Federal Judge Grants Preliminary Injunction Against Trump’s Anti-Trans Healthcare Order

Federal Judge Blocks Trump Order Targeting Medical Care for Transgender Youth

BALTIMORE (Feb. 13, 2025) – In a victory for transgender youth, their families, and their medical providers, a federal district court today issued a temporary restraining order blocking enforcement of a Trump administration executive order attempting to shut down access nationwide to gender-affirming medical care for transgender people under 19. The decision by Judge Brendan Hurson was issued from the bench with a written order to come soon.

The nationwide restraining order prohibits federal agencies from conditioning or withholding federal funding based on the fact that a healthcare entity or health professional provides gender-affirming medical care to a patient under nineteen.

“Good and decent parents of transgender kids should never be in the frightening position of having their child’s prescribed, medically necessary care canceled at the whim and threat of a politician. But that’s exactly what President Trump’s executive order did to PFLAG families with trans youth and young adults nationwide,” said Brian K. Bond (he/him), Chief Executive Officer of PFLAG National. “Today’s decision rights a grievous wrong to our nation’s families and children, and PFLAG families will be vigilant to ensure our transgender loved ones receive the healthcare they need—as this legal ruling demands.”

“Forcing providers to withhold medically-necessary, evidence-based care not only threatens patient health and well-being, but also undermines the integrity of our healthcare system in its entirety,” said Alex Sheldon (they/them), GLMA executive director. “Today’s intervention by the court underscores the cruelty and recklessness that is embedded in this order and affirms our commitment to resist the administration’s extremist agenda that targets trans and non-binary young people and privileges political ideology over medical expertise. We are hopeful that this decision is a critical step toward restoring safety, trust, and stability in our healthcare institutions.”

On Jan. 28, the president signed an executive order declaring that it is the policy of the United States not to “fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support” gender transition for people under 19, which includes 18-year-olds who are legal adults in the states where they reside. The mandates in the order specifically focus on gender-affirming medical care, including hormones and puberty blockers. The order cross-references the definitions and other directives in a separate executive order signed by President Trump on Jan. 20, requiring discrimination against transgender people across much of the federal government.

In the first week after the order was signed, some hospitals across the country — in Massachusetts, Maryland, Washington, Colorado, and Virginia at least — abruptly halted medical care for transgender people under age 19, canceling appointments and turning away patients, including some who had been receiving this care for most of their life. This prompted protests of support for transgender youth and in opposition to the order nationwide.

On Feb. 4, a lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal, the ACLU of Maryland, and law firms Jenner & Block and Hogan Lovells on behalf of transgender young adults and adolescents and their families whose health care has been disrupted by President Trump’s order. Also joining the case as plaintiffs are PFLAG National, the nation’s largest organization supporting LGBTQ+ people and their families, with over 550,000 members and supporters and nearly 350 chapters across the country; and GLMA, the country’s largest organization of LGBTQ and allied health professionals.

“Across the country, this unlawful order from the president has sown fear among transgender youth and confusion among their providers,” said Joshua Block, senior staff attorney for the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Project. “But today’s decision should restore both their access to healthcare and protections under the Constitution. Providers who’ve suspended healthcare for their transgender patients should be left with no doubt that they can lift those suspensions and continue to provide healthcare and act in their best medical judgment without risking their funding or worse.

“The president’s orders sought to take away from transgender young people the very care that they, their families, and their medical providers all agree is best for them – medical care that is evidence-based and well-established. But these decisions are for patients, their families, and their doctors to make, not for politicians or Washington bureaucrats,” said Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, senior counsel and health care Strategist for Lambda Legal. “As today’s decision makes clear, the president does not have the power to unilaterally condition federal funding by requiring discrimination. To the contrary, our laws and Constitution forbid it. We hope that with today’s decision, healthcare entities can go back to caring for their patients instead of abandoning them over fears of losing admittedly critical federal funding.”

“The ACLU of Maryland supports the right of every Marylander and families nationwide to make personal and very private decisions about healthcare with their medical providers, without harmful government interference,” said Dana Vickers Shelley, executive director of the ACLU of Maryland. “We are relieved that the courts have recognized the damage caused by the President’s unlawful executive order. This decision puts the president on notice that the ACLU of Maryland and our coalition partners will not rest while the Constitution is under siege.”

Families and Advocates Sue Trump Administration Over Executive Order Seeking to Restrict Access to Gender-Affirming Care

WASHINGTON (Feb. 4, 2025) – Transgender young adults and families with transgender youth joined PFLAG National and GLMA in a federal legal challenge against an executive order from the Trump administration attempting to shut down access to necessary medical care for transgender people under 19 nationwide.

Attorneys representing the plaintiff families and leaders from the plaintiff organizations held a virtual press conference at 4:00 p.m. ET on Feb. 4. A recording of the call can be made available upon request.

The order directs federal agencies to withhold funds from medical providers and institutions that offer gender-affirming medical treatments such as puberty suppressants and hormone therapies to anyone under 19, threatening to shut down access to essential health care that is already out of reach for many. If enforced, the order would deny critical federal funds to hospitals, clinics, doctors, and other providers, leading some provider networks to prematurely cancel appointments with transgender youth and announce they are ceasing care altogether.

“When the Tennessee legislature passed a law that banned gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors, I knew we had to leave the state so that my daughter could continue receiving the care she needs,” said Kristen Chapman of Richmond, Virginia, mother to 17-year-old plaintiff Willow. “We moved to Virginia in the summer of 2023, but struggled to find a provider that would accept our Medicaid insurance. As paying for her care out-of-pocket became prohibitively expensive, I tried for months to get an appointment at VCU, and I finally got an appointment for January 29, 2025. The day before our appointment, President Trump signed the executive order at issue in this case. The next day, just a few hours before our appointment, VCU told us they would not be able to provide Willow with care. I thought Virginia would be a safe place for me and my daughter. Instead, I am heartbroken, tired, and scared.”

Today’s lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal, the ACLU of Maryland, and law firms Hogan Lovells and Jenner & Block on behalf of two transgender young adults and five transgender adolescents and their families whose health care has been disrupted by President Trump’s order. Also joining the case are PFLAG National, the nation’s largest organization supporting LGBTQ+ people and their families, with over 550,000 members and supporters and nearly 350 chapters across the country; and GLMA, the country’s largest organization of LGBTQ+ and allied health professionals.

“PFLAG parents are good and decent people who love their trans kids and want them to grow up to become thriving, happy, healthy adults. Yet, President Trump and other politicians maliciously harm our families by denying them access to physician-prescribed, medically recommended care. This order puts trans and nonbinary young people and their families at risk—and we’re not putting up with it,” said Brian K. Bond (he/him), chief executive officer of PFLAG National. “To every transgender and nonbinary youth and young adult, every parent, every family, know this: PFLAG National is not backing down from this fight; PFLAG’s got you.”

“For decades, doctors and other health professionals have followed well-established medical standards to provide care that helps transgender youth thrive,” said Alex Sheldon, MA (they/them), executive director of GLMA. “Now, an extreme political agenda is trying to overrule that expertise, putting young people and their providers in danger. GLMA is taking this fight to court because our members will not stand by while politicians try to criminalize the care they provide and deny medically-necessary treatment to young people. We are confident that the law, science, and history are on our side.”

The complaint was filed in the federal District Court of the District of Maryland and will be imminently followed by a request for an immediate restraining order against the enforcement of President Trump’s order.

“President Trump has shown a clear determination to use every lever of government to drive transgender people out of public life,” said Joshua Block, senior counsel for the ACLU’s LGBT & HIV Project. “Today’s order lays out a clear plan to shut down access to life-saving medical care for transgender youth nationwide, overriding the role of families and putting politics between patients and their doctors. We will not allow this dangerous, sweeping, and unconstitutional order to stand.”

“The President’s denial of care order is morally reprehensible and patently unlawful. The federal government – particularly, this administration – has no right to insert itself into conversations and decision-making that rightly belongs only to patients, their families, and their medical providers” said Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, senior counsel and health care strategist for Lambda Legal. “This broadside condemns transgender young people to extreme and unnecessary pain and suffering, and for minors, it subjects their parents to agonized futility in caring for their child — all while denying them access to the same medically recommended health care that is readily available to their non-transgender peers.”

In December 2024, the Supreme Court held oral arguments in U.S. v. Skrmetti, a landmark case challenging Tennessee’s categorical ban on gender-affirming hormonal therapies for transgender youth on the grounds the law violates the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution by discriminating based on sex. The case began when an initial lawsuit was first filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Tennessee, Lambda Legal, and Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP on behalf of three transgender adolescents and their families. While it is expected the new administration will reverse the stance of the U.S. government, the case remains briefed and argued, and the Supreme Court must consider the same question of whether Tennessee’s law violates the Equal Protection clause. A decision is expected from the court by June 2025.

The executive order targeting providers of gender-affirming care was one of several signed by the president since taking office calling for widespread discrimination against transgender people in their public and private lives. The president also issued orders targeting schools that protect the rights of transgender students, ban transgender people from serving in the military, ban transgender people from updating the gender marker on their U.S. passports, exclusively house transgender women in men’s prison facilities, and direct federal agencies to discriminate against transgender people employed by the U.S. government. These orders have described transgender people as “mutilated,” compared their identities to a “contagion,” and said they inherently lack “honesty” as compared to cisgender men.