By GEOFF MULVIHILL
Seven families with transgender or nonbinary children filed a lawsuit Tuesday over President Donald Trump’s executive orders to narrowly define the sexes and halt federal support for gender-affirming health care for transgender people under age 19.
PFLAG, a national group for family of LGBTQ+ people; and GLMA, a doctors organization, are also plaintiffs in the court challenge in a Baltimore federal court.
It comes one week after Trump signed an order calling for the federal government to stop funding the medical care through federal government-run health insurance programs including Medicaid and TRICARE.
Kristen Chapman, the mother of one of the plaintiffs in the case, said her family moved to Richmond, Virginia, from Tennessee in 2023 because of a ban on gender-affirming care in their home state. Her 17-year-old daughter, Willow, had an initial appointment scheduled for last week with a new provider who would accept Medicaid. But Trump signed his order the day before and the hospital said it could not provide care.
“I thought Virginia would be a safe place for me and my daughter,” Kristen Chapman said in a statement. “Instead, I am heartbroken, tired, and scared.”
She’s not the only one, Brian Bond, the CEO of PFLAG, said on a conference call with reporters. “We are receiving a drumbeat of calls from parents whose kids’ care is being canceled.”
The ACLU and Lambda Legal, who are representing the plaintiffs, want a judge to put the order on hold. In a court filing Tuesday, they said Trump’s executive orders are “unlawful and unconstitutional” because they seek to withhold federal funds previously authorized by Congress and because they violate antidiscrimination laws. The challenge also says that the order infringes on the rights of parents.
Like legal challenges to state bans on gender-affirming care, they also argue that the policy discriminates because it does not prohibit federal funds for the same treatments when they’re…
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