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Los Angeles Times
01-08-2025
- Health
- Los Angeles Times
California, other states sue Trump over order threatening gender-affirming care providers
California and a coalition of other liberal-led states sued the Trump administration Friday over efforts to end gender-affirming care for transgender, intersex and nonbinary children and young adults nationwide — calling them an unconstitutional attack on LGBTQ+ patients, healthcare providers and states' rights. The lawsuit was brought by California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta and officials from 15 other states and the District of Columbia. It challenges a Jan. 28 executive order by President Trump that denounced gender-affirming care as 'mutilation' and called on U.S. Justice Department officials to effectively enforce a ban, including by launching investigations into healthcare providers. The lawsuit notes the Justice Department last month sent more than 20 subpoenas to doctors and clinics that have provided such care nationwide, with justice officials suggesting they may face criminal prosecution. Bonta's office, in a statement, said such efforts 'have no legal basis and are intended to discourage providers from offering lifesaving healthcare that is lawful under state law.' The lawsuit asks a federal court in Massachusetts to vacate Trump's order in its entirety for exceeding federal authority and undermining state laws that guarantee equal access to healthcare. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday. Trump made reining in transgender rights a key promise of his presidential campaign. Upon taking office, he moved swiftly to do so through executive orders, funding cuts and litigation. And in many ways, it has worked — particularly when it comes gender-affirming care for minors. Clinics across the country that had provided such care have closed their doors in response to the threats and funding cuts. That includes the renowned Center for Transyouth Health and Development at Children's Hospital Los Angeles, one of the largest and oldest pediatric gender clinics in the U.S. The clinic told thousands of its patients and their families that it was shuttering last month. Other clinics have similarly closed nationwide, radically reducing the availability of such care in the U.S. Republicans and other Trump supporters have cheered the closures as a major win, and they praised the president for protecting impressionable and confused children from so-called woke medical professionals pushing what they allege to be dangerous and irreversible treatments. Bonta said in the Friday statement that Trump and his administration's 'relentless attacks' on such care were 'cruel and irresponsible' and endangered 'already vulnerable adolescents whose health and well-being are at risk.' 'These actions have created a chilling effect in which providers are pressured to scale back on their care for fear of prosecution, leaving countless individuals without the critical care they need and are entitled to under law,' Bonta said. Mainstream U.S. medical associations have supported gender-affirming care for minors experiencing gender dysphoria for years. They and LGBTQ+ rights organizations have accused Trump and his supporters of mischaracterizing that care, which includes therapy, counseling and support for social transitioning, and can include puberty blockers, hormone treatment and, in rarer circumstances, mastectomies. Queer advocates, many patients and their families say such care is life-saving, alleviating intense distress — and suicidal thoughts — in transgender and other gender-nonconforming youth. They and many mainstream medical experts acknowledge that gender-affirming care for young people is still a developing field, but say it is also based on decades of solid research by medical professionals who are far better equipped than politicians to help families make difficult medical decisions. However, as the number of children who identify as transgender or nonbinary has rapidly increased in recent years, that argument has failed to take hold in many parts of the country. Conservatives and Republican leaders have grown increasingly alarmed by such care, pointing to young people who changed their minds about transitioning and now regret the care they received. 'Countless children soon regret that they have been mutilated and begin to grasp the horrifying tragedy that they will never be able to conceive children of their own or nurture their children through breastfeeding,' Trump's executive order stated. Trump and others have escalated tensions further by spreading misinformation about kids being whisked away from school to have their gentials mutilated without their parents' knowledge — which is not happening. The battle has played out in the courts, in part as a state's rights issue. In June, the Supreme Court ruled that conservative states may ban puberty blockers and hormone treatments for transgender teens, with the court's conservative majority finding that states are generally free to set their own standards of medical care. The Trump administration, however, has not taken the same view. Instead, it has aggressively tried to eradicate gender-affirming care nationwide, regardless of state laws — like those in California — that protect it. Trump's Jan. 28 executive order, titled 'Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation,' claimed that 'medical professionals are maiming and sterilizing a growing number of impressionable children under the radical and false claim that adults can change a child's sex through a series of irreversible medical interventions.' It defined children as anyone under the age of 19, and said that moving forward, the U.S. wouldn't 'fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support the so-called 'transition' of a child from one sex to another,' but would 'rigorously enforce all laws that prohibit or limit these destructive and life-altering procedures.' The states' lawsuit focuses on one particular section of that order, which directed Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi to convene state attorneys general and other law enforcement officials nationwide to begin investigating gender-affirming care providers and other groups that 'may be misleading the public about long-term side effects of chemical and surgical mutilation.' The section suggested those investigations could be based on laws against 'female genital mutilation,' or even around a 1938 law known as the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, which authorizes the Food and Drug Administration to regulate food, drugs, medical devices and cosmetics. On July 9, Bondi announced the Justice Department's subpoenas to healthcare providers, saying doctors and hospitals 'that mutilated children in the service of a warped ideology will be held accountable.' On July 25, The Times reported that Bill Essayli, the Trump administration's controversial pick for U.S. attorney in L.A., had floated the idea of criminally charging doctors and hospitals for providing gender-affirming care, according to two federal law enforcement sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal. The targeting of gender-affirming care is part of a wider effort by the administration to eliminate transgender rights more broadly, in part on the premise that transgender people do not exist. On his first day in office, Trump issued another executive order declaring there are only two sexes and denouncing what he called the 'gender ideology' of the left. His administration has sought to limit the options transgender people have to get passports that reflect their identities, and the Justice Department has sued California over its policies allowing transgender girls to compete against other girls in youth sports. Many transgender Americans are looking for ways to flee the country. Still, many in the LGBTQ+ community fear the attacks are only going to get worse. Among those who are most scared are the parents and families of transgender kids — including those who believe their health records may have been collected under the Justice Department's subpoenas. One mother of a Children's Hospital patient told The Times last month that she is terrified the Justice Department is 'going to come after parents and use the female genital mutilation law ... to prosecute parents and separate me from my child.' Bonta is leading the lawsuit along with the attorneys general of Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts and New York. Joining them are Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and the attorneys general of Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Rhode Island and Wisconsin.
Yahoo
12-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Trans youth fight for care as California clinics cave to Trump: ‘How can this happen here?'
Eli, a 16-year-old Los Angeles student, is spending his summer juggling an internship at a natural history museum, a research project, a physics class and cheer practice – and getting ready to apply for college. But in recent weeks, he has been forced to handle a more urgent matter: figuring out how he is going to access vital medical treatments targeted by the Trump administration. Last month, Eli was stunned to get an email alerting him that Children's hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) was shutting down its Center for Transyouth Health and Development, which had provided him critical healthcare for three years. The center, which has served transgender youth for three decades, offered Eli counseling and helped him access gender-affirming hormone therapy that he said allowed him to live as himself and flourish in school. CHLA said it was shuttering the center due to the federal government's threats to pull funding, part of the president's efforts to eradicate trans youth healthcare. The move has forced Eli and his mother to scramble for alternatives, taking time out of his busy summer to contact new providers and ensure he doesn't run out of medications. California became the first sanctuary state for trans youth healthcare in 2022 and has long positioned itself as having the strongest protections for LGBTQ+ children. Now, for families like Eli's, it feels like that safety is rapidly disappearing. 'I was always worried for people in conservative states and had a lot of fear for my community as a whole. But I never thought it would directly affect me in California,' Eli said on a recent afternoon, seated with his mom at a Latino LGBTQ+ organization in Boyle Heights. 'I wish people understood they're doing so much more harm than they could possibly imagine – that so many lives will be hurt and lost and so many people torn apart.' Eli is one of nearly 3,000 patients who learned on 12 June they would be abruptly losing their healthcare at CHLA, one of the largest and most prominent centers in the nation to treat trans kids. Then, on 24 June, Stanford Medicine revealed it had also paused gender-affirming surgeries for trans minors and 18-year-olds, with reports that some families had appointments suddenly canceled and leaving other patients fearful it was the beginning of a wider crackdown on their care. Families across California told the Guardian they were exploring options to stockpile hormones, researching how to get care outside the US, growing increasingly fearful that parents could face government investigations or prosecutions, and discussing options to permanently flee the country. CHLA, in a letter to staff, said its decision to close the trans center was 'profoundly difficult', but as California's largest pediatric safety net provider, it could not risk losing federal dollars, which makes up a majority of its funds and would affect hundreds of thousands of patients. Stanford said its disruption in services followed a review of 'directives from the federal government' and was done to 'protect both our providers and patients'. 'This is Los Angeles – how can this be happening here?' said Emily, Eli's mother, who is an educator; the Guardian is identifying them by only their first names to protect their privacy. 'My parents left their Central American countries for a better life – fleeing poverty and civil war, and I cannot believe I'm sitting here thinking: what would be the best country for my family to flee to, as so many immigrant families have done? I never thought I might have to leave the US to protect my son.' Katie, a 16-year-old film student who lives two hours outside Los Angeles, started going to CHLA for gender-affirming care in 2018 when she was nine. For several years, the care involved therapy and check-ins, but no direct medical interventions. Throughout that time, Katie was consistent about her identity as a girl, which CHLA providers supported. 'It was so meaningful and incredible for them to say: 'We see you for who you are, but also you can be who you are,'' recalled Katie, who asked to go by a pseudonym to protect her privacy. 'It was like, I have a future. I'll get to have my life.' In gender-affirming care, young children may first socially transition by using new names, pronouns and clothes. When youth are persistent about their gender, doctors can consider prescribing puberty blockers, which pause puberty, and eventually hormone therapies that allow for medical transition. Trans youth surgeries are rare. The treatment has for years been considered the standard of care in the US, endorsed by major medical groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association, and linked to improved mental health. In recent years, Republicans have passed bans on gender-affirming care in more than 25 states, and Trump has called the treatments 'chemical and surgical mutilation'. There has also been a growing international backlash against the care, including in the UK, which has banned puberty blockers for trans kids. Last month, the US supreme court upheld Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming care for trans youth. Families and civil rights groups have argued the bans are discriminatory, as cisgender children can still receive the same treatments; cis boys with delayed puberty may be prescribed testosterone, for example, while trans boys cannot. Katie, who was eventually prescribed puberty blockers and hormones, broke down crying recounting how the care saved her. 'Sometimes I think: What would my life be if I never got this?' she said. 'And I just don't see myself here. I can't see myself at 16 if I didn't come out and transition … Losing this now would destroy my life.' Sage Sol Pitchenik, a 16-year-old CHLA patient, who is non-binary, said the care helped them overcome debilitating depression caused by their severe gender dysphoria: 'Every day, I couldn't even get up because I just didn't want to see myself, not even my reflection in the window. I was so terrified to look at my body.' They compared the care to the essential treatment their twin brother had earlier received at the same institution: a liver transplant. 'CHLA saved my life, just like they saved my brother,' they said. Related: 'We're on the edge of chaos': families with trans kids fight for care as bans take hold Eli, who came out as trans while in middle school during pandemic lockdowns, said it was hard to return to school when he felt so uncomfortable in his body. At the start of high school, he avoided making friends: 'I'm really sociable. I love talking to people and joining clubs, but I felt restricted because of how embarrassed I felt and scared of how people would react to me.' The testosterone therapy helped restore his confidence, he said, recounting 'euphoric moments' of his transition: growing facial hair, his voice deepening, staying in the boys' cabin at camp. His friends celebrated each milestone, and his mom said the positive transformation was obvious to his whole family: 'It was like day and night – we are a traditional Latino Catholic family, but they were all loving and accepting, because he is such a happier kid.' CHLA started treating trans children around 1991, and that legacy was part of its appeal for parents. 'It's not just the best place in LA to get care, it's also one of the most important research centers in the country,' said Jesse Thorn, a radio host who has two trans daughters receiving care there. Critics of gender-affirming care have claimed that vulnerable youth are rushed into transitioning without understanding treatment consequences, and that there is not enough research to justify the care. CHLA, Thorn said, countered those claims; families have appointments and build long-term relationships with doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists and social workers. The process is slow and methodical, and the center was engaged in extensive research on the effects of treatments, he said. 'The youth most in danger with the clinic closing are those with parents who aren't sure about this care,' Thorn added. 'That's a lot of parents. They're not hateful bigots. They're overwhelmed and scared, and the institution means a lot.' One LA parent, who requested anonymity to protect her trans son's privacy, said she knew parents who traveled from Idaho to get CHLA's care: 'It really was a beacon of the entire western United States. It is a remarkable loss.' Parents told the Guardian that they were putting their children on waitlists at other clinics and beginning intake processes, but remained worried for families who have public health insurance and fewer resources. Like CHLA, Stanford has long researched and championed trans youth healthcare. The prestigious university's recent pullback on care only affects surgeries, which are much more rare than hormone therapy and puberty blockers. But families whose care has remained intact, for now, say they are on edge. 'There's a constant feeling of not knowing what you need to prepare for,' said one mom of a 17-year-old trans boy, who said her son waited six months to first be seen by Stanford. 'We all understand the pressures the doctors and institutions are under. But ceding the surgeries doesn't mean the pressure will end. It's just showing us our kids are seen as disposable.' Parents and advocates say they fear that other institutions could follow CHLA and Stanford, particularly as the White House significantly escalates attacks in ways that go far beyond funding threats. Trump's focus on California trans youth and gender-affirming care has been relentless. The president has directly attacked a 16-year-old trans track runner, with the US justice department and federal Department of Education fighting, so far unsuccessfully, to force the state's schools to ban trans female athletes and bar trans girls from women's facilities. Trump has threatened to withhold billions of dollars in education funding over a state law meant to prevent schools from forcibly outing LGBTQ+ youth to their parents. Perhaps most troubling for families and providers, the FBI has said it is investigating providers who 'mutilate' children 'under the guise of gender-affirming care', and the DoJ said this week it had issued subpoenas to trans youth clinics and doctors. Related: US supreme court rules schools must let kids opt out of LGBTQ+ book readings This has led to growing fears that the US will seek to prosecute and imprison clinicians, similar to efforts by some Republican states to criminally charge abortion providers. Many parents say they worry they could be targeted next. 'There's an outcry of terror,' said another LA mother of a trans child. 'It feels like there is a bloodlust to jail any doctor who has ever helped an LGBTQ+ kid. There's this realization that the world is constricting around us, and that any moment they could be coming for us.' Some families hope that California will fight back, but are wary of how committed the governor, Gavin Newsom, really is. Newsom faced widespread backlash in March when he hosted a podcast with a conservative activist and said he agreed with the suggestion that trans girls participating in sports was 'deeply unfair'. California's department of justice, meanwhile, has repeatedly emphasized that when institutions withhold gender-affirming care for trans youth, they are violating the state's anti-discrimination laws. A spokesperson for Rob Bonta, the state's attorney general, said Trump was 'seeking to scare doctors and hospitals from providing nondiscriminatory healthcare': 'The bottom line is: this care remains legal in California … While we are concerned with the recent decisions by CHLA, right now we are focused on getting to the source of this problem – and that's the Trump administration's unlawful and harmful threats to providers.' A CHLA spokesperson shared a copy of its staff letter, noting that Trump's threats to its funding came from at least five federal departments, and saying it was working with patients to identify alternative care and would 'explore' reassigning affected employees to other roles. A Stanford spokesperson did not answer questions about how many patients were affected by its recent changes, but said in an email it was 'committed to providing high quality, thorough and compassionate medical services for every member of our community'. Kush Desai, a White House spokesperson, said in an email that Trump has a 'resounding mandate' to end 'unproven, irreversible child mutilation procedures', adding: 'The administration is delivering.' Katie's mother said she expected the state's leaders to do more: 'The quiet from the governor and others on trans rights is very unsettling. My husband and I grew up in California, went to public schools here, and always thought we'd be safe here and that the state would hold the line. It's hard to tell right now if that's true.' Izzy Gardon, Newsom's spokesperson, defended the governor, saying in an email that his 'record supporting the trans community is unmatched'. 'Everyone wants to blame Gavin Newsom for everything. But instead of indulging in Newsom-derangement syndrome, maybe folks should look to Washington.' Affected youth are increasingly speaking out. Since the news broke, protesters have organized weekly demonstrations in front of CHLA to call for the healthcare to be restored. At one recent evening rally, organized by the LA LGBT Center, families and supporters marched and chanted outside the busy hospital on Sunset Boulevard, holding signs saying 'Trans joy is resistance' and 'blood on your hands', and at one point shouting: 'Down with erasure, down with hate, shame on CHLA!' 'We can't be quiet any more. We've been polite for too long and taken so much bullshit from people who hate us,' said Sage, who spoke at an earlier rally. 'I didn't stand up just for myself or the people affected by this, but also for the trans people who came before us who still have incorrect names on their graves, who don't have a voice.' Sage, who is now in a creative writing program, said they hoped to become a journalist. Katie, who aspires to be a television writer in LA, said she could not be silent as anti-trans advocates force families to consider fleeing: 'How dare you try to drive me out of the place where I was born, where my best friends are, where the job I want to do is, where I've experienced my whole life? This is my home.' Eli said he didn't feel as if he was being an activist. He was simply asking for the 'bare minimum': to be left alone and able to access basic healthcare. 'Trans services like hormone therapy truly saves lives,' he said. 'We just want people to be able to live their lives. I'm just asking for what is commonsense.'
Time of India
17-06-2025
- Health
- Time of India
Transgender youth clinic in Los Angeles to shut next month amid Trump funding pressures
Children's Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA), one of the nation's largest providers of gender‑affirming care, will close its Center for Transyouth Health and Development on July 22, citing loss of federal funding tied to Trump's Executive Order 14187. The order threatens to withhold Medicare and Medicaid support from providers of puberty blockers, hormones, or surgeries for individuals under 19, despite ongoing federal court injunctions. CHLA warns that without two‑thirds of its federal funding, it cannot sustain broader pediatric services. The decision has triggered widespread outcry from LGBTQ+ advocates, led by protests and legal pressure from California Attorney General Rob Bonta. Show more Show less
