Happy Monday. A few quick things before the news.
I'm still reporting a piece for Playboy on the worn-out myth that testosterone breeds aggression, and I'm looking to talk with transmasculine folks who've spent time on T. If that's you, or someone you know, just reply to this email.
I’m also super excited to share with my paid subscribers info about the books I’m reading for this Playboy story, and interesting snippets from my interviews with folks like Thomas McBee and Cordelia Fine.
I will be taking on more freelance reporting in the coming months to keep those bills paid, so send me your story tips: if something in queer and trans health isn't getting the coverage it deserves, I want to do something about that.
And for the providers reading: my Provider Needs survey is still open. It takes a few minutes, it shapes the Professional-tier resources I'm building, and it comes with a heavily discounted Professional trial.
Now, the news.
The Trump administration finalized its rule halting Medicaid coverage of gender-affirming care for trans youth, the latest escalation in a campaign it has waged since its first days back in office. Advocates stress the rule isn't yet in effect and can still be fought. STAT breaks down how legal challenges to the CMS rule are likely to fare before it takes hold October 12. Physicians warn the change will endanger low-income youth who lose their doctor-recommended care.
The enforcement push escalated as JD Vance demanded the DOJ investigate hospitals treating transgender patients, insisting the administration hasn't gone far enough. HHS and Vance are now pushing federal fraud probes into hospitals over insurance billing tied to youth care. A divided appeals court sided with Trump, letting the DOJ's subpoena of a care provider stand. Even as one patient probe collapsed, the broader machinery of investigation grinds on.
There were real wins, though, too: a federal court struck down a rule that would have cut gender-affirming care from the ACA's essential health benefits, in a multistate suit co-led by California. Seattle set aside $300,000 in relocation aid for trans people fleeing hostile states, while in New York, Planned Parenthood urged the state to fund gender-affirming care for minors as federal dollars disappear.
The everyday cruelty continued as well: police were called on trans men using the women's restroom Kansas law now forces them into, and the administration is moving trans women into a segregated prison unit built to make them suffer. It also excluded The Trevor Project from the 988 crisis lifeline the group spent years helping build. The attack widens beyond trans care as more GOP platforms adopt anti-IVF language, with surrogacy likely the next target. And in a supposed safe state, Massachusetts' attorney general struggled to explain why her office won't sue hospitals abandoning trans kids.
International News
In Brazil, a federal court authorized hormone blockers for a 13-year-old trans girl, overriding the Federal Council of Medicine's restriction. In Argentina, an appeals court suspended the government's decree barring minors from hormonal treatment and gender-affirming care.
Trace the disinfo pipeline — TransVitae breaks down how fabricated "trans" videos manufacture outrage across X and TikTok and feed the policy backlash, essential grounding for anyone countering bad-faith narratives with patients or colleagues.
'What are we going to do?' — NPR — A mother of a trans teen sits with the dread of the finalized Medicaid rule and the question of what gets taken next.
Information is Scarce for Trans Women Behind Bars — Assigned Media — Inside Georgia's prisons, information moves differently than it does outside, and the scarcity becomes its own form of harm.
This AI Chatbot Pushes Conversion Therapy on Trans Users — The Needle News — Detrans.ai bills itself as balanced help for exploring dysphoria while feeding users debunked science and reactionary talking points.
Strength In Weakness: Guy Hammond's Program That Devastates LGBTQ Survivors — Uncloseted Media — By swapping promises of becoming straight for demands of lifelong celibacy, the program dodges the conversion-therapy label and the scrutiny that comes with it.
Psychedelic Conversion Therapy: A Handshake Away From Trump — YouTube — An interview with the writer behind a sharp critique of "A Christian's Guide to Psychedelics" on how the religious right embraces psychedelics while rolling back LGBTQ protections.
'HIV Is Too Woke': Why This Gay Doctor Resigned From Trump's CDC — Uncloseted Media — Dr. Demetre Daskalakis lays out what working inside RFK Jr.'s CDC was actually like before he resigned in protest.
Demand grows for gender-affirming voice surgery, but access remains limited — The Globe and Mail — Interest in gender-affirming voice surgery keeps climbing while access stays stubbornly narrow.
The drug lenacapavir is a mighty weapon against HIV — NPR — Twice-yearly injectable PrEP is reaching more countries, but its global rollout draws mixed reviews over pricing and which high-burden districts got prioritized.
Trans+ life in the UK is more than concerning - what next? — QueerAF — A live QueerAF podcast taping hosted by Juno Dawson takes stock of a worsening British landscape with Munroe Bergdorf, Zelah Glasson, and others.
Gay bear culture survived body fascism. It can survive Ozempic — The Advocate — Bear community built itself in defiance of gay culture's smooth-and-lean ideal, and it will outlast the Ozempic era too.
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If any of you happen to be in Oaxaca, next week I’ll be hosting a discussion on gender performativity and intersectional identities, and I would love to see you there!
None of us does this alone, and that's how the work gets done. See you next week.
BJ Ferguson
Founder, Well Beings News
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