{"id":256979,"date":"2025-07-11T19:39:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-11T19:39:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/256979\/"},"modified":"2025-07-11T19:39:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-11T19:39:09","slug":"trans-youth-fight-for-care-as-california-clinics-cave-to-trump-how-can-this-happen-here-us-healthcare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/256979\/","title":{"rendered":"Trans youth fight for care as California clinics cave to Trump: \u2018How can this happen here?\u2019 | US healthcare"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eli, a 16-year-old Los Angeles<\/a> student, is spending his summer juggling an internship at a natural history museum, a research project, a physics class and cheer practice \u2013 <\/strong>and getting ready to apply for college.<\/p>\n

But in recent weeks, he has been forced to handle a more urgent matter: figuring out how he is going to access vital medical treatments targeted by the Trump administration<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Last month, Eli was stunned to get an email alerting him that Children\u2019s hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) was shutting<\/a> down its Center for Transyouth Health and Development, which had provided him critical healthcare for three years. The center, which has served transgender youth for three decades, offered Eli counseling and helped him access gender-affirming hormone therapy<\/a> that he said allowed him to live as himself and flourish in school.<\/p>\n

CHLA said it was shuttering the center due to the federal government\u2019s threats to pull funding, <\/strong>part of the president\u2019s efforts to eradicate trans youth healthcare. The move has forced Eli and his mother to scramble for alternatives, taking time out of his busy summer to contact new providers and ensure he doesn\u2019t run out of medications.<\/p>\n

California became the first sanctuary state for trans youth healthcare in 2022 and has long positioned itself as having the strongest protections for LGBTQ+ children. Now, for families like Eli\u2019s, it feels like that safety is rapidly disappearing.<\/p>\n

A protester stands at a roadside waving a trans flag as people honk in solidarity at Children\u2019s Hospital LA. Photograph: Alexandra Isabella\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

\u201cI was always worried for people in conservative states and had a lot of fear for my community as a whole. But I never thought it would directly affect me in California,\u201d Eli said on a recent afternoon, seated with his mom at a Latino LGBTQ+ organization in Boyle Heights. \u201cI wish people understood they\u2019re doing so much more harm than they could possibly imagine \u2013 that so many lives will be hurt and lost and so many people torn apart.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eli is one of nearly 3,000 patients who learned on 12 June they would be abruptly losing their healthcare at CHLA, one of the largest and most prominent centers in the nation to treat trans kids. Then, on 24 June, Stanford Medicine revealed it had also paused gender-affirming surgeries for trans minors and 18-year-olds, with reports that some families had appointments suddenly canceled<\/a> and leaving other patients fearful it was the beginning of a wider crackdown on their care.<\/p>\n

Families across California told the Guardian they were exploring options to stockpile hormones, researching how to get care outside the US, growing increasingly fearful that parents could face government investigations or prosecutions, and discussing options to permanently flee the country.<\/p>\n

CHLA, in a letter to staff, said its decision to close the trans center was \u201cprofoundly difficult\u201d, but as California\u2019s largest pediatric safety net provider, it could not risk losing federal dollars, which makes up a majority of its funds and would affect hundreds of thousands of patients. Stanford said its disruption in services followed a review of \u201cdirectives from the federal government\u201d and was done to \u201cprotect both our providers and patients\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is Los Angeles \u2013 how can this be happening here?\u201d said Emily, Eli\u2019s mother, who is an educator; the Guardian is identifying them by only their first names to protect their privacy. \u201cMy parents left their Central American countries for a better life \u2013 fleeing poverty and civil war, and I cannot believe I\u2019m sitting here thinking: what would be the best country for my family to flee to, as so many immigrant families have done? I never thought I might have to leave the US to protect my son.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018This care gave me my life\u2019<\/p>\n

Katie, a 16-year-old film student who lives two hours outside Los Angeles, started going to CHLA for gender-affirming care in 2018 when she was nine. For several years, the care involved therapy and check-ins, but no direct medical interventions. Throughout that time, Katie was consistent about her identity as a girl, which CHLA providers supported.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was so meaningful and incredible for them to say: \u2018We see you for who you are, but also you can be who you are,\u2019\u201d recalled Katie, who asked to go by a pseudonym to protect her privacy. \u201cIt was like, I have a future. I\u2019ll get to have my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

In gender-affirming care<\/a>, young children may first socially transition by using new names, pronouns and clothes. When youth are persistent about their gender, doctors can consider prescribing puberty blockers, which pause puberty, and eventually hormone therapies that allow for medical transition. Trans youth surgeries are rare<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Eli, who came out as trans while in middle school during pandemic lockdowns, said it was hard to return to school when he felt so uncomfortable in his body. Photograph: Alexandra Isabella\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

The treatment has for years been considered the standard of care in the US, endorsed by major medical groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics<\/a> and the American Medical Association<\/a>, and linked<\/a> to improved mental health. In recent years, Republicans have passed bans on gender-affirming care<\/a> in more than 25 states<\/a>, and Trump has called<\/a> the treatments \u201cchemical and surgical mutilation\u201d. There has also been a growing international backlash against the care, including in the UK, which has banned<\/a> puberty blockers for trans kids.<\/p>\n

Last month, the US supreme court upheld Tennessee\u2019s ban<\/a> on gender-affirming care for trans youth. Families and civil rights groups have argued the bans are discriminatory<\/a>, as cisgender children can still receive the same treatments; cis boys with delayed puberty may be prescribed testosterone, for example, while trans boys cannot.<\/p>\n

Katie, who was eventually prescribed puberty blockers and hormones, broke down crying recounting how the care saved her. \u201cSometimes I think: What would my life be if I never got this?\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I just don\u2019t see myself here. I can\u2019t see myself at 16 if I didn\u2019t come out and transition \u2026 Losing this now would destroy my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sage Sol Pitchenik, a 16-year-old CHLA patient, who is non-binary, said the care helped them overcome debilitating depression caused by their severe gender dysphoria: \u201cEvery day, I couldn\u2019t even get up because I just didn\u2019t want to see myself, not even my reflection in the window. I was so terrified to look at my body.\u201d<\/p>\n

They compared the care to the essential treatment their twin brother had earlier received at the same institution: a liver transplant. \u201cCHLA saved my life, just like they saved my brother,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

Eli, who came out as trans while in middle school during pandemic lockdowns, said it was hard to return to school when he felt so uncomfortable in his body. At the start of high school, he avoided making friends: \u201cI\u2019m really sociable. I love talking to people and joining clubs, but I felt restricted because of how embarrassed I felt and scared of how people would react to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The testosterone therapy helped restore his confidence, he said, recounting \u201ceuphoric moments\u201d of his transition: growing facial hair, his voice deepening, staying in the boys\u2019 cabin at camp. His friends celebrated each milestone, and his mom said the positive transformation was obvious to his whole family: \u201cIt was like day and night \u2013 we are a traditional Latino Catholic family, but they were all loving and accepting, because he is such a happier kid.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eli and his mother at the Latino Equity Alliance in Los Angeles. Photograph: Alexandra Isabella\/The Guardian\u2018Treating our kids as disposable\u2019<\/p>\n

CHLA started treating trans children around 1991, and that legacy was part of its appeal for parents. \u201cIt\u2019s not just the best place in LA to get care, it\u2019s also one of the most important research centers in the country,\u201d said Jesse Thorn, a radio host who has two trans daughters receiving care there.<\/p>\n

Critics of gender-affirming care have claimed that vulnerable youth are rushed into transitioning without understanding treatment consequences, and that there is not enough research to justify the care. CHLA, Thorn said, countered those claims; families have appointments and build long-term relationships with doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists and social workers. The process is slow and methodical, and the center was engaged in extensive research on the effects of treatments, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe youth most in danger with the clinic closing are those with parents who aren\u2019t sure about this care,\u201d Thorn added. \u201cThat\u2019s a lot of parents. They\u2019re not hateful bigots. They\u2019re overwhelmed and scared, and the institution means a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since the news broke, protesters have organized weekly demonstrations in front of CHLA to call for their healthcare to be restored. Photograph: Alexandra Isabella\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

One LA parent, who requested anonymity to protect her trans son\u2019s privacy, said she knew parents who traveled from Idaho to get CHLA\u2019s care: \u201cIt really was a beacon of the entire western United States. It is a remarkable loss.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parents told the Guardian that they were putting their children on waitlists at other clinics and beginning intake processes, but remained worried for families who have public health insurance and fewer resources.<\/p>\n

Like CHLA, Stanford has long researched<\/a> and championed trans youth healthcare. The prestigious university\u2019s recent pullback on care only affects surgeries, which are much more rare than hormone therapy and puberty blockers. But families whose care has remained intact, for now, say they are on edge.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a constant feeling of not knowing what you need to prepare for,\u201d said one mom of a 17-year-old trans boy, who said her son waited six months to first be seen by Stanford. \u201cWe all understand the pressures the doctors and institutions are under. But ceding the surgeries doesn\u2019t mean the pressure will end. It\u2019s just showing us our kids are seen as disposable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parents and advocates say they fear that other institutions could follow CHLA and Stanford, particularly as the White House significantly escalates attacks in ways that go far beyond funding threats.<\/p>\n

Fears of prosecution<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s focus on California trans youth and gender-affirming care has been relentless. The president has directly attacked a 16-year-old trans track runner<\/a>, with the US justice department and federal Department of Education fighting, so far unsuccessfully<\/a>, to force the state\u2019s schools to ban trans female athletes and bar<\/a> trans girls from women\u2019s facilities. Trump has threatened<\/a> to withhold billions of dollars in education funding over a state law meant to prevent schools from forcibly outing LGBTQ+ youth to their parents.<\/p>\n

Perhaps most troubling for families and providers, the FBI has said<\/a> it is investigating providers who \u201cmutilate\u201d children \u201cunder the guise of gender-affirming care\u201d, and the DoJ said this week it had issued subpoenas to trans youth clinics<\/a> and doctors.<\/p>\n

This has led to growing fears that the US will seek to prosecute and imprison clinicians, similar to efforts by some Republican states to criminally charge abortion providers<\/a>. Many parents say they worry they could be targeted next.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s an outcry of terror,\u201d said another LA mother of a trans child. \u201cIt feels like there is a bloodlust to jail any doctor who has ever helped an LGBTQ+ kid. There\u2019s this realization that the world is constricting around us, and that any moment they could be coming for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some families hope that California will fight back, but are wary of how committed the governor, Gavin Newsom<\/a>, really is. Newsom faced widespread backlash<\/a> in March when he hosted a podcast with a conservative activist and said he agreed with the suggestion that trans girls participating in sports was \u201cdeeply unfair\u201d.<\/p>\n

California\u2019s department of justice, meanwhile, has repeatedly emphasized<\/a> that when institutions withhold gender-affirming care for trans youth, they are violating the state\u2019s anti-discrimination laws<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Rob Bonta, the state\u2019s attorney general, said Trump was \u201cseeking to scare doctors and hospitals from providing nondiscriminatory healthcare\u201d: \u201cThe bottom line is: this care remains legal in California \u2026 While we are concerned with the recent decisions by CHLA, right now we are focused on getting to the source of this problem \u2013 and that\u2019s the Trump administration\u2019s unlawful and harmful threats to providers.\u201d<\/p>\n

A CHLA spokesperson shared a copy of its staff letter, noting that Trump\u2019s threats to its funding came from at least five federal departments, and saying it was working with patients to identify alternative care and would \u201cexplore\u201d reassigning affected employees to other roles. A Stanford spokesperson did not answer questions about how many patients were affected by its recent changes, but said in an email it was \u201ccommitted to providing high quality, thorough and compassionate medical services for every member of our community\u201d.<\/p>\n

Kush Desai, a White House spokesperson, said in an email that Trump has a \u201cresounding mandate\u201d to end \u201cunproven, irreversible child mutilation procedures\u201d, adding: \u201cThe administration is delivering.\u201d<\/p>\n

Katie\u2019s mother said she expected the state\u2019s leaders to do more: \u201cThe quiet from the governor and others on trans rights is very unsettling. My husband and I grew up in California, went to public schools here, and always thought we\u2019d be safe here and that the state would hold the line. It\u2019s hard to tell right now if that\u2019s true.\u201d<\/p>\n

Izzy Gardon, Newsom\u2019s spokesperson, defended the governor, saying in an email that his \u201crecord supporting the trans community is unmatched\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone wants to blame Gavin Newsom for everything. But instead of indulging in Newsom-derangement syndrome, maybe folks should look to Washington.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018We can\u2019t be quiet\u2019<\/p>\n

Affected youth are increasingly speaking out. Since the news broke, protesters have organized weekly demonstrations in front of CHLA to call for the healthcare to be restored.<\/p>\n

At one recent evening rally, <\/strong>organized by the LA LGBT Center, families and supporters marched and chanted outside the busy hospital on Sunset Boulevard, holding signs saying \u201cTrans joy is resistance\u201d and \u201cblood on your hands\u201d, and at one point shouting: \u201cDown with erasure, down with hate, shame on CHLA!\u201d<\/p>\n

Protesters hold a handmade flag at the Children\u2019s Hospital protest. Photograph: Alexandra Isabella\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t be quiet any more. We\u2019ve been polite for too long and taken so much bullshit from people who hate us,\u201d said Sage, who spoke at an earlier rally. \u201cI didn\u2019t stand up just for myself or the people affected by this, but also for the trans people who came before us who still have incorrect names on their graves, who don\u2019t have a voice.\u201d Sage, who is now in a creative writing program, said they hoped to become a journalist.<\/p>\n

Katie, who aspires to be a television writer in LA, said she could not be silent as anti-trans advocates force families to consider fleeing: \u201cHow dare you try to drive me out of the place where I was born, where my best friends are, where the job I want to do is, where I\u2019ve experienced my whole life? This is my home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eli said he didn\u2019t feel as if he was being an activist. He was simply asking for the \u201cbare minimum\u201d: to be left alone and able to access basic healthcare. \u201cTrans services like hormone therapy truly saves lives,\u201d he said. \u201cWe just want people to be able to live their lives. I\u2019m just asking for what is commonsense.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eli, a 16-year-old Los Angeles student, is spending his summer juggling an internship at a natural history museum,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":256980,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4316],"tags":[105,4348,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-256979","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-healthcare","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256979\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}