Fifteen state attorneys general, all Democrats, have issued a statement reaffirming their commitment to protecting gender-affirming care for transgender people despite Donald Trump’s executive order.
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“As state attorneys general, we stand firmly in support of health care policies that respect the dignity and rights of all people,” the statement reads. “Health care decisions should be made by patients, families, and doctors, not by a politician trying to use his power to restrict your freedoms. Gender-affirming care is essential, life-saving medical treatment that supports individuals in living as their authentic selves.
“The Trump Administration’s recent Executive Order is wrong on the science and the law. Despite what the Trump Administration has suggested, there is no connection between ‘female genital mutilation’ and gender-affirming care, and no federal law makes gender-affirming care unlawful. President Trump cannot change that by Executive Order.
“Last week, attorneys general secured a critical win from a federal court that directed the federal government to resume funding that had been frozen by the Trump Administration. In response to the Court’s Order, the Department of Justice has sent a notice stating that ‘federal agencies cannot pause, freeze, impede, block, cancel, or terminate any awards or obligations on the basis of the [Office of Management and Budget] memo, or on the basis of the President’s recently issued Executive Orders.’ This means that federal funding to institutions that provide gender-affirming care continues to be available, irrespective of President Trump’s recent Executive Order. If the federal administration takes additional action to impede this critical funding, we will not hesitate to take further legal action.
“State attorneys general will continue to enforce state laws that provide access to gender-affirming care, in states where such enforcement authority exists, and we will challenge any unlawful effort by the Trump Administration to restrict access to it in our jurisdictions.”
The statement was endorsed by the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin.
Trump has sought to restrict the rights of trans Americans through several executive orders since he took office January 20. In addition to seeking to ban federal funding for gender-affirming care, these include orders designed to reinstate the ban on trans people in the military, to keep schools from affirming trans students, and to bar trans girls and women from competing on female sports teams. But executive orders alone can’t change the law. The policies have to be implemented by federal agencies and in some cases by legislation passed in Congress.
Trans Americans and LGBTQ+ organizations, represented by Lambda Legal, the American Civil Liberties Union, and others, filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday aimed at stopping any ban on gender-affirming care. And two judges have blocked the freeze on federal funding while legal action proceeds.
