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LGBTQ - California is suing a San Diego hospital after it said it would limit gender-affirming care for young patients. But some parents of transgender children and LGBTQ advocates say the state still isn't doing enough to protect the transgender community amid a federal administration that continues to target them.
As CalMatters' Kristen Hwang explains, Rady Children's Health in San Diego — the state's largest children's health provider — plans to close its Center for Gender Affirming Care on Friday. The move comes as President Donald Trump pushes to restrict federal funding to hospitals that provide transgender health care to minors. In a statement, the hospital confirmed it was under federal investigation and said that "the environment around gender-affirming care has changed dramatically."
In response, California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit last week to stop the closure. While many in the LGBTQ community are welcoming the action, some are perplexed that the state is suing the hospital under a provision governing business transactions, and not for civil rights violations.
- Kanan Durham, executive director of Pride at the Pier, an LGBTQ advocacy group in Orange County: "We have anti-discrimination laws on the books. We have legal protection of gender-affirming care on the books. But if Rob Bonta does not feel confident in his ability to win a case on the basis of those laws do we really have those laws?"
Meanwhile, parents of transgender kids and supporters are publicly demonstrating their disapproval: More than 600 people protested outside of Rady last month, and another 100 protested at the system's affiliate hospital of Orange County.
- Dannie Ceseña, director of the California LGBTQ Health and Human Services Network: "We need to stop with the letters. We need to stop with the announcements. We need to see action. Our kids are suffering."
(Kristen Hwang is a health reporter for CalMatters covering health care access, reproductive health, workforce issues, drug costs and emerging public health concerns. Her reporting has earned top honors from the Association of Health Care Journalists, the Sacramento Press Club, the Asian American Journalism Association, and the Radio Television Digital News Association. A UC Berkeley–trained journalist with a master’s in public health, she has contributed to The New York Times’ COVID-19 coverage, produced award-winning investigative and documentary work, and reported from Washington, D.C., Arizona, Alabama and California. She is based in the Sacramento area.). This story was first published in CalMatters.org.
