Equality California released the following statement from Executive Director Tony Hoang in response to President Trump issuing an executive order attempting to stop LGBTQ+ youth—specifically transgender youth—and their families from accessing medical care:

“Decisions about medical care for young people should be made between doctors and families—not by politicians like Donald Trump.

This attack on transgender youth, their families, and trusted medical professionals from the Trump Administration is brazen, cynical, and dangerous. This executive order attempts to punish parents for making decisions that are in the best interest of their children, stop doctors from providing medically necessary care, and undermine the irrefutable scientific evidence on this subject.

Similar to Trump’s recent executive actions that attempt to freeze trillions of dollars in vital federal funding and halt transgender servicemembers from defending our country, we anticipate this order will take time to implement and will face legal challenges.

In California, we have some of the strongest protections in place to ensure that transgender youth and their families can access medical care and make their own medical decisions and that doctors are able to treat patients without fear of retaliation. We are working with our partners to analyze the impact of this executive order and will continue to fight unrelentingly to protect the civil rights of transgender youth and their families.”

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Equality California is the nation’s largest statewide LGBTQ civil rights organization. We bring the voices of LGBTQ people and allies to institutions of power in California and across the United States, striving to create a world that is healthy, just, and fully equal for all LGBTQ people. We advance civil rights and social justice by inspiring, advocating and mobilizing through an inclusive movement that works tirelessly on behalf of those we serve. www.eqca.org