House Dems look to expand access to gender-affirming care amid Trump crackdown
More than two dozen House Democrats are looking to protect and expand availability to gender-affirming care for transgender youths and adults as the Trump administration takes steps to sharply curb access.
The Transgender Health Care Access Act, introduced Monday by Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.), would establish grants supporting medical education programs and professional training in transition-related care and expand its access in rural communities.
Balint introduced the measure on Trans Day of Visibility, recognized annually on March 31 to celebrate the lives and contributions of trans people and draw attention to disproportionate discrimination faced by the community. The bill has nearly 30 Democratic co-sponsors, several of whom, including Reps. Jerry Nadler (N.Y.) and Sara Jacobs (Calif.), are slated to speak at a transgender rights rally Monday evening in Washington.
LGBTQ civil rights groups, including the Human Rights Campaign, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Advocates for Trans Equality and the ACLU, are also backing the legislation, according to a news release from Balint’s office, though it stands little chance in the GOP-controlled Congress.
In a statement, Balint, one of 14 openly LGBTQ lawmakers and a member of the Congressional Equality Caucus, which has also endorsed the bill, said the measure is a response to legislation filed disproportionately by Republicans to curb access to care that major medical organizations have said is medically necessary.
“As Republicans use their power to take away health care and continue to attack and dehumanize trans folks, I’m not standing down. That’s why I’m introducing this bill to expand access and train more providers,” she said.
“Republicans are obsessed with attacking trans people. It’s dangerous. Over and over again they use messages designed to get Americans to fear one another and to divide us,” Balint added. “But I want queer and trans Americans to know you have fighters and allies in Congress.”
President Trump and his administration have made transgender rights a key target, and half a dozen executive orders signed by the president since his return to office in January directly impact trans Americans. A sweeping order Trump signed during his first hours back in Washington proclaims the government recognizes only two sexes, male and female, and another he signed in February seeks to end federal support for transition-related care for youth.
Two federal judges blocked the administration from implementing the latter order.
Trump has also endorsed states’ efforts to heavily restrict or ban access to gender-affirming care for minors and called on Congress this month during a joint address to pass legislation outlawing such care nationwide.
Federal legislation to ban trans health care for youth has been introduced in each of the last two Congresses. The bill’s primary sponsor, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), has not refiled the measure in the current Congress but has said she plans to do so. The 2023 Senate version of Greene’s bill, the Protect Children’s Innocence Act, was sponsored by now-Vice President Vance.
Earlier this month, Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) reintroduced legislation to block hospitals that provide gender-affirming care to minors from being eligible to participate in the Children’s Hospital Graduate Medical Education Payment program, which funds education and training for pediatric medical residents and fellows. He filed the bill on DeTrans Awareness Day, which recognizes the experiences of individuals who once, but no longer, identified as trans and advocates against transition-related medical care, particularly for minors.
Laws passed in 27 states ban care — including puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgery — for transgender youth. The Supreme Court will decide this summer whether such bans violate the constitution.