


Gov. Katie Hobbs (D-AZ) signed an executive order ensuring state employees have access to gender transition surgeries.
Hobbs also announced the signing of an executive order cutting all state funding for conversion therapy for LGBT people. The announcements were made at One-N-Ten, an LGBT youth activist group in Phoenix, the Arizona Mirror reported. Previously, Arizona's state health plan had blocked covering transition surgeries.
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“Our LGBTQ+ community should never have to face hate and discrimination, and I will do everything in my power to fight for full equality,” Hobbs said in a statement. “The state is leading by example on this issue, and we will continue working until Arizona is a place where every individual can participate equally in our economy and our workforce without fear of discrimination or exclusion.”
LGBT advocacy organizations praised the decisions.
“This is what it looks like to have a champion for equality in office,” Bridget Sharpe, executive director of Arizona’s branch of the Human Rights Coalition, told the Arizona Mirror in an emailed statement. “These executive orders are a crucial step in addressing discrimination against LGBTQ+ people, especially children. No matter who they are or who they love, all Arizonans deserve access to high-quality, best practice health care and to live their lives authentically.”
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Some groups criticized the move as government overreach, saying that passing laws was the job of the legislature.
“Governor Katie Hobbs should have run for the Arizona Legislature again if she wanted to make law,” Cathi Herrod, the president of the Center for Arizona Policy, said in an emailed statement. “Arizona lawmakers who represent Arizonans from throughout the state are tasked with passing new laws, not the Governor.”