EQCA - Equality California

10/30/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 10/30/2025 14:56

Equality California Condemns Proposed Federal Rules Banning Critical Federal Funding for Hospitals Providing Transgender Healthcare

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 30, 2025

CONTACT: Jorge Reyes Salinas, Equality California
PHONE: (213) 355-3057/MOBILE: (213) 355-3057/EMAIL: [email protected]

WASHINGTON - Equality California Executive Director Tony Hoang released the following statement in response to reports that the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services are proposing two rules to cut off critical federal funding to hospitals and clinics that provide medically necessary healthcare for transgender patients under 19 and their families:

"Families, with their doctors, should have the freedom to decide what health care is right for their child. This ban takes that choice away and puts politicians in the middle of private family decisions. Donald Trump is once again forcing the government into private healthcare decisions that should be between doctors, parents and children.

The proposed rules hold hospitals hostage and put them in an impossible position: uphold their ethical obligations and comply with California law by providing medically necessary healthcare, or lose federal Medicare and Medicaid funds they rely on to serve entire communities.

Transgender healthcare is essential, evidence-based medical care. But Donald Trump and his Cabinet are bullying hospitals, threatening doctors, and trying to strip funding from healthcare providers simply for caring for their patients. Healthcare providers rely on federal funding to provide care to many patients - not just transgender young people. What is being proposed by the Trump administration is unprecedented government overreach - using funding power to control what kind of care doctors provide to patients.

In California, transgender healthcare is not only legal - it's recognized as medically necessary and a fundamental right. Healthcare providers in California must continue to stand strong and focus on delivering high-quality care to their patients - not give in to intimidation or political threats from Donald Trump."

Earlier this year, Equality California stood behind California Attorney General Rob Bonta as he filed suit alongside fellow attorneys general and the governor of Pennsylvania to block the Trump Administration's attacks on families and medical providers and hold them accountable for their violations of constitutional rights and state sovereignty. This lawsuit is just one piece of the ongoing fight back against a coordinated political assault on our community.

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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. https://www.eqca.org

EQCA - Equality California published this content on October 30, 2025, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via Public Technologies (PUBT), unedited and unaltered, on October 30, 2025 at 20:56 UTC. If you believe the information included in the content is inaccurate or outdated and requires editing or removal, please contact us at [email protected]