It's been my experience that the Trump Administration's strikes against the LGBTQ community are announced with much fanfare, but when they collapse in the face of court rulings, folks don't seem to be paying that much attention. We saw this in his first term when three judges struck down his administration's attempt to create a "healthcare conscience rule" which would have been used to deny LGBTQ Americans adequate healthcare.
And we are seeing it now with his executive order banning federal support of gender-affirming care for trans youth.
From the Associated Press two days ago:
A second federal judge on Friday paused President Donald Trump’s executive order halting federal support for gender-affirming care for transgender youth under 19.
U.S. District Court Judge Lauren King granted a temporary restraining order after the Democratic attorneys general of Washington state, Oregon and Minnesota sued the Trump administration last week. Three doctors joined as plaintiffs in the suit, which was filed in the Western District of Washington.
The decision came one day after a federal judge in Baltimore temporarily blocked the executive order in response to a separate lawsuit filed on behalf of families with transgender or nonbinary children. Judge Brendan Hurson’s temporary restraining order will last 14 days but could be extended and essentially puts Trump’s directive on hold while the case proceeds. Hurston and King were both appointed by former President Joe Biden.
Trump signed an executive order last month halting federal funding for institutions that provide the care and directing federally run insurance programs, including Medicaid and TRICARE for military families, to exclude coverage for it. The order also calls on the Department of Justice to pursue litigation and legislation to oppose it.
From CBS News:
The president's directive, issued in his first week in office, threatens research and education grants awarded to medical institutions that provide gender-affirming care to patients under the age of 19. Treatments covered by the order include puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgical procedures.
The Democrat-led states that sued the Trump administration over the order said it deprives transgender youth of life-saving medical care. They called it a "cruel and baseless broadside against transgender youth, their families, and the doctors and medical institutions that provide them this critical care."
"It is an official statement of bigotry from the president that directs agencies to openly discriminate against vulnerable youth on the basis of their transgender status and sex," state officials wrote in their lawsuit. "It is also a blatant abuse of power. The order usurps spending and legislative powers belonging exclusively to Congress, and seizes the States' historic police powers to regulate the practice of medicine in violation of the Tenth Amendment."
