Today The 19th reported that the Biden Administration issued a statement opposing gender-affirming surgical care for transgender minors. A White House spokesperson said: “These are deeply personal decisions and we believe these surgeries should be limited to adults. We continue to support gender-affirming care for minors like mental health care and respect the role of parents, families, and doctors in these decisions.”
Allison Scott of the Campaign for Southern Equality said today:
“This is a cowardly statement from an Administration that promised to support transgender people. It is a troubling concession to the right-wing assault on transgender Americans, falling for their false narratives about surgical care and betraying a commitment to equality and trust in the medical community.”
“Let’s be very, very clear: Government has no business inserting itself into private medical decisions that should be exclusively between patients, their providers, and the patients’ parent or guardian. It is dangerous to begin endorsing categorical bans or limits on healthcare, and there is no justification for restricting transgender youth’s access to the very same care that many cisgender youth receive every year – that’s literally the definition of discrimination. We demand the Biden Administration retract this thoughtless statement and work to undo its damage.”
The 19th’s Orion Rummler wrote today: “Of the surgeries that a small number of trans adolescents undergo after receiving years of medical care, top surgery — or male chest reconstruction — is the most common. At some gender clinics, that is the only surgery ever considered for a trans minor. However, misinformation spread by opponents of gender-affirming care portrays genital surgery as a common procedure done on trans youth. Such a procedure being done on trans minors is exceedingly rare.”
The administration’s statement comes just a week after the U.S. Supreme Court granted review in a case the Biden Administration itself intervened in, to combat Tennessee’s anti-transgender healthcare ban. The case will undoubtedly increase the relentless spotlight that transgender youth have received over the past two years, as state legislatures have introduced hundreds of bills targeting their rights.
Since 2021, 25 states have passed laws banning or restricting transgender youth from accessing gender-affirming care. An estimated 38% of transgender youth in the United States – and 93% of trans youth in Southern states – live in a state that has passed a ban. Click here for a map of where bans have passed and where they are in effect or on hold pending litigation.
Since March 2023, the Campaign for Southern Equality has supported families of transgender youth through the Southern Trans Youth Emergency Project (STYEP), which serves as a resource center for families, helping them access out-of-state healthcare options so their child can continue to receive uninterrupted care, and providing emergency grants of $500 to defray the financial burdens resulting from these bans. Since the launch of the project, CSE has distributed more than $500,000 in direct emergency grants to nearly 1,000 families and individuals across fifteen states. STYEP is currently serving 83% of transgender youth nationwide who live in a state with a ban. The organization proudly collaborates with partner organizations in every state.
