The TransLatin@ Coalition joins LGBTQ+, Health Care, and Civil Rights Organizations Call for $26 Million Investment to Protect Transgender Health Care in California
LOS ANGELES, CA — The TransLatin@ Coalition (TLC), alongside a statewide coalition of LGBTQ+, health care, immigrant justice, and civil rights organizations, is calling on California state leaders to approve a $26 million one-time General Fund investment to protect access to medically necessary health care for transgender, gender-expansive, and intersex (TGI) Californians.
While California law clearly protects access to gender-affirming health care, escalating federal attacks are creating dangerous instability in the health care system — placing transgender people, and especially transgender youth, at heightened risk.
Recent proposals from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) threaten to block federal Medicaid and CHIP funding for transition-related care for TGI youth and penalize hospitals that provide this care by limiting participation in Medicare or Medicaid. Even though these federal rules have not yet been finalized, the damage is already happening: providers are retreating, families are being forced into crisis, and transgender patients are being pushed out of care that is medically necessary and legally protected.
California is home to the largest transgender population in the United States, including an estimated 263,700 transgender adults and 84,600 transgender youth. Yet major hospitals — including Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Rady Children’s Hospital, and Children’s Hospital of Orange County — have already moved to stop providing transition-related care for transgender youth. These decisions have disrupted care for thousands of patients, leaving families scrambling for options and forcing many to travel long distances or go without treatment entirely.
For TransLatinx communities, this crisis is compounded by structural barriers — including poverty, lack of insurance coverage, language access gaps, immigration-related fears, and medical discrimination.
Although California Attorney General Rob Bonta has taken legal action to defend access to care, advocates stress that additional state leadership is urgently needed to stabilize the provider network and ensure patients do not lose access to life-saving health care.
The coalition’s proposal would:
Establish a state-only Medi-Cal funding pathway to ensure providers can continue delivering legally protected transgender health care if federal funding is restricted or cut off.
Provide targeted grants to stabilize and rebuild the provider network, especially for youth, and offset rising uncompensated care costs as providers face political pressure and financial uncertainty.
This $26 million request represents a modest but strategic investment compared to the scale of California’s overall budget. It also reflects the state’s past commitment to stabilizing essential services during periods of federal disruption.
Without immediate state action, hospitals and providers will continue withdrawing from care, forcing families into impossible situations and deepening inequities across the state. This investment would provide immediate stability, safeguard continuity of care, and reaffirm California’s promise that transgender people — including transgender youth — deserve equal protection under the law.
This proposal is about protecting patients, stabilizing providers, and ensuring California’s legal protections are not just words on paper — but real, enforceable rights that families can rely on.
Coalition leaders emphasized:
“In these critical and deeply challenging moments for two-spirit, trans, gender-expansive, and intersex (2TGI) people, silence is not neutrality — it is complicity. Our community is facing coordinated attacks that threaten our safety, dignity, and fundamental right to exist authentically. The most vulnerable among us, especially young 2TGI people, are being targeted through harmful policies that restrict access to essential health care and support. We call on all state elected officials to stand unequivocally in solidarity with 2TGI communities and allocate the 26 million we are requesting. Protecting access to comprehensive, affirming health services is not political — it is a matter of human rights, public health, and basic decency. Leadership requires courage, and this is the moment to demonstrate it. The time to act is now. Our lives, our futures, and our humanity depend on it.”
— Bamby Salcedo, President/CEO The TransLatin@ Coalition
“Transgender health care remains legal and medically necessary in California, and our state has a responsibility to ensure those protections are real in practice. When communities face targeted federal attacks, California has stepped up before to protect access to care and uphold our values. This is no different. The Governor and Legislature should act to stabilize providers, protect patients, and ensure transgender youth and their families are not left without options.”
— Tony Hoang, Executive Director of Equality California
“By establishing a firm foundation to protect gender-affirming care for our transgender youth, we are sending a clear message to the rest of the nation: in California, civil rights and healthcare are inseparable. Our commitment to these protections reinforces our role as a national leader in health equity. We believe that ‘healthcare for all’ is not a hollow slogan—it is a promise that must include all Californians, regardless of their gender identity.”
— Dannie Ceseña, Director, California LGBTQ Health and Human Services Network
“At TransFamily Support Services, we are already working with families whose children’s care has been abruptly disrupted by hospital closures. Parents are scrambling, youth are frightened, and many feel completely devastated after losing providers they trusted with their lives. The harm is not hypothetical — it is happening right now. California has been clear that it will protect transgender youth and uphold access to medically necessary care. This is the moment for our state leaders to step up and ensure those promises are backed by real funding and real stability. Families cannot endure more uncertainty.”
— Kathie Moehlig, Executive Director, TransFamily Support Services
“We urge the Governor and Legislature to step up and stabilize critical healthcare for trans youth in the face of harmful federal cuts. Gender-affirming care is essential, lifesaving care that patients and families rely on. California lawmakers must act to fill the stop-gap and ensure continuity of care for our trans youth and their families and communities.”
— JM Jaffe, Executive Director, Lyon-Martin Community Health Services
“California has long been a national leader in protecting transgender people’s right to medically necessary health care. But the current wave of federal attacks is creating real and immediate harm here on the ground. We’re already seeing providers pull back and families pushed into crisis, despite clear protections under state law. This targeted $26 million investment would provide critical stability for patients and providers, safeguard continuity of care for transgender youth, and reaffirm California’s commitment to equal treatment and evidence-based medicine. Without swift state action, access will continue to erode — and lives will be put at risk.”
— Joe Hollendoner, CEO, Los Angeles LGBT Center
“California has long recognized what medical experts and communities already know: gender-affirming care is essential health care. Transgender, gender-diverse, and intersex people deserve to access medically necessary care without fear, disruption, or discrimination. Medicaid is a lifeline for low-income people across California, including many in the LGBTQI+ community who already face barriers to coverage and care. When federal actions create instability and push providers out of the system, it is low-income people who are hit first and hardest. A one-time General Fund investment to stabilize providers and ensure continuity of Medi-Cal coverage is a critical step to protect access, uphold California’s nondiscrimination laws, and make sure people can get the care they need to stay healthy and thrive.”
— Abbi Coursolle, Senior Attorney, National Health Law Program
“Gender-affirming care is medically necessary, patient-centered, and legally protected in California. Now is the time for California to protect access, advance health equity, and support better outcomes for patients and communities because when funding is threatened, patients’ health and safety are at risk.”
— Francisco J. Silva, Esq., President & CEO, CPCA Advocates
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Founded in 2009, the TransLatin@ Coalition (TLC) began as a grassroots movement led by Trans Latin@ immigrants in Los Angeles. Recognizing the urgent needs of Two-Spirit, transgender, gender expansive, and intersex (2TGI) Latin@ immigrants, TLC created a space for advocacy, empowerment, and direct support. Today, TLC is a nationally recognized organization with representation in 10 states, serving all 2TGI communities. In addition to advocating for systemic change, TLC provides direct services through its Center for Violence Prevention and Transgender Wellness, established in 2015 to address structural, institutional, and interpersonal violence affecting the 2TGI community. Supported by state, local, and private funding, TLC continues expanding services across Los Angeles County, with a mission to break down barriers and ensure all 2TGI individuals have access to the resources they need to thrive.
