Promising that Connecticut will be a “firewall” for transgender youth, state Attorney General William Tong joined a multistate lawsuit against the Trump Administration, accusing it of illegally intimidating healthcare providers into stopping gender-affirming care for youth.
Families of many transgender children argue that care is vital and, often, lifesaving.
“It is the law of the land here in Connecticut that you cannot discriminate against people in the providing of healthcare, including gender-affirming care,” said Tong. “And it is the law of the state of Connecticut that providers should provide gender-affirming care when medically necessary.”
Under federal pressure, Connecticut Children’s and Yale New Haven Health recently announced plans to close their gender-affirming care programs for youth.
Families and advocates believe the effort to intimidate is working. Appearing with Tong at a Hartford press conference, Heather Page of Bethel, who has a transgender daughter, accused Yale New Haven of acting out of fear of losing federal funds rather than patient well-being.
“Yale New Haven's decision to cease medical treatment (gender-affirming care for youth) sends a message that people like my daughter and transgender people do not deserve the same standard of care and support as others,” said Page. “It sends a message that they don't matter, and that they aren't worth fighting for."
Tong and the states say Trump is effectively trying to impose a ban on the practice, which is not banned by federal law. They also say the federal government has no authority over the states in this area.
“Trans people are loved here in Connecticut,” said Tong. “It is the policy and the law of the state of Connecticut to respect, honor and protect trans people and healthcare.”
Gender-affirming care includes a range of medical and mental health services to support a person’s gender identity, including when it’s different from the sex they were assigned at birth. It includes counseling and treatment with medications that block puberty, and hormone therapy to produce physical changes, as well as surgery, which is rare for minors.
Page is also adamant that the federal government has no role in families’ personal healthcare choices:
“These very personal care decisions belong with the families, their children and their doctors, not the federal government. The injustice of this situation is heavy, and the consequences of this situation are grave.”
In a statement issued Friday evening, a Yale New Haven Health spokesperson said, “Yale Medicine and Yale New Haven Hospital have been carefully monitoring federal executive orders and administrative actions relating to gender-affirming care for patients under age 19. Following Attorney General Tong’s announcement today, we will track further developments as they emerge and will continue to support our patients and our clinicians as we navigate this evolving and challenging landscape.”
On many unilateral policy decisions made by the Trump Administration, Connecticut and other states with Democratic attorneys general have taken an aggressive stance, accusing the administration of acting unconstitutionally and/or illegally. Tong’s office says Connecticut is now part of 29 active lawsuits against the administration.
Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.