A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked Donald Trump’s recent executive order aimed at restricting gender-affirming healthcare for transgender people under age 19.
The ruling was a victory for trans and non-binary youth and their families who filed a lawsuit after their healthcare was abruptly canceled due to the president’s order. Trump’s policy, one of a slew of anti-LGBTQ+ orders during his first month in office, dictated that federal funding should be revoked from hospitals and clinics that provide gender-affirming care to youth under the age of 19.
The order targeted hormone therapy and puberty blockers, which are considered vital for trans patients prescribed these treatments.
Even in blue states with laws defending trans rights and youth access to gender-affirming care, some institutions immediately paused treatment, including in New York, Colorado, Virginia, California and Washington DC.
Judge Brendan Hurson, who was nominated by Biden, granted the plaintiffs’ request for a temporary restraining order following a hearing in federal court in Baltimore. The ruling, in effect for 14 days, essentially puts Trump’s directive on hold while the case proceeds. The restraining order could also be extended.
Trump’s order “seems to deny that this population even exists, or deserves to exist”, Hurson said. The suit was brought by civil rights groups Lambda Legal and the ACLU and was also filed on behalf of national groups representing families of LGBTQ+ youth and medical providers dedicated to trans health equity.
“Good and decent parents of transgender kids should never be in the frightening position of having their child’s prescribed, medically necessary care canceled at the whim and threat of a politician,” said Brian K Bond, CEO of Pflag National, one of the LGBTQ+ group plaintiffs, in a statement on Thursday. “Today’s decision rights a grievous wrong to our nation’s families and children, and Pflag families will be vigilant to ensure our transgender loved ones receive the healthcare they need – as this legal ruling demands.”
It was not immediately clear if the institutions that had paused treatment would reverse course.
Only a small fraction of youth in the US are trans and access gender-affirming care, but the treatments are considered the standards of the care endorsed by all US medical associations. The care has been linked to improved mental health and reduced suicidality.
The lawsuit included the accounts of families who were due to start treatment after a long process of fighting to access care. One family had moved from their home state of Tennessee after lawmakers there had banned gender-affirming care and was due to access treatment in Virginia, but was blocked by Trump’s order.
Lawyers for the families argued that the order and denials of care were unconstitutional and discriminatory and violated parental rights. The policy allows for cisgender children to continue to receive the same treatments that are denied to trans youth; doctors could still prescribe testosterone to cis boys with delayed puberty, but could not offer the same medications to trans boys to affirm their gender, for example.
The suit also argued that Trump cannot withhold federal funds previously authorized by Congress.
“I hope these institutions can immediately go back to providing this care that is necessary and life saving,” said one mental healthcare provider who treats trans youth at an institution that paused treatments in response to the order. They requested anonymity as they were not authorized by their employer to speak out.
This provider said their trans patients were reeling from the order and interruption of care: “Every day, I talk with children who want to know why people hate them and are going out of their way to harm them … They genuinely don’t know how to keep surviving with the idea that they might never be able to be themselves in a way that feels safe. Every day I talk to parents who are sobbing in anguish, because they can’t get their children life-saving medical care anymore.”
Trump has been aggressively rolling back trans rights, which the Biden administration had sought to expand. Throughout his campaign and since he returned to the White House, Trump has repeatedly spread misinformation about trans youth and their healthcare, falsely claiming that youth were secretly getting gender-affirming surgeries through their schools.
Shortly after taking office, Trump also signed an executive order directing federally run insurance programs to exclude coverage for gender-affirming care. That includes Medicaid, which covers such services in some states, and Tricare for military families. Trump’s order also called on the Department of Justice to vigorously pursue litigation and legislation to oppose this healthcare.
