I’ve been sick this week (thanks Dad for the cold LOL) so right now I’m grateful I’m feeling well enough to publish—hooray laptop bed work! This past week has been full of both hope and disappointments, with the ASPS statement leading the letdowns. It is incredibly disheartening to see medical organizations collaborating with anti-trans politicians, ignoring evidence, supporting anti-science claims, and throwing trans youth under the bus in an attempt at self-protection. Compliance with this regime will not protect medical professionals, and most certainly cannot protect trans children.
I know that these times are terrifying for us all. That's why I'm launching a new monthly column in March—because we need more than news. We need skills. The expanded Rx Resist column, based on the section in this very newsletter, will teach healthcare and wellness providers the meta-skills required to navigate contested political environments: how to identify and counter disinformation, how to organize effectively within institutions, how to understand the systems targeting us, and how to sustain ourselves through prolonged crisis. Resistance requires more than outrage. It requires practice.
So thank you for showing up every week to our own little version of anarchist calisthenics, our regular exercises in resistance. Every little bit counts, every small moment matters.
United States
The American Society of Plastic Surgeons—led by a president who donated heavily to Trump and Ted Cruz—released a statement recommending surgeons delay gender-affirming surgeries until age 19, citing the Cass Review and a Trump administration report while conspicuously dropping its previous language about opposing legal encroachment into medical practice. The statement is non-binding and explicitly not a clinical guideline, though media outlets falsely reported that both ASPS and the American Medical Association now endorse restrictions. What changed wasn't the evidence, but the political pressure: Ari Drennen reveals that political scientist Leor Sapir co-authored the HHS report ASPS now cites after failing to break medical consensus through persuasion, with the federal government's press release ready the same day ASPS released its statement.
California's Rady Children's Hospital shuttered its gender-affirming care center serving roughly 1,200 patients amid Trump administration threats, prompting California Attorney General Rob Bonta to file a lawsuit alleging the hospital violated its merger agreement with the state—a legal strategy that sidesteps federal jurisdiction and could inform other AGs trying to protect care. Children's Minnesota announced it will pause some pediatric gender health services due to federal government pressure.
New York trans advocates rallied at the state capitol calling for expansion of the Lorena Borjas Transgender Wellness & Equity Fund and passage of the BEACON Act to strengthen anti-bullying protections. A New York jury awarded $2 million to a detransitioner in a malpractice case that Dr. Helen Webberley explains focused on failures in clinical process rather than condemning gender-affirming care itself, though TransVitae warns how anti-trans groups will weaponize the verdict to attack care broadly and push providers out of the field.
Europe
UK data reveals trans youth suicides surged following healthcare rollbacks, with Good Law Project reporting deaths jumped from 4 in 2020-2021 to 22 in 2021-2022 after NHS England stopped gender-affirming care—contradicting the Appleby report that dismissed these concerns. (In other words, the government realized their policies were correlated with increased suicides and they covered it up.)
Norwegian trans advocates warn of anti-trans ideology infiltrating healthcare through the Norwegian Christian Medical Association's report recommending excessive caution without adequate scientific support.
Australia
Queensland's ban on gender-affirming care for trans youth under 18 continues through legal challenges, with the government announcing the ban will remain until 2031 pending UK trial results despite a Supreme Court ruling that found the original directive unlawful.
It’s Black History Month! Learn about Black trans trailblazers and the impact of colonialism and slavery on African genders.
Epstein backed prominent anti-trans figures - Jeffrey Epstein financed anti-trans influencers and conspired to use "tribalism" from anti-LGBTQ+ policies to secure lower interest rates, though transphobes are now claiming Epstein invented trans people.
We have to talk about Dr. Ting and Epstein - A prominent U.S. surgeon features in Epstein's emails.
What does "biological sex" mean anyway? - Carla Cross examines what the term actually means.
Trump, anti-trans May Mailman, and the Women's Bill of Rights - Mother Jones profiles May Mailman and Trump's definition of a woman.
What counseling for trans kids is really like - A Seattle Times piece shows what therapy actually looks like for transgender youth.
Transfem HRT after 40, an Evidence-based Guide - Dr. Natalia Zhikhareva (Dr. Z), a licensed clinical psychologist specializing exclusively in gender dysphoria assessment and treatment, talks about estrogen therapy for older trans adults.
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After nearly a year of Provider POV interviews, I'm retiring the series to make room for something more actionable. Starting in March, I'll be expanding the Rx Resist section from the Monday Roundup into a monthly column focused on tactical skill-building—teaching the meta-skills healthcare providers need to navigate contested political environments, from media literacy to provider activism to systems navigation. You’ll see the column linked here in your Monday Roundup the first week of each month!
Weekend Column: Provider POV
Stay well, stay strong, and I'll see you next Monday for more news, more media, more resistance, more praxis in action.
BJ Ferguson
Founder, Well Beings News