More than two dozen activists were arrested this week while protesting proposed Trump administration policies that would effectively end gender-affirming care for minors at hospitals across the U.S.

As both Erin in the Morning and Them report, more than 50 activists, including parents of transgender young people and members of ACT UP, gathered outside the Hubert H. Humphrey building, the Washington, D.C., headquarters of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, on Tuesday for a protest organized by the Gender Liberation Movement (GLM).

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Images from the demonstration showed protesters blocking the building’s entrance, holding a sign that read “Hands off our ’mones!” Protesters reportedly chanted, “HHS, RFK, Trans youth are no debate!”

“This is our comment,” protesters shouted, according to Erin in the Morning, likely a reference to the fact that the demonstration took place on the final day of public comment on draft rules HHS announced in December.

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The proposed rules would block all federal funding through Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for any hospital that provides gender-affirming care to patients under the age of 18. The proposed rules would amount to a nationwide ban on gender-affirming care for minors at hospitals that rely on federal Medicare and Medicaid funding.

In a press release, GLM noted that dozens of hospitals across the country have already preemptively halted youth gender-affirming care programs due to the administration’s threats to withhold federal funding. The release also pointed to HHS General Counsel Mike Stuart’s announcement last week that he had referred four community health centers, including New York’s Callen-Lorde and the Los Angeles LGBT Center, for investigation for continuing to provide gender-affirming care to young people.

In December, a coalition of 19 states sued HHS to block the proposed rules. As Them notes, on the same day GLM held its demonstration, 106 members of Congress sent a letter to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy opposing the proposed rules.

“Despite HHS’s refusal to recognize gender-affirming care for trans youth, major medical associations—including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Endocrine Society—has regarded this care (which includes psychotherapy, social support, and—when clinically appropriate—puberty blockers and hormones) as evidence-based treatment for adolescents,” GLM’s press release read, according to Erin in the Morning.

GLM co-founder Eliel Cruz confirmed to Them Wednesday that he was among 25 protesters who were taken into custody by Department of Homeland Security agents at Tuesday’s demonstration. Cruz said they were handed over to the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and held for 12 hours before being charged with unlawful entry and released.

But Cruz told the outlet that none of the protesters ever entered the Humphrey building. Additionally, he claimed that most of the protesters who were arrested were denied phone calls to attorneys and family members.

In a statement to Them, MPD said its policy is to provide phone calls “when appropriate,” noting that this “courtesy” is almost always extended. However, the statement continued, “When processing a large number of prisoners at one time, it is not always feasible for station personnel to facilitate each individual arrestee making a phone call without compromising the safety and security of the jail or causing a delay in booking other prisoners.”

“We want trans youth and their loving families to know that we see them, we cherish them, and we won’t let these attacks go on without a fight,” GLM cofounder Raquel Willis said in a Tuesday press release, according to Them. “We also want all Americans to understand that Trump, RFK, and their HHS won’t stop at trying to block care for trans youth — they’re coming for trans adults, for those who need treatment from insulin to SSRIs, and all those already failed by a broken health insurance system.”

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