President Donald Trump on Jan. 28 signed an executive order aiming to restrict gender-affirming care for youth and some adults at the federal level, marking the latest White House-led attack on transgender rights under the new administration.
The new order, which is offensively entitled “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation,” calls to ban federal funding for gender-affirming care for individuals under the age of 19 and directs the Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary to “take all appropriate actions to end” gender-affirming care, “including regulatory and sub-regulatory actions.”
The order calls for the HHS secretary to “immediately take appropriate steps to ensure that institutions receiving Federal research or education grants end the chemical and surgical mutilation of children.” The Trump administration’s nominee for HHS secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has voiced false claims that vaccines cause autism and wrongly suggested that “there’s plenty of evidence” that HIV originated from a vaccine program. He has falsely suggested that pesticides can change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity. He said “a lot of people” say HIV is “not a virus,” but rather “environmental” and “part of the gay lifestyle” — again, complete nonsense. Kennedy does not have any medical training or qualifications.
Furthermore, the order demands federal agencies stop receiving guidance from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), which is a non-profit promoting evidence-based standards of care for transgender individuals.
It should be noted that the language used in the executive order is, like other recent executive orders, filled with transphobic lies and absurd, harmful rhetoric that is far out of step with reality. In the order, the White House refers to gender-affirming care as a “dangerous trend” that “will be a stain on our nation’s history, and it must end” — a preposterous statement.
Less than 24 hours after the order was signed, the Williams Instituate at UCLA School of Law — a top researcher of LGBTQ law and public policy — published a report outlining the potential impact of the executive order. According to the Williams Institute, the order could lead to restrictions on care for youth enrolled in Medicaid, Medicare, or other health assistance programs, as well as transgender dependents of military service members.
And, since the order extends to individuals under the age of 19, it could create complications for care at the state level: Many state laws targeting gender-affirming care are focused on individuals 17 years of age or younger, not adults, meaning there could be an impact on 18-year-olds in those states.
The executive order’s broad, national scope raises questions about the stability of gender-affirming care — even in states with health protections for transgender individuals. The New York State Health Department told Gay City News that the state will continue to uphold gender-affirming care.
“The mission of the New York State Department of Health, under the leadership of Governor Kathy Hochul, remains the same,” the state’s Health Department told Gay City News. “We will continue to promote the health and wellbeing of all New Yorkers, including the transgender community, while working to eliminate disparities.”
When asked for comment, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene directed Gay City News to contact City Hall’s main press office. The Mayor’s Office did not directly respond to a request for comment, but the office cited a previous, separate executive order preventing the use of city resources to detain individuals providing or receiving gender-affirming care. The city’s press office maintained that the federal executive order applies only to federal government actions and doesn’t supersede that executive order. However, the executive order is not directly related to the federal government’s order, which is much broader.
Earlier this month, Mayor Eric Adams — who is under federal indictment on corruption charges — said if he disagrees with Trump, he will only do so privately.
It is not clear how healthcare providers offering gender-affirming services are initially responding to the executive order, but some appear to be hesitant to speak on the record during a tumultuous time of great uncertainty. The Mount Sinai health system in New York City, which has an award-winning Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery, declined to comment for this story. NYU Langone, which also provides gender-affirming services in New York City, did not respond to a request for comment on Jan. 29.
The LGBTQ legal powerhouse Lambda Legal, which is already busy taking the Trump administration to court in response to other anti-LGBTQ executive orders, said it will take swift legal action in an effort to fight the executive order.
“This policy by the Trump administration is morally reprehensible and patently unlawful. The federal government — particularly, this administration — has no right to insert itself into conversations and decision-making that rightly belongs only to parents, their adolescent children, and their medical providers.”
The Trump administration’s attacks on LGBTQ healthcare date back to his first term when he took other actions against the community, including gutting Obamacare rules meant to protect people on the basis of gender identity. The first Trump administration also moved to give healthcare workers and institutions the ability to cite “moral” or “religious” objections in refusing to care for patients.
