Connecticut and New York’s attorneys general are suing the Trump administration over what they say are attacks on youth gender-affirming care.
During his inaugural address, President Donald Trump said it would be the position of the United States that there were only two genders, and that they are “not changeable.” In January, he signed an executive order to restrict federal funding for medical institutions that treat transgender kids.
Attorneys General William Tong (D) and Letitia James (D) claim the administration is imposing a de facto national ban on gender affirming care for people younger than 19 by threatening lawsuits against providers in states like Connecticut and New York, where the care for minors is legal.
“People are getting hurt right now,” Tong said. “Children are getting hurt. Right now in our jurisdictions, care is being transitioned away from them or cut off, and people are really going to suffer.”
In Connecticut, Yale New Haven Health and Connecticut Children’s Hospital recently announced they would end some transgender care for patients under 19 — after the Department of Justice issued subpoenas to health centers that offer the treatment.
Tong said he sat down with the leaders of both health care giants and expressed his disappointment over the decision.
“They are in between a rock and a hard place,” Tong said. “I know because I asked them face to face, ‘but for this aggressive, hateful action by President Trump and the Attorney General and the federal government, would you still be providing that care?’ And they said, ‘Absolutely, they are committed to that care.’”
Tong and James have sued the Trump administration around two dozen times since January.
