Federal Policy: Prisons, Data, Schools

The Bureau of Prisons prohibits gender-affirming care in federal prisons, but it goes further than just denying care—the Trump administration is effectively testing conversion therapy on approximately 2,200 trans people in federal custody, forcing detransition through psychotherapy and psychotropic medication aimed at "resolving" gender dysphoria. The administration has also scrubbed LGBTQ+ questions from hundreds of federal surveys, according to a new Williams Institute report.

I've added a book to my recommendation list that I think everyone appalled by this move should read: Tip of the Spear: Black Radicalism, Prison Repression, and the Long Attica Revolt by Dr. Orisanmi Burton.

Hours after Trump's State of the Union rant against trans kids, House Republicans introduced H.R. 7661, a nationwide "Don't Say Trans" and book ban bill that defines anything involving "gender dysphoria" or "transgenderism" as "sexually explicit."

More broadly, 21 states now have bathroom bans in place, with criminal penalties in two of them. While I do think it matters that these bans will absolutely be weaponized against any gender-nonconforming person, these bills would be a dangerous and growing public health crisis even if they didn’t also impact cisgender people.

Care Access: Hospitals, Providers, and Professional Organizations

Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville has stopped all gender-affirming plastic surgeries for adults, citing the departure of its senior surgeon, leaving patients facing referrals to hospitals hundreds of miles away. Mount Sinai has cut off services for trans kids ahead of new federal rules, and protestors gathered outside NYU Langone on Saturday in response to that hospital's earlier closure of its Transgender Youth Health Program. Today, the New York AG ordered NYU Langone to immediately resume trans youth care, warning of an investigation if the hospital fails to comply.

ASPS members are demanding answers after the organization released a position statement recommending gender-affirming surgeries be delayed until age 19—a statement that bypassed its own Gender Surgery Task Force and appears to have been developed in coordination with Trump administration officials. On a more encouraging note, the American Psychological Association reaffirmed its support for trans youth care, pushing back against a New York Times piece that mischaracterized the organization's position.

State-Level Attacks, Violence and Safety

Texas AG Ken Paxton declared that therapists who affirm trans youth are committing child abuse, extending the state's care ban to mental health providers and threatening license revocation and criminal penalties. In other words, Texas is trying to force healthcare providers to engage in SOGICE—because the only option Paxton's interpretation leaves is to help trans kids "overcome" being transgender.

Kansas is sending letters to trans residents demanding the immediate surrender of their driver's licenses with no grace period. In so many interviews I've conducted, transportation has come up as a major factor in whether or not transgender people have access to even basic healthcare, let alone gender-affirming services. This is especially true in somewhere like rural Kansas. This move was made possible because Kansas secretly spent years building a list of trans residents that Republicans are now weaponizing.

Finally, a report finds that many alleged suicides of Black trans women are likely murders—modern-day lynchings misclassified by law enforcement.

Apply for lesbian health research funding. GLMA's Lesbian Health Fund provides grants for research on the health needs of lesbians and bisexual women—if you're doing research that serves this community, apply.

Push to reconsider the UK puberty blockers trial. A UK Parliament debate on ending the (flawed) puberty blockers trial is happening—both anti-trans actors and researchers want the study cancelled, but for very different reasons. Contact your MP and demand kids get access to real care without being needlessly experimented on!

Support the fight against criminalized trans healthcare. A North Dakota physician is appealing a ruling that upholds the criminal ban on gender-affirming care for youth, arguing it violates the state constitution's freedom protections. You could too!

Learn how to effectively advocate to Congress. TransVitae's guide to advocating for transgender rights walks through finding your representatives, making effective calls, writing persuasive emails, and organizing responsibly.

I don’t normally include Letters to the Editor in the Research section, but this week’s is a good one, advocating for the normalization of non-flat top surgery techniques!

This week for our Professional members, we’ve got a killer book review of Starre Vartan’s The Stronger Sex, an incredible look at the physical and cultural influences that have led both to our understanding of “strength” as a concept, and the designation of women as the “weaker” sex. This book will absolutely change how you think about sexed bodies.