It’s February 11th, 2025 as we write this. Youth access to care is changing very rapidly in response to the Trump administration’s January 28, 2025 executive order banning federal funding for youth gender care.
Many families and youth have had care dropped without notice.
February 13th: A federal judge in Baltimore has issued a temporary restraining order! “Under Hurson’s new ruling, various federal agencies are temporarily prohibited from withholding or conditioning funding based on a health care facility providing gender-affirming care anywhere in the country.” Article from The Hill (no paywall).
February 14th: A Federal District Judge in Seattle has issued a second temporary restraining order also lasting 14 days. Via Erin reed / Erin In The Morning, Washington AG Nick Brown has informally told hospitals to resume care.
So what now? Where is youth care available?
If your care has been stopped, your best resource is the Trans Youth Emergency Project run by the Campaign for Southern Equality.
TYEP can help you navigate where care is available and how to access it.
Ask your institution for a referral to another provider, if they are able to give one.
Providers who are continuing care may be overwhelmed with phone calls and emails, so they may not be able to respond quickly.
Consider traveling for care. Clinics in other locations may have the capacity to see patients from out of state, and travel grants and support may be available.
We are continuing to see youth patients, and we are accepting new youth patients, but our capacity is limited. Our response to the executive order.
Other Care Resources:
We’re not affiliated with SMACH, but it is an evidence-informed resource for youth and families who may need to self-manage care.
What’s Going On Legally?
- If your care has been stopped, please contact the ACLU.
- January 28, 2025 – Trump signs an executive order that stops all federal funding for medical care for transgender youth and young adults and pledges to enforce existing laws. This order is set to go into effect in 60 days (March 28, 2025).
- January 31st: a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order stopping the Trump administration’s funding freeze.
- February 4th: NY Attorney General Letitia James directed New York state medical institutions to continue care in order to comply with New York law that prohibits discrimination.
- February 4th: the ACLU, the ACLU of Maryland, Lamda Legal, and PFLAG, and GLMA (Health Professionals Advancing LFBTQ+ Equality) filed a federal lawsuit challenging the ban.
- February 5th: 15 State Attorneys General signed a statement affirming their commitment to protecting access to gender affirming care (California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Nevada, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin.)
- February 5th: the California Attorney General directed California hospitals and federally-funded healthcare providers that they are obligated by California anti-discrimination law to provide gender affirming care.
- February 7th: Washington, Oregon, and Minnesota file a federal lawsuit challenging the youth care ban.
- February 12th: Corewell Health in Michigan has resumed care for trans youth and young adults after pausing it.
- February 13th: A federal judge in Baltimore has issued a temporary restraining order!
- “Under Hurson’s new ruling, various federal agencies are temporarily prohibited from withholding or conditioning funding based on a health care facility providing gender-affirming care anywhere in the country.” Article from The Hill (no paywall).
- February 14th: Hearing in the Seattle Western District of Washington federal courthouse at 10am Pacific on the Washington, Oregon, and Minnesota suit asking for a temporary restraining order on the youth care ban.
We also want to share Chase Strangio’s words at a New York rally this past weekend.
We are so beautiful and powerful together. Thank you to everyone who is organizing to build our collective power. Thank you to everyone who is showing up and being so much braver every day than those who purport to represent us in government.
The revanchists running our federal government look at trans young people and the freedom and possibility you represent and seek to make you and us small. They want binaries where they retain superiority and control. You – and we – offer expanse and subversion. When we are overtaken with fear we must remember this offering and keep fighting for it.
To those who question whether the defense of trans life is “strategic”, you must remember two things. First, they are casting our humanity as an ideology to be debated and stamped out of civic life. They are doing this because they believe we will not be defended, which will allow them to use these far-reaching attacks to build an unstoppable executive branch that will come for all of us. Second, our most tender and restorative human instinct is to care and fight for our fellow human beings. Don’t let them take our kindness and solidarity. Fight for us. Fight with us. And we will do the same for you.