Last week, the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center (CCMC) settled with Department of Justice, agreeing not to provide medically necessary care for Connecticut’s transgender youth. It is a devastating betrayal of transgender youth and their families.
Nothing in federal law required CCMC to act as they did. The hospital is reacting to intimidation by the Trump administration, which has threatened to do everything from subpoenaing patient records to cutting of Medicare and Medicaid payment to hospital that provide such care.
Furthermore, Connecticut’s strong anti-discrimination laws prohibit discrimination in health care – which is exactly what this is. The truth is unavoidable: even in Connecticut, gender-affirming care—and the broader principle of bodily autonomy—is in real peril.
But we can fight back and we owe it to trans kids to fight back. GLAD Law is pursuing a legal challenge against CCMC and Yale New Have Health. State Senator Matt Lesser, who chairs the Human Services Committee, has vowed to use oversight powers to investigate whether CCMC has violated state law.
Equality Connecticut will continue to advocate for a meaningful state effort to keep gender-affirming care accessible. We are pushing for legislative and policy safeguards that protect patients, families, and providers from political interference, legal intimidation, and the misuse of personal medical information.
Connecticut must continue to fortify its legal framework so that care decisions remain between patients, families, and medical professionals and the right to bodily autonomy is grounded as securely as possible in state law.
Make no mistake, all our lives are truly bound together. The current attacks on trans adolescents are not isolated. They are a test run. The political machinery being used today is a blueprint for restricting or eliminating reproductive health care, contraception and IVF, PrEP and HIV prevention, vaccines, disability service, and end-of-life care.
Remember: gender-affirming care is safe, evidence-based, and often lifesaving. Tell everyone you know. Ultimately, lasting protection will come from an informed, mobilized public that is prepared to speak out for the dignity and health of their neighbors.