusive practices the resource said to support included “including pronouns on enrollment forms,” “name and pronoun change procedures,” “LGBTQ+ professional development for staff,” “sports participation for transgender and gender non-binary youth,” “inclusive curricula,” and “affirming clubs (Gender & Sexuality Alliances).”
The resource told parents to use their children’s chosen pronouns, not their biological ones, and to “correct” themselves when they “make a mistake.”
“Listen to your child to understand what being transgender or gender nonbinary means to them, and what it feels like,” the resource said, adding, “Try to use their chosen name and pronouns, and correct yourself in the moment when you make a mistake.”
The resource also claimed that studies “found that youth who have parental and school support to transition socially have significantly better mental health outcomes than youth without that support.”
Cox’s office did not respond to requests for comment on the emails.
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Utah’s Department of Health has been criticized for producing a “terribly flawed” report on the science behind transgender procedures for kids. The report, which was sent from the department to the Utah legislature, significantly misrepresents the scientific record and glosses over the danger of transgender procedures, Do No Harm said in a memo last week.
The report also came alongside recommendations from the Utah Department of Health, which Miceli said silently supported undoing protections for kids from transgender procedures.
The recommendations are all contingent on the moratorium being lifted, Miceli said. These included things like setting up a board to oversee the moratorium, creating specific standards of care, and limiting those who prescribe transgender procedures to “demonstrated experts.”
Utah’s Department of Health also maintains a “self-paced” training page on the topics of “advancing health equity,” “an anti-racist imperative for public health data,” and “How to be Anti-Racist in the Everyday Practice of Public Health.”
“Each day, we have opportunities to fight racism and bias in our work in public health. From our hiring practices to microaggressions that occur in internal meetings to the data we collect to the policies we influence, enact, and enforce — racism and bias impact all facets of public health. Studies show that this ultimately causes a negative impact on health outcomes and hinders our efforts to reduce racial inequities in health,” the course description says.
In January 2023, Cox signed legislation placing a moratorium on doctors giving kids cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers and banning transgender surgeries. That came after he previously vetoed a bill keeping males out of female sports.