An executive order by President Trump to ban gender-affirming care for those under 19 nationwide has prompted many providers to outright end services for young transgender people.
Waving a transgender pride flag, Diego Vasquez stood outside Kaiser Permanente’s Los Angeles hospital at a solidarity march for trans youth, shouting “trans lives matter.” He has received gender-affirming care treatments since age 22 and only regrets not being able to access care earlier.
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“If I had this when I was younger, I might have had a better shot at life,” said Vasquez, who is trans. Gender-affirming care “gives (youth) the will to live,” he added.
Vasquez joined a small crowd of protesters gathered on Thursday, Aug. 7, in front of Kaiser’s Los Angeles Medical Center along Sunset Boulevard, condemning the massive health provider’s recent announcement that it will halt gender-affirming surgeries for patients under age 19, due to the threat of federal funding cuts. The pause is effective Aug. 29.
Kaiser Permanente’s move follows similar closures to transgender care services offered at Stanford Medicine and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, which closed its health clinic for younger transgender patients in July.
Gender-affirming health care, as defined by the World Health Organization, encompasses the social, psychological, or medical care — including age-dependent surgeries, which are being paused for young Kaiser patients, or hormonal treatments — to support a person’s gender identity. Opponents worry this type of care is too young for children who do not know the full consequences of sometimes permanent changes to their bodies. Some opponents, including President Donald Trump, called it “mutilation.”
California law prohibits the denial of services to a person because they are transgender. Though the state has protective health care laws that extend to youth, the threat of federal funding cuts, after an executive order by President Trump to ban gender-affirming care for those under 19 nationwide, has prompted many providers to outright end services for young transgender people.
In the January executive order, the president called science-backed, medically supported gender-affirming care methods “junk science” and “chemical and surgical mutilation,” and said restricting them is a way to protect children. He also signed an order defining the sexes as “male and female.”
“Across the country, medical professionals are maiming and sterilizing a growing number of impressionable children under the radical and false claim that adults can change a child’s sex through a series of irreversible medical interventions,” Trump said in the order. “This dangerous trend will be a stain on our nation’s history, and it must end.”
In July, at least eight major hospitals and hospital systems based in states where gender-affirming care is legal announced they were ending or restricting gender-affirming treatment for ages 19 and under. Recently, as part of its funding freeze to UCLA, the Trump administration proposed that the school’s hospital and medical school end gender-affirming services, and in return, funds would be restored, CNN reported.
In late July, California Attorney General Ron Bonta — along with attorney general peers from 15 other states and Washington, D.C. — sued the Trump administration, accusing it of unlawfully intimidating health care providers into stopping gender-affirming care for trans youth.
Earlier in the summer, the Supreme Court upheld a ban on gender-affirming care for minors in Tennessee, which advocates called a setback to transgender rights. At least 25 states have laws similar to Tennessee’s.
Kaiser Permanente, the state’s largest health care provider, roughly covers one in four Californians and 4.9 million patients in Southern California, officials said. The massive health care system includes 16 hospitals, 197 medical offices, and a comprehensive network of providers throughout greater Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
A July 31 statement from Kaiser cited ongoing pressures hospitals face regarding health care, since Trump took office in January.
“This has included executive orders instructing federal agencies to take actions to curtail access and restrict funding for gender-affirming care, hospital inquiries by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and regulatory changes to coverage and broader federal agency review, including by the Federal Trade Commission,” the statement read.
It noted that the U.S. Department of Justice issued subpoenas to doctors and clinics providing gender-affirming care to transgender minors, as part of ongoing federal investigations.
According to Kaiser, these executive moves have led Kaiser to make the “difficult decision” to pause surgical treatment for those under 19, “after significant deliberation and consultation with internal and external experts, including our physicians,” the statement said.
The pause, starting Aug. 29, will not affect other gender-affirming care at Kaiser.
The major health network provides services to members, including hormone therapy, mental health resources, surgical evaluations and procedures, according to its website. In 2024, Kaiser Permanente hospitals were recognized by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation as a leader in LGBTQ+ health care, earning the highest possible score on its Healthcare Equity Index, a tool evaluating facilities on equitable practices related to LGBTQ+ patients, visitors and employees.
