Engage Arizona
Engage Arizona at SoConCon 25: Fighting Gender Ideology: Laura Hanford on Protecting Children
Aug 28, 2025
Center for Arizona Policy
In this episode of Engage Arizona, host Bob Trent sits down with Laura Hanford of The Heritage Foundation’s Richard and Helen DeVos Center for Life, Religion, and Family.
Laura shares her powerful story—from working on international religious freedom to becoming a leading voice in protecting children from the harms of gender ideology. She and Bob discuss:
- How gender ideology spread through schools and medicine
- The dangers of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries for minors
- Why parents are pressured with misleading suicide statistics
- What the latest research from Europe reveals about the long-term outcomes
- How the U.S. medical establishment and government have pushed ideology over evidence
This conversation shines a light on what is really at stake and why protecting children must remain a top priority.