Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released a “report” on healthcare for trans youth. This publication is a cynical and politically motivated document masquerading as a scientific report that misrepresents the medical consensus, undermines decades of clinical best practice, and threatens the wellbeing of transgender youth across the country.
The Trump administration aims to deny medically necessary healthcare to trans people and force the dangerous, discredited practice of conversion “therapy” as the only alternative. The most important things to know are that this report is not law, and that transition-related healthcare is still legal and protected in New Jersey.
Our Protections in New Jersey
What we’ve shared previously about the Trump administration’s executive actions still stands: they’re not legally binding, and in many cases are actively illegal. The executive order that spawned this report is currently being challenged by multiple lawsuits and has been blocked by multiple judges while the cases are being heard. Garden State Equality has written an open letter to healthcare providers and insurers urging them not to change their care practices for trans patients.
In New Jersey, conversion “therapy” for minors has been illegal since 2013, and the law has remained in place despite challenges to it going to the United States Supreme Court three times between 2015 and 2019. In addition, trans people are protected from discrimination in healthcare under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination. Gov. Phil Murphy also signed an executive order in 2024 making New Jersey a safe haven for trans healthcare.
About Transition-Related Healthcare
Medical providers and families already work together to make sure trans young people are healthy and get the care they need, and this anti-science political intervention will only make it harder for families to help trans kids get the healthcare they need. All major medical associations in the U.S., including the American Medical Association and American Academy of Pediatrics, have supported transition-related medical care.
Trans healthcare for young people relies on the same medications used to treat young people with other conditions, like early-onset puberty, which have been proven by research to be safe, effective, and medically necessary. Transition-related healthcare for trans people of all ages is just as backed by evidence as other types of healthcare across all areas of medicine.
About Conversion “Therapy”
It’s important to highlight that people often have a simple or dramatic picture come to mind when they hear the phrase ‘conversion therapy’. The truth is that it comes in many forms, and what our government is promoting is nothing other than conversion therapy under a different name. As a survivor of conversion therapy, I know first hand the damage that it causes, and it has taken my entire life to heal from that harm. There is no telling the nightmares that will ensue should this latest attack on human rights go unchecked.
Aisling MacDonald (she/her), Project Manager & Trainer at Garden State Equality
Conversion “therapy” refers to a range of discredited, unscientific, dangerous practices that seek to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Every mainstream medical and mental health association has discredited conversion “therapy”, which increases the likelihood of severe psychological distress in those who undergo it.
This abusive and dangerous ‘therapy’ doesn’t convert or correct, it subverts and harms. It conditions its victims to internal shame, insecurity, anxiety, depression, anger, and isolation. It causes destructive behavior, self-harm, and it has led to suicide and death. It stripped me of any human dignity or decency, it denied me my sense of self or identity. It robbed me of my adolescence and confidence. It led me very close to ending my life. For society at large, it promotes hate, ignorance, and incites violence against the LGBTQ community. I’m one of the lucky ones because I survived it, and so I owe it to those we’ve lost, to fight against it with the remaining fibers of my being. We will not be erased—not by this, not by any laws or practices intended to deny us our inalienable dignity, decency, and equal treatment or opportunity.
Dean Dafis (he/him), Councilman for Maplewood Township in North Jersey
Now, the Trump administration is continuing its pattern of reversing societal progress through this attempt to ban healthcare prescribed to trans youth by their medical providers and push conversion “therapy” in its stead.
Where We Go from Here
In the face of these attacks from the federal government, we must defend and strengthen the trans healthcare protections we already have in New Jersey.
VIsit the Jersey for Trans Healthcare website to send messages to your legislators asking them to pass a package of bills that would bolster our existing laws around transition-related medical care.
Garden State Equality will continue to be on the front lines, ensuring that all trans people in New Jersey maintain access to the essential, lifesaving healthcare they need.