Bishop John Dolan of Phoenix has faced criticism after publicly endorsing Proposition 409, a $900 million ballot measure that would finance a major expansion of mental health facilities for Valleywise Health, a healthcare system known to support gender transition.
In a letter of support, the bishop wrote that “access to mental health treatment is an essential part of human dignity and community well-being,” according to The Catholic Sun, the diocese’s official newspaper. He added that Valleywise “has for decades served as a true steward of care, especially for those in crisis and nowhere else to turn.” His comments followed a visit to Valleywise’s 192-bed behavioural health hospital in Maryvale, one of three facilities that together treat hundreds of patients with serious mental illness. Proposition 409, on the state ballot this November, would allow Valleywise to build a new hospital and add 200 modern behavioural health beds.
The bishop’s endorsement has provoked backlash from Catholic and pro-family groups who argue that Valleywise’s involvement in “gender-affirming” services makes the measure morally problematic. The Centre for Arizona Policy (CAP), a Christian policy institute based in Phoenix, was among the first to condemn the proposal. CAP said Valleywise was “deeply invested” in gender-transition medicine, citing its promotion of cross-sex hormone treatments, its perfect score from the Human Rights Campaign’s Healthcare Equality Index, and minutes from a March 2023 council meeting listing “growth in gender-affirming care” as an institutional goal. The organisation said the proposed bond “lacks any safeguards against expanding services that directly harm adults and children.”
“There is no question that some people genuinely suffer from gender confusion,” CAP said in a statement. “They need compassionate care to become comfortable with how God made them. But at Valleywise, there is only one course of treatment.”
Valleywise has since sought to address the concerns. In a clarification to CAP, hospital officials said the system “does not perform transgender surgeries” and complies with the 28 January Executive Order Protecting Children from Surgical and Chemical Mutilation. The clarification was welcomed but did little to calm opposition. CAP acknowledged the assurance but insisted that “Valleywise—a public healthcare system—embraces harmful gender ideology, including the use of hormones to suppress and change the biological sex characteristics of adults.”
The controversy deepened when the group Catholics for Catholics publicly urged Bishop Dolan to withdraw his endorsement. Its president, John Yep, said that while his organisation supported mental health care, it opposed taxpayer funding for institutions advancing what he called “the evils of the LGBTQ agenda.” “Catholics in the Diocese of Phoenix are shocked that our bishop has come out so strongly in support of State Proposition 409,” he said. “It’s a proposition that directly funds the number one LGBTQ hospital statewide. … Catholics in good conscience disagree with the bishop’s support of Proposition 409 and therefore must vote no on this prop.”
The Diocese of Phoenix has not commented publicly on the criticism. Bishop Dolan, appointed in 2022, has made mental health outreach a hallmark of his ministry, launching an Office of Mental Health Ministry shortly after his installation. His initiatives have won wide praise from families affected by mental illness and from Catholic agencies involved in suicide prevention.
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