Today, the Campaign for Southern Equality (CSE) and Raquel Willis released a powerful animated video to share the work of CSE’s Trans Youth Emergency Project (TYEP), which provides financial and logistical support to the families of transgender youth impacted by laws prohibiting access to transition-related care for minors in 26 states. Willis, an advocate, author, and public speaker lent her voice to the video to help raise awareness of the difficulties trans youth and their families are facing as they seek medically necessary care.
The Supreme Court will consider bans on hormone therapy for transgender youth during the 2024-2025 term in the case United States v. Skrmetti, a challenge to Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care. Arguments will be heard on December 4, 2024, with a decision expected by the spring or early summer of 2025. This case could decide whether life-saving hormone therapy is accessible for trans young people nationwide.
In the meantime, families in many states with bans will be forced to travel two to four times a year to access their care. The video reminds us that regardless of how the courts rule, the Trans Youth Emergency will be here to help them navigate this complex, expensive care landscape.
The Trans Youth Emergency Project is the only project of its scale and scope supporting families of transgender youth impacted by bans on gender-affirming care. The project provides 1-on-1 custom patient navigation services and supports families of transgender youth with emergency grants of $500, renewable every six months, to help them travel out of state for care. Since launching the project in March 2023, CSE has distributed more than $600,000 in direct emergency grants to 1,100 families and individuals in close partnership with state organizations in every state with a ban. Click here to view all partners.
Since 2021, 26 states across the country have passed legislation restricting or banning access to gender-affirming healthcare for transgender youth; prior to 2020, no state had advanced a law like this. Click here for a nationwide map of where bans have passed and where they are in effect or on hold pending litigation. An estimated 38% of transgender youth nationwide – and 93% of transgender youth in the South – live in states with a ban. As a result, thousands of families have been forced to make challenging decisions about how to support their children who depend on this medical care that is now prohibited or inaccessible. Some families have permanently relocated, but many more are staying in their home state, traveling extreme distances and incurring enormous expenses.
Raquel Willis (she/her pronouns), advocate, activist, and author of The Risk It Takes to Bloom, said today:
“As we prepare for anti-transgender hostility to increase under the incoming Trump Administration, our community and allies must prepare to protect and defend trans youth and their families. It is not fair that they are being forced to travel for healthcare. The Campaign for Southern Equality’s Trans Youth Emergency Project is doing vital, life-saving work to help these children and their families continue getting this essential care. We can’t wait around for failing institutions to save us. In fact, they never have. It’s time to come together and be about that action.”
Allison Scott (she/her pronouns) of the Campaign for Southern Equality said today:
“The United States v. Skrmetti case could define what care is available to trans youth for a generation. Until every young trans person can access the care they need and deserve without leaving their hometown, the Trans Youth Emergency Project will be ready to help them navigate the logistical and financial hurdles. We hope this video helps raise awareness of the challenges trans youth are facing right now as the U.S. Supreme Court weighs this landmark case – and as we head into a year where the country will be governed by hostile, far-right lawmakers.”
Van Bailey (they/them pronouns), a patient navigator for CSE’s Trans Youth Emergency Project, added:
“Every day I speak with families of I transgender youth who are worried about the future. Many are panicking, unsure of where or when they’ll get the medicine that their child needs to continue leading a healthy, happy life. These laws are cruelly thrusting families into impossible choices, and it is deeply unfair. I’m honored that we can provide some measure of relief and support, talking families through their options and reminding them that there’s a whole community behind them, ready to pitch in and help them through this crisis.”
Families of transgender youth in any state with a ban on gender-affirming care can contact the Trans Youth Emergency Project at www.transyouthemergencyproject.org. Supporters can make a donation at www.transyouthemergencyproject.org/supporttransyouth.
