UPenn's cowardice does nothing to protect women's sports, but instead enables transphobia.
The University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), who play in the Ivy League, shamefully capitulated to the hateful and bigoted demands of the fascistic anti-trans extremist Trump Regime by not only barring trans women from women’s sports, but also strip all records from Lia Thomas’s 2021-22 season in which she competed in women’s swimming, including her fifth place finish she shared with fellow swimmer Riley Gaines, who later became more infamous for her extreme anti-trans views (and right-wing ones more generally).
Thomas being wrongly stripped of all her honors is a grave insult to sporting integrity.
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At the behest of the Trump Regime and Riley Gaines, UPenn soiled their credibility as a college by capitulating to their demented demands to revoke Lia Thomas’s records.
Banning trans women from women’s sports and stripping away Thomas’s records is most certainly NOT about “fairness” or “protecting” women’s sports at all, but pure anti-trans extremism for the sake of erasing trans people from public life.
My latest Substack column: UPenn’s cowardice to the Trump Regime and Riley Gaines’s anti-trans demands, such as stripping Lia Thomas’s records and banning trans women from women’s sports, is most certainly NOT about “fairness” or “protecting” women’s sports at all, but pure anti-trans extremism for the sake of erasing trans people from public life.
Transgender young people and their parents can breathe a sigh of relief for now.
Christopher Wiggins at The Advocate:
In a major victory for transgender youth and their families, a federal judge in Maryland has blocked President Donald Trump’s executive orders that sought to strip away access to gender-affirming medical care for minors.
The ruling, issued Thursday in Baltimore by U.S. District Judge Brendan Hurson, halts enforcement of the ban nationwide, preventing the Trump administration from withholding federal funds from hospitals and providers that offer gender-affirming care to patients under 19. The decision comes after weeks of chaos and fear triggered by Trump’s orders, which led hospitals across the country to suspend care for trans youth, leaving thousands in limbo.
The lawsuit, filed by Lambda Legal, PFLAG, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Maryland, and law firms Jenner & Block and Hogan Lovells, challenged the administration’s attempt to politicize and weaponize health care against transgender people. The court agreed, finding that the orders are likely unconstitutional and that Trump cannot impose such sweeping restrictions on medical providers.
Brian K. Bond, CEO of PFLAG National, one of the plaintiffs in the case, called the ruling a moment of justice for families who had been forced to fight for their children’s basic medical care.
“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,” Bond said in a statement. “But that’s exactly what President Trump’s executive order did to PFLAG families with trans youth and young adults nationwide. 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.”
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The harm inflicted by Trump’s January 28 executive order, titled “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation,” was immediate. The order barred federal funds from supporting gender-affirming care and forced hospitals and clinics to suspend treatment to avoid potential funding cuts.
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The Trump administration framed the order as protecting children, but transgender advocates and medical professionals swiftly condemned it as nothing more than a politically motivated attack on the most vulnerable.
In PFLAG v. Trump, Judge Brendan Hurson issued a nationwide ruling halting Donald Trump’s cruel and capricious anti-trans executive order (EO 14187) banning gender-affirming care for those under 19 from taking effect.
See Also:
The Guardian: Judge pauses Trump’s order restricting healthcare for transgender youth
LGBTQ Nation: Federal judge blocks Donald Trump’s ban on gender-affirming care nationwide
The No Place for LGBTQ+ Hate Act targets the trans military ban, the "two sexes" order, and more.
Trudy Ring at The Advocate:
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon and U.S. Rep. Becca Balint of Vermont, both Democrats, have introduced legislation to nullify Donald Trump’s anti-LGBTQ+ executive orders.
The No Place for LGBTQ+ Hate Act, introduced Thursday, would ensure that Trump’s anti-LGBTQ+ orders would have no force or effect and that no federal funds would be used to put them into effect.
During his second term, Trump has issued executive orders saying the federal government will recognize only two sexes, male and female as assigned at birth, therefore denying the existence of transgender, nonbinary, and intersex people; reinstating and expanding the trans military ban; seeking to prevent trans youth from receiving gender-affirming care; seeking to keep trans students from participating in sports under their gender identity; and requiring schools to deny the existence of trans people. Policies based on these orders have been implemented, and most are being challenged in court.
“Freedom is the right to safely live as your authentic self without fear of harassment, discrimination, or violence,” Merkley said in a press release. “President Trump and Republicans are attacking our LGBTQ+ neighbors, friends, and family members by rubberstamping discrimination in every aspect of daily life. As we mark Pride Month this year, we say ‘hell no’ to this hate and honor those who have fought for LGBTQ+ equality by never giving up on the vision of America as a land of freedom for all.”
“Trump cannot take away our rights or our health care just with the stroke of a pen,” Balint added. “I’m standing with Senator Merkley and my colleagues to show the Trump administration that their hate and dehumanizing rhetoric targeting queer Americans doesn’t intimidate us. We won’t back down when it comes to protecting our rights. No matter how much they try to erase us and our history, LGBTQI+ people are valued members of every community across this country.”
Their bill has numerous cosponsors in both the House and Senate, all Democrats except for one independent, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who caucuses with the Democrats. It’s endorsed by the Human Rights Campaign, Advocates for Trans Equality, American Civil Liberties Union, National Women’s Law Center Action Fund, Reproductive Freedom for All, and Planned Parenthood.
Rep. Becca Balint (D-VT) and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) file a bill to nullify Donald Trump’s anti-LGBTQ+ extremist executive orders called the No Place for LGBTQ+ Hate Act.
The Justice Department "will continue enforcing the law against institutions like Children’s National that mutilate children under the guise
Christopher Wiggins at The Advocate:
Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., will stop prescribing and monitoring gender-affirming medications for transgender youth by August 30, citing “escalating legal and regulatory risks” as the Trump administration targets providers of such care in its ongoing effort to eliminate transgender people from American society. The Justice Department took credit for the development.
The world-class pediatric medical center quietly announced the change on its website last week. In a message sent to families, the hospital acknowledged the significance of the decision. “We recognize the impact this has had on you and your family, and we are here to support you,” the statement obtained by The Washington Post read.
The change comes less than two weeks after U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that the Department of Justice had issued more than 20 subpoenas to doctors and clinics that offer gender-affirming care to minors. Bondi said providers would be held accountable for “mutilating children in the service of a warped ideology.”
A spokesperson for Children’s National declined to confirm whether the hospital or its staff had received a subpoena, the Post reports. The Advocate has contacted both the hospital and DOJ for comment.
A spokesperson for the DOJ responded by pointing to a post by Bondi on X (formerly Twitter). “At President Trump’s direction, [the DOJ] will continue enforcing the law against institutions like Children’s National that mutilate children under the guise of medical care,” Bondi wrote. “History will remember [the president] as a champion on this crucial issue."
All major U.S. medical associations support gender-affirming care as a safe and evidence-based practice. Gender-affirming care for minors and adults is legal and protected under D.C. law.
Children’s National Hospital in DC is the latest hospital to cave to Tyrant 47’s anti-trans war on gender-affirming care by ending GAC services for trans minors.
See Also:
LGBTQ Nation: Children’s hospital ends care for trans youth due to Trump’s “bullying”
“This is a fundamental betrayal to the core mission of Fenway and the patients they serve.”
S. Baum at Erin In The Morning:
In a move that shocked families, patients, and trans rights advocates, Fenway Health, the non-profit community LGBTQ+ health center headquartered in Boston, has ceased providing puberty blockers and hormone treatment for trans youth under the age of 19.
This means even 18-year-olds—legal adults—will be impacted by the restrictions. Those under the cut-off will no longer be able to access these evidence-based best practices in care for transgender young people.
Gretchen, a Massachusetts mother to a trans teen who has been receiving health care at Fenway, told Erin in the Morning she was shocked when they learned about the end of the program. She requested her full name be withheld due to privacy concerns about her family’s medical care.
“We were devastated—we don’t have a back up plan,” Gretchen said. “The biggest blow for me is that we live in a very blue state with a governor who is very understanding of these issues. I was shocked that, in our blue bubble, this came to pass.”
In a public statement, Fenway said it would be “unable to provide medical gender-affirming care (hormones and puberty blockers) for patients under the age of 19” due to recent updates of “federal requirements.”
“This change in position is a response to a shifting federal landscape that requires us to adapt in order to remain compliant,” the statement continued. “Fenway Health is a federally qualified health center (FQHC)”—meaning, among other things, it receives federal funds—“and we are required to maintain compliance with [Health Resources and Services Administration] regulations.”
Fenway could try to fight federal attacks on funding—other agencies and institutions who have sued over funding held hostage by Trump have secured legal victories, at least for now. Instead, Fenway chose to comply in advance, which is especially jarring given its largely lower-income clientele and its historic place in queer and trans medicine. Fenway was founded explicitly for LGBTQ-centered care.
Fenway is the latest domino to fall as trans-affirming health care clinics around the country enact sweeping restrictions, and states begin to take aim at adult care, too. Like Fenway, many clinics are citing federal or state guidelines. But there is no federal law banning gender-affirming care for transgender young people. And in Massachusetts, state laws protect a patient’s right to be free from discrimination on the basis of sex or gender identity. This means the attorney general could, in theory, have cause to pursue litigation against Fenway for halting care.
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Meanwhile, Massachusetts has been vocally and ferociously protective of its trans community. It passed a groundbreaking law establishing a trust fund to preserve trans-affirming health care in the state, regardless of what happens to federal dollars. Its attorney general signed on to a lawsuit taking the Trump White House to task over its anti-trans care policies. MIT in Cambridge was the first college in the country to reject President Donald Trump’s anti-LGBTQ, anti-DEI, and anti-immigrant education compact. And the nearby Boston Children’s Hospital has fought tooth and nail to protect its trans patients and staff.
Fenway Health becomes the latest LGBTQ+ health center to capitulate to the Trump Regime’s anti-trans agenda by restricting some forms of gender-affirming care treatment for minors under 19.
See Also:
The Advocate: Fenway Health stops providing hormones and puberty blockers to trans patients under 19
"Federal funding to institutions that provide gender-affirming care continues to be available, irrespective of President Trump’s recent Exec
Trudy Ring at The Advocate:
Fifteen state attorneys general, all Democrats, have issued a statement reaffirming their commitment to protecting gender-affirming care for transgender people despite Donald Trump’s executive order.
“As state attorneys general, we stand firmly in support of health care policies that respect the dignity and rights of all people,” the statement reads. “Health care decisions should be made by patients, families, and doctors, not by a politician trying to use his power to restrict your freedoms. Gender-affirming care is essential, life-saving medical treatment that supports individuals in living as their authentic selves.
“The Trump Administration’s recent Executive Order is wrong on the science and the law. Despite what the Trump Administration has suggested, there is no connection between ‘female genital mutilation’ and gender-affirming care, and no federal law makes gender-affirming care unlawful. President Trump cannot change that by Executive Order.
“Last week, attorneys general secured a critical win from a federal court that directed the federal government to resume funding that had been frozen by the Trump Administration. In response to the Court’s Order, the Department of Justice has sent a notice stating that ‘federal agencies cannot pause, freeze, impede, block, cancel, or terminate any awards or obligations on the basis of the [Office of Management and Budget] memo, or on the basis of the President’s recently issued Executive Orders.’ This means that federal funding to institutions that provide gender-affirming care continues to be available, irrespective of President Trump’s recent Executive Order. If the federal administration takes additional action to impede this critical funding, we will not hesitate to take further legal action.
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The statement was endorsed by the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin.
15 Democratic AGs sign a letter standing by allowing gender-affirming care services for those under 19, despite Donald Trump’s lawless and bigoted Executive Order 14187.
Activists from Rutgers School of Public Health, ACT UP NY, and one parent of a transgender youth tell UTDN that “one health issue is not sep
Lana Leonard for Under The Desk News:
So far, activism, science, and public health needs have prompted resistance to cuts proposed by Trump’s administration in the National Institute of Health’s (NIH) 2026 fiscal budget. Affirming this, the Senate committee on Aug. 1, rebuked the proposed 40% or $18 billion in cuts to the NIH’s 2026 budget. Instead, the committee called for a $400 million increase to the NIH.
Still, some people might be thinking: What does transgender healthcare have to do with me?
It has a lot to do with you since many transgender health conditions are shaped by cisgender (or non-transgender) people and discrimination, as demonstrated in recent CDC findings focusing on trans women’s access to employment, and therefore, health insurance.
Combs, among other sources from Rutgers School of Public Health and ACT UP NY, spoke to UTDN this week, about what they are doing to combat the irreversible damage that Donald Trump’s administration will cause to global health through continued manipulation of pseudoscience-based disinformation to uphold anti-vaccine, anti-trans, and anti-public health junk science in the courts.
Healthcare access is essential to all people, including trans people like any other group discriminated against in healthcare settings as a result of their race, ability, class, ethnicity, gender identity, expression, or sexual orientation. When a community's healthcare options become compromised, it can usually become compromised for anyone — even you.
For example, data from the National Library of Congress affirms that gender-affirming care is overwhelmingly performed in cisgender people. But, current federal leadership has denied and erased trans existence despite thousands of years of evidence showing otherwise.
That’s why Comb’s says that her plan is to educate parents that “the real villain here is the federal administration,” and not trans, nonbinary, and gender diverse people. For instance, on July 25, the Trump Administration celebrated disrupted care for youth and young adults at over a dozen healthcare facilities throughout the U.S. including those that have “curbed” trans healthcare like Mt. Sinai and New York-Presbyterian. However, this gross celebration harms youth, families, and sows distrust towards once trusted medical providers and public medical insurances. The federal government, shared Combs, is going to attack everyone by way of withdrawing medicaid coverage for trans youth and young adults.
This will also be done by subpoenaing medical providers and facilities for providing best-practice medical care to trans youth through acceptance of medicaid. In the meantime, as the administration continues to scapegoat trans people, 2026 cuts to medicaid will penalize the 1 in 5 Americans who use public funded healthcare coverage.
“There's going to be massive cuts to medicaid in the new federal budget and it's going to come to people's doorsteps when they have to go get their mom out of the memory care facility because they can't pay for it anymore,” Combs said.
Comb’s son will no longer have medical treatment (such as prescriptions) provided through Yale New Haven Health, but his appointments with doctors will persist. This decision will have dire effects on the mental, physical, and emotional health of teens, and Comb’s certainly isn’t alone.
Dean of Rutgers School of Public Health Perry N. Halkitis told UTDN that recent legislation barring some form of best practice care for trans youth in 27 states (according to Movement Advancement Project (MAP)) along with recent executive orders, prevent trans youth and young adults from their autonomy.
“It undermines their whole healthcare,” Halkitis said with a firmness. “The minute you make an enemy, you can take control.”
The trans community is a fabricated enemy of the state by the state. And this causes a new psychological burden imposed on trans, nonbinary and gender diverse people compounded by an already difficult management of identity, shared Halkitis. The government then takes actions that make it as difficult as possible to access life-saving care. The effects of dismantling or segmenting access to healthcare is often catastrophic, according to findings from the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law.
An estimated 319,800 U.S. adults who identify as trans have one or more underlying medical conditions, including asthma, diabetes, heart disease, COVID-19, or HIV, found the Williams Institute in the same brief. But this applies to anyone who is also at-risk or has these underlying health conditions too.
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Once people get sick, vaccination status starts to matter. If one were to contract HIV/AIDS they then become immunocompromised, and vaccinations become crucial for harm reduction. That’s why federal healthcare needs to become more accessible, and affordable, rather than slashed to nothing.
Unfortunately anti-vaccine science is at the heart of Secretary Robert F. Kennedy (RFK) Jr.’s U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS). In fact, he removed all 17 members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and replaced them with people with known anti-vaccine sentiment. A 150-year-old battle that has resurfaced heavily since COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
The Trump Regime’s war on gender-affirming care for trans youths (and adults) harms healthcare systems and common sense.
The letter, introduced by Rep. Becca Balint and signed by 89 House Democrats, asserts that the ban "threatens the lives and well-being of th
Ryan Adamczeski at The Advocate:
Nearly 90 Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives have signed a letter demanding that Donald Trump rescind his "unconstitutional" and "unconscionable" executive order restricting gender-affirming care for transgender minors and some adults.
Trump's executive order, the so-called “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation” order, targets the use of puberty blockers, hormone therapies, and surgeries for anyone under 19, incorrectly referring to them as “chemical and surgical mutilation.” It directs federal agencies to rescind policies supporting such treatments, withdraw funding from institutions that provide them, and enforce existing laws limiting access to these procedures.
The letter, first obtained by The Hill, was introduced by Vermont Rep. Becca Balint and signed by 89 House Democrats. The lawmakers asserted that the order "threatens the lives and well-being of the young people who need this care, which is supported by every major medical association."
"We urge you to rescind your unlawful, unconstitutional attempt to end access to life-saving care for transgender young people immediately," the legislators wrote. "You should be listening to young trans people, their families, and their doctors. The evidence is clear: the medical care you seek to ban saves lives and we want trans kids to live."
The Democrats also noted that "trans youth who receive this care experience lower rates of depression, anxiety, and other adverse mental health outcomes," and that they "are at a lower risk for suicidality compared to those who do not have access to this treatment."
Nearly 90 House Democrats, led by Rep. Becca Balint (D-VT), signed a letter demanding Trump rescind his bigoted executive order (EO 14187) barring gender-affirming care for those under 19.
