Physicians with GLMA: Health Professionals Advancing LGBTQ+ Equality, an LGBTQ+ physician association, has joined seven families with transgender or nonbinary children, the American Associate of Physicians for Human Rights and PFLAG, a national LGBTQ+ group, as plaintiffs in a lawsuit over President Donald Trump's executive order to stop federal support for gender-affirming healthcare for transgender people under age 19.
The lawsuit was filed in Baltimore Feb. 4 by the American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal, the ACLU of Maryland and law firms Hogan Lovells and Jenner & Block on behalf of two transgender young adults and five transgender adolescents and their families.
The plaintiffs allege that their healthcare has been disrupted by the executive order and call the order "unlawful and unconstitutional," as it seeks to withhold federal funds previously authorized by Congress. It also alleges that the order infringes on the rights of parents and is discriminatory, as the policy does not prohibit federal funds for the same treatments when they're not used for gender-affirming care.
"For decades, doctors and other health professionals have followed well-established medical standards to provide care that helps transgender youth thrive,” said Alex Sheldon executive director of GLMA, in a Feb. 4 news release. “Now, an extreme political agenda is trying to overrule that expertise, putting young people and their providers in danger."