In January 2025, a ban on some gender-affirming surgeries for youth went into effect in New Hampshire. In June of this year, two laws passed in New Hampshire (HB 377 and HB 712), which together effectively ban all gender-affirming care for new patients under the age of 18 in the state. Today, both bills were signed into law by Governor Kelly Ayotte.
Both bills will go into effect in January of 2026. Thankfully, the bills include a continuing care clause for current patients, but cruelly strip away any opportunity for care in New Hampshire from patients who are not able to begin care before January 1, 2026. 603 Equality and the Campaign for Southern Equality urge families with transgender youth to consult with their child’s physician as soon as possible about care plans. The Trans Youth Emergency Project is here to provide support to families of trans youth in New Hampshire in this difficult climate.
In response, 603 Equality and the Campaign for Southern Equality (CSE) announced that the Trans Youth Emergency Project (TYEP) will expand into New Hampshire, providing financial and logistical support to families of transgender youth impacted by New Hampshire’s ban on gender-affirming care.
The Trans Youth Emergency Project provides 1-on-1 patient navigation services to help families of transgender youth identify a gender-affirming care provider in an access state (where care is legal), and offers families impacted by state bans on gender-affirming care travel grants of $500, renewable four times per year, to help them travel out-of-state for care. Since launching the Trans Youth Emergency Project in March of 2023, the Campaign for Southern Equality has distributed more than $900,000 to help families of transgender youth continue to access healthcare. It is the only project of its scale and scope in the country, serving families in every state that has passed a ban on gender-affirming care and families in access states losing care due to clinic closures. The project works in close partnership with state organizations to provide families of transgender youth with resources. Click here to view all partners.
New Hampshire’s total ban on gender-affirming care for youth is a part of a larger, nationwide effort to restrict this healthcare. Since 2021, 28 states across the country have passed legislation restricting or banning gender-affirming healthcare for transgender youth. (Click here for a nationwide map of where bans have passed and where they are in effect or on hold pending litigation.) In June of 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld gender-affirming care bans impacting trans youth in United States v. Skrmetti, a challenge to Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care. With this decision, gender-affirming care bans will remain in place for the foreseeable future – a devastating blow to the families who have been forced to travel extreme distances to access this medically necessary care. Additionally, an Executive Order from the Trump Administration has recently contributed to the closure of gender-affirming care clinics in access states across the country, further limiting healthcare options for families of transgender youth. As a result of these political attacks on gender-affirming healthcare, many families have been forced to make challenging decisions about how to support their children who depend on this care that is now prohibited or inaccessible. The Trans Youth Emergency Project is a resource for New Hampshire families who are now making these tough decisions.
Linds Jakows (they/them pronouns), Founder of 603 Equality said today:
“My heart is breaking today for transgender young people who are not only tangibly losing access to life-saving healthcare – but also receiving a disturbing message of rejection from their state government. To youth impacted by these bills, please know: You are loved, you are worthy of respect and dignity, and there is a community here in New Hampshire and beyond that is ready to support you.”
Van Bailey (they/them pronouns), Family Resources Manager at the Campaign for Southern Equality and a patient navigator for the Trans Youth Emergency Project, added:
“Every day I speak with families of 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.”
A surge of anti-transgender legislation like this has passed all over the country in the past two years; until 2021, no state had laws that banned transgender youth from accessing this healthcare. A map of the current landscape is available here.
