Statement from The TransLatin@ Coalition on Federal Efforts to Restrict Gender-Affirming Care for Minors

The TransLatin@ Coalition strongly condemns the recent announcement by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to restrict access to gender-affirming care for transgender and gender-expansive youth, as well as the recent bill HR 3492 that was passed by the House and outlines efforts to criminalize providers and families that support a youth’s decision to seek gender affriming care. These actions represent a dangerous and politically motivated attack on the health, dignity, and autonomy of young people and their families, not evidence-based public health policy.

Gender-affirming care is recognized by leading medical and public health organizations as essential, often life-saving care. Framing this care as “malpractice” ignores decades of clinical practice, medical consensus, and the lived realities of transgender youth—particularly those who are low-income, immigrant, Black, Indigenous, and Latinx—who already face immense barriers to accessing culturally competent healthcare.

Threatening hospitals with exclusion from Medicare and Medicaid is an unprecedented escalation that will not only harm transgender youth, but destabilize entire healthcare systems, putting millions of patients at risk. Efforts to eliminate federal protections for gender dysphoria and restrict access to medically necessary care will further isolate vulnerable young people and exacerbate already alarming rates of depression, anxiety, and suicide among transgender youth.

At The TransLatin@ Coalition, we know that denying care does not protect young people—it endangers them. These policies are part of a broader pattern of scapegoating transgender people to distract from real failures to expand healthcare access, lower costs, and address systemic inequities. Our communities deserve compassion, care, and evidence-based policy—not fearmongering and political posturing.

We stand in solidarity with transgender youth, their families, healthcare providers, and advocates across the country. We will continue to fight, organize, and advocate to ensure that all people—regardless of gender identity—can access the care they need to live safe, healthy, and authentic lives.