Washington’s State Attorney General Nick Brown announced today that he has filed a multi-state lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s executive order to ban federal support of transgender medical care for people under the age of 19.
Brown, along with three doctors and the Attorneys General from Oregon and Minnesota, seek to block the federal agencies from acting on this “illegal” and “unconstitutional” order.
“But having read this order very, very closely, I need to say something more,” he said. “This president’s order is gross. It is disgusting. It is hateful. We will always take action against the illegal conduct, but this one has special resonance … It promotes harassment and discrimination for people who are already marginalized. It risks their literal health and safety and that of their providers.”
At a press conference Friday, AG Brown said the doctors who’ve joined this suit could not join him at the podium today because they feared being targeted. AG Brown told The Stranger the temporary restraining order was being filed as “we spoke,” and could theoretically come before a judge today.
The complaint, filed in the US District Court of Western Washington this morning, argues that the order’s threat to withhold federal funds and grants from any state Medicaid program, research institution, or hospital that offers gender-affirming care for patients under 19 violates the 5th Amendment’s equal protection guarantee by singling out transgender people, the 10th Amendment for criminalizing medical practices in Washington State, and the separation of powers. Additionally, Congress has already authorized research and education funding for medical institutions in Washington State. The complaint argues Trump can’t unilaterally overrule its intent.
Trump signed the order on January 28th. As we wrote last week, the order equates evidence-based gender health care with “chemical castration” and mutilation. Gender-related surgery is like any other performed by a qualified medical professional, and unlike the order implies, many trans people are capable of having children after transition (remember the pregnant man on Oprah? It’s very possible). Gender-affirming care is supported by all major medical organizations, including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, and it is not true that hormone replacement therapy guarantees permanent or even temporary sterility.
Luna Crone-Baron, a 19 year old transgender woman and student at University of Washington who spoke at the press conference, said she is living a wonderful life today because of her loving family and the decisions of her healthcare providers. As a child, the feeling she would not be able to grow up into a body or future that felt true. This feeling of hopelessness was a constant weight on her as a child, to the extent that she often felt she would rather die than go through male puberty. It was important that the public understood the magnitude of the order, she said. In short, gender-affirming care saved her life.
“This order will kill trans children,” she said. “That is the gravity of it. That is what I believe is the intent of the order.”
On Monday, Seattle Children’s indefinitely postponed at least one trans teenager’s masculinizing top surgery hours before it was scheduled, and quietly removed references to gender-affirming surgery on its website. It’s unclear what the hospital’s policy is now, or if it will restrict puberty blockers and hormone replacement therapy, too. In a statement to The Stranger, Seattle Children’s said that the hospital is supporting AG Brown’s pursuit of a temporary restraining order.
“Given the uncertainty surrounding the orders legal authority, we are seeking clarity to safeguard the best interests of Seattle Children’s patients and families, and our workforce, so we can continue to deliver on our mission. We remain committed to caring for our patients and families who need us and engaging in life changing research, while ensuring we operate within all applicable laws,” the hospital says.
Hospitals in Colorado, Virginia, and Washington DC have paused gender-affirming care for patients under 19. Shortly after NYU Langone in New York City did the same, the state’s Attorney General Letitia James warned hospitals that pausing or restricting care would violate state anti-discrimination laws. It’s unclear if hospitals in states without state restrictions or bans on gender-affirming care need to comply.
Executive orders are not self-enforcing. They direct federal agencies to act. The Department of Health and Human Services has not published a rule, or even discussed rulemaking and public comment. Brown said during the press conference that his office felt this suit will still be necessary to provide hospitals and individual doctors.
If people under 19 do lose access to puberty blockers and hormones at hospitals anxious about federal funding, that order doesn’t prevent them from getting treatment at clinics and telehealth providers that don’t rely on federal funds. But it’s unclear if those providers could scale to meet growing demand if more institutions follow suit.
Washington’s suit isn’t the only challenge against the order. On Tuesday, PFLAG, a group for the family and friends of queer people, the LGBTQ medical advocacy group GMLA, and seven families with trans and nonbinary children sued over the same order in a Baltimore federal court.
The suit in Baltimore also challenged Trump’s order instituting the federal government’s redefinition of sex in starkly binary terms, which doesn’t account for the 5 million intersex people in the US, and other people with medical conditions that contradict its restricted view. The order eliminated the gender-neutral “X” option on US passports and disallowed gender-marker changes on all federal documents. Current applications requesting such changes are apparently frozen until Secretary of State “Little Marco” Rubio issues new guidance.
Brian Bond, CEO of PFLAG, told reporters the organization is receiving a “drumbeat of calls from parents whose kids’ care is being cancelled.” The ACLU and Lambda Legal, who are representing the plaintiffs, wrote in the court filing that this order is trying to illegally or withhold, Congressionally issued funds; and like the suit challenging Tennessee’s ban before the US Supreme Court, the plaintiffs also argue the order discriminates against trans kids because the federal government would still fund same treatments if the child is cisgender or intersex.
This is a developing story. This includes an update statement from Seattle Children’s Hospital.
About time AG. Thank you for stepping up to protect the rights of people and the institutions that serve them.
Wait, didn’t ACLU attorney Chase Strangio admit while giving arguments before SCOTUS that gender affirming care does not reduce “completed suicides” amongst minors? Wasn’t that the entire original basis for allowing gender affirming care for minors?
Is there the premise that sound medicine and policy should be influenced by potential suicide?
“This order will kill trans children,” she said. “That is the gravity of it. That is what I believe is the intent of the order.”
JUSTICE ALITO: Well, I — I don’t
regard the Cass review as — necessarily as —
as the Bible or as something that’s, you know,
true in every respect, but, on page 195 of the
Cass report, it says: There is no evidence that
gender-affirmative treatments reduce suicide.
MR. STRANGIO: What I think that is
referring to is there is no evidence in some —
in the studies that this treatment reduces
completed suicide. And the reason for that is
completed suicide, thankfully and admittedly, is
rare and we’re talking about a very small
population of individuals with studies that
don’t necessarily have completed suicides within
them.
However, there are multiple studies,
long-term, longitudinal studies that do show
that there is a reduction in — in suicidality,
which I — I — I think is a — is a positive
outcome to this treatment.
https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/2024/23-477_c07d.pdf
GAC is not the sole manner in which mental health professionals can address suicidality in patients.
If a child identifies as a Pirate and wears an Eye patch and Peg leg, does Nick believe they should get eye and leg removal surgery without parental consent?
Oh goody! SeattleLove is back.
Tell me dear, if a child is brainwashed by religion and/or “conservative values” and grows up to be a loutish adult who doesn’t know how to mind their own business, should they be lobotomized and institutionalized?
I kinda think so….
Catalina, you consistently have the best comments. I mean it, you do. You last comment, however, is a litter off. I think a struck a chord with you and I may have offended you. I am sorry.
I was simply trying to point out that if a child is brainwashed by religion, conservative, liberal, or progressive values they should wait until they are an adult to perform irreversible surgery (lobotomy included).
Once one is an adult and one wants to have an irreversible surgery, that’s their choice.
@6: If someone is “brainwashed” by any conservative or religious value, they wouldn’t say anything nearly as nasty as what you just said.
Why thank you, SeattleLove dear, but flattery only gets you so far with me (jewelry is needed for the rest 🙂 )
Comparing gender dysphoria to “wanting to be a pirate” is like saying a childhood cancer is like a scraped knee. It’s a medical condition that requires attention. OF COURSE a parent should be involved, as long as the parent isn’t cruel or irrational. Just as we would if a parent tried to “fix” their child’s medical condition through abuse, or solely through prayer.
Phoebe, your concern trolling has been duly noted. You can unclench your pearls.
@9: Yes, gender dysphoria is a pathology and transitioning is its treatment, but the lure of transitioning in our youth to quell other psychic pain is something that desperately needs lots of attention.
Catalina,
Good points, as always. I agree with you. My example was an exaggeration, but the overall point is parents should be involved with their children’s care. In the case where a parent is cruel or irrational that’s so difficult and I hope there are services in that situation. But in either case, irreversible surgeries should wait until the child is and adult
Phoebe, also a good point.
Overall, children that a struggling need help, support, and services to get them through a tough time. I hope those services are available.
Obviously, it’s a trap. They know the exec orders only last as long as the admin, but if you say sue, and then the conservative Supreme Court rules that in fact for a myriad of reasons doesn’t need the exec orders and child gac is banned under the constitution, well that just became a multi generational ban.
SeattleLove, I think the problem here is that people are buying into a variation on trump’s ridiculous statement that kids are having gender reassignment surgeries while at school.
In my experience, with my former boss are her trans daughter, it was a multi-year process that involved counseling (for her as well as her parents). Things were done in steps: cosmetically, (appearance, not surgery) puberty blockers (which are reversible) and then finally surgery once she turned 18.
And it should be noted that’s it’s hellishly expensive. I don’t know how many insurance policies cover it. I think ours did, but even at that, it involved a lot of travel (the transition was based out a a California facility). This is not something that families embark on lightly.
Catalina, you are a source of wisdom.
One expects to find extreme views at The Stranger, but you are extraordinary. I am deeply concerned that children could opt for surgeries without their parents’ consent or knowledge–this is especially true with what Jamie Pedersen is pushing in Olympia–it’s a legit concern.
Your comments are based in experience and rational facts. They add context to this complex choice with which children may be struggling. I enjoy and learn from your comments. The idea that this is a multi-year process is good to hear and I hope parents and children can work together to find what’s best. (Not Jamie Pedersen)
Thank you.
If something or anything is a legal medical procedure, the federal govt should not have any say in whether those funds will be disbursed because one group or another thinks it’s wrong. I remember Jimmy Carter doing this with Medicaid funding for abortions because of his own religious beliefs as he himself admitted as the rationale. So now Trump is doing it with these medical procedures for minors – and which are lawful. If they want to remove federal funding, it would have to be outlawed. In my view, I fully support legal and safe abortions as a matter that woman’s choice; on this other issue with minors, I question that this is legal. In Sweden you have to be 27 before you can have these TG medical procedures – and presumably because of the assumed risks. How can adults make that kind of decision for someone else’s body? You don’t know who she’ll be in 10, 12 15 years – and she may not either. You’re amputating a major of the person’s body – and it’s a perfectly healthy part. In other cases, you may be giving kids cancer later in life with all these hormones.
But — at the end of the day — it’s not my life or my body. It’s theirs. And I’m not their family or doctor – you people are. I hope this works out – for all of you.
@14 I didn’t know they didn’t need parental consent. I would think they’re not at this point doing these surgeries unless the kid’s family was really into it (which I wonder about ..) But it sounds like they’re very freely handing out these “puberty blockers.” To me, it’s basic sense health-wise that you don’t interfere with the normal course of puberty in a healthy human body. These kids are perfectly healthy the way they are.
@16 My point being that, if we didn’t live in a society that rejects TGerism, many TG people would not be feeling really badly or wanting to change their bodies. Maybe it would be more like Native American tribes that recognized “two-spirit” people. It sounds like they’re not caught up in this need or intense drive to change their bodies. They just are who they are: trans-gender.
Maybe there are more people out there than we know who like that. But they’re not altering their appearance much, if at all, even. What we’re seeing is a more minority radical fringe of transgenderism? There’s been so much intense focus on this issue in the last 4 years … and it was also used to promote the war in Ukraine.
I didn’t see anyone from the TG community speak out against the war– presumably because they didn’t want to hurt an overall goal of normalizing transgenderism in U.S. society. They wanted to see this succeed so they kept their mouths shut about the war.
But I don’t know why the military has been so interested in this subject. Maybe they’re involved in scientific research on sex change operations and procedures and whether it has positive impact on the performance of soldiers? The military doesn’t have the greatest track record on the subject of human experimentation.
Because the LGBTQ community has overwhelmingly been pro-peace. Suddenly all this militaristic pro-war Russophobic racism, waving flags from Ukrainian fascist movements – and during gay rights parades in the U.S. … like, wo – where did all this come from. Made to order and delivered as requested. Do we ever have demonstrations anymore that aren’t CIA-generated.
Apparently, Lyndon LaRouche has reincarnated as a bird. Interesting.