Equality California on Decision by Children’s Hospital Los Angeles to Shutter Transgender Youth Healthcare Programs

LOS ANGELES - Equality California released the following statement from Executive Director Tony Hoang in response to the decision by Children's Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) to close its Center for Transyouth Health and Development and Gender-Affirming Care program effective July 22:

"Children's Hospital Los Angeles has turned its back on the very values of care, compassion and evidence-based medicine that it claims to uphold. By shutting down its transgender healthcare services, CHLA is abandoning hundreds of transgender youth and their families-not out of medical necessity, but because of political pressure.

Make no mistake-this decision was made under direct threat from Donald Trump, who is weaponizing the Department of Justice, the Department of Health and Human Services, the FBI, and other federal agencies - including the Federal Trade Commission and the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services-to bully healthcare providers into discriminating against transgender people.

Denying equal access to care is illegal under California law, and it must not go unchallenged. California has a long history of standing up and defending the civil rights of minority and underrepresented communities. We hope and expect that legal action will be taken to uphold the basic dignity and respect that transgender youth and their families deserve.

Equality California will not stand by as CHLA, or any other healthcare system, abandons our community to appease far-right extremists. We will fight to ensure every transgender young person in California-no matter their zip code-can access the care they need and deserve."

Transgender healthcare has been endorsed by every legitimate medical group in the nation, including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, which call such care "essential and lifesaving." Multiple studies show that transgender youth who have access to such care are at lower risk of self-harm and are more likely to have positive experiences at school and in society.

###