SF LGBT
fromAdvocate.com
4 hours agoAdvocate newsletter 3/19/26
California families are suing Rady Children's Health for discriminating against transgender youth by halting care that remains legal in the state.
To be clear, the issue is not whether Aetna's policy exclusion prohibits this type of gender-affirming care, but rather that Aetna's policy exclusion prohibits only transgender individuals, the only individuals who can experience gender dysphoria, from receiving this type of gender-affirming care. Thus, when Aetna decided that facial gender-affirming procedures 'performed as a component of a gender transition [were] not medically necessary,' it effectively excluded only transgender individuals from coverage.
Parents and grandparents of trans youth, plus their therapists and medical providers, are fed up after years of health care bans and hostile rhetoric. Those feelings are driving them to do things they've never done before - like plan to get arrested at a protest.
We at Gender Plus are dismayed by NHS England's decision to stop new prescriptions of gender-affirming hormones (GAH) to under-18s. At Gender Plus Hormone Clinic (GPHC) - the only CQC Outstanding registered provider of care to transgender people from the age of 16 - we prescribe these medications where indicated following a rigorous process, in line with international best practice and guidance.
Trump claimed that the bill will achieve "NO MEN IN WOMEN'S SPORTS" AND "NO TRANSGENDER MUTILATION SURGERY FOR CHILDREN WITHOUT THE EXPRESS WRITTEN APPROVAL OF PARENTS." She shared an image of a post from Trump demanding Congress pass the SAVE Act, a voter ID bill that has nothing to do with access to transgender health care.
I'm a pub cook. I don't make a lot of money. And I can't do insurance through my spouse - so Medicaid it is. I just want a doctor to help guide me with a medical thing. How is it crazy to want that?
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) voted against a $1.2 trillion 5-bill minibus to reopen the government after a nearly four-day partial shutdown. Boebert said the minibus included $1.3 billion for "child transgender surgeries." The minibus package, which also included a continuing resolution to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) until February 13, narrowly passed the U.S. House in a 217-214 vote. Trump signed it into law on February 3.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth joined forces with one of social media's most vitriolic anti-trans campaigners last week to drum a Navy Commander out of the service over her support for transgender healthcare. It was a one-two punch from Hegseth in service of the president's crusade against "woke" ideology and transgender people in the federal government and American society at large.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) unveiled a series of proposals Thursday that would increase restrictions on care for transgender Americans, including puberty blockers, surgeries, and hormone therapy. Beyond these regulations, HHS said it would cut off federal Medicaid funding to hospitals that provide gender-affirming care to transgender children aged 18 and under. In a statement Thursday, Campbell harshly criticized the proposed rules, which would also exclude people with gender identity disorders from certain discrimination protections surrounding HHS-funded programs.
They would rather have us focus in and debate a misunderstood and vulnerable one percent of the population instead of focusing in on the fact that they are raiding everyone's healthcare in order to pay for tax breaks for the wealthiest one percent. All Republican politicians care about is making the rich richer and attacking trans people. They are obsessed with trans people. I actually think they think more about trans people than trans people think about trans people. They are consumed with this.
Queensland's controversial ban on puberty blockers and other hormone therapies is unlawful because of a failure to properly consult health executives on a decision affected by political interference, a court has heard. The supreme court in Brisbane on Wednesday heard the ban should be overturned as part of a legal challenge launched by the mother of a transgender child. The mother cannot be identified for legal reasons.
Earlier this week, President Donald Trump and his celebrity health ministers Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Dr. Oz held a press conference to announce an evidence-free claim that pregnant women taking acetaminophen causes autism in children. Trump's rambling speech provided no evidence other than his repeated assertions that pregnant women should not take the painkiller commonly sold under the brand name Tylenol.
They are threatening to shut down the Government of the United States unless they can have over $1 Trillion Dollars in new spending to continue free healthcare for Illegal Aliens (A monumental cost!), force Taxpayers to fund Transgender surgery for minors, have dead people on the Medicaid roles, allow Illegal Alien Criminals to steal Billions of Dollars in American Taxpayer Benefits,
The indictment, unsealed Monday in U.S, District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, arose from an inquiry into whether lawyers were "judge-shopping" - looking for sympathetic judges - in a case challenging Alabama's ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth. On May 20, 2022, three federal judges in Alabama questioned Charles, asking if he had called any judge's chambers about the assignment of the case, according to the indictment. Charles said he had not. But he "later amended his answers to state he actually called a judge's clerk," Reuters reports. "He apologized for his earlier response."
In recent months, a growing number of hospitals in blue states have shuttered their gender-affirming care programs for transgender youth and young adults up to 19 - not because of flaws in the care itself, which they have provided to thousands of patients without issue, but because of threats from the Trump administration. Rather than stand up to those threats and risk losing federal funding, these hospitals have chosen to abandon their transgender patients - an act many parents describe as outright capitulation, and one that likely violates state nondiscrimination laws.
NHS England has proposed a cautious and holistic approach to diagnosing gender dysphoria in services for transgender youngsters, following the recommendations of the Cass Report.
The belief that all children deserve the opportunity to live, grow and thrive with love and support is foundational to who we are and what we do.
House Republicans voted narrowly to pass a domestic policy package that, among other provisions, includes a last-minute measure prohibiting federal funding for necessary health care for transgender individuals.