Transgender rights activists across the country are protesting hospitals that have chosen to comply with Donald Trump’s executive order that calls for all federally funded hospitals to cease providing gender-affirming treatment to children and young adults under the age of 19. 

Even though the Trump administration has yet to release guidelines for the order or explain its enforcement mechanism, many hospitals in states that are considered safe havens for transgender people have chosen to comply, possibly out of fear of losing out on federal funding. The situation has sparked outrage, as many families of transgender youth and individuals have had to relocate to sanctuary states due to restrictive healthcare laws in GOP-controlled states only to be told they can no longer access care in their new homes. 

Related

Dem AGs are fighting tooth & nail to continue gender-affirming care for trans youth in their states
The coalition of 15 AGs have directed their states to continue caring for trans youth in adherence with state anti-discrimination laws.

Over these past weeks, these protests have continued to grow larger in terms of a crowd in what appears to be a snowball effect, that words alone can’t even begin to do justice. But pictures can help.

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It all started on Friday, January 31, with the University of Virginia Health in Charlottesville. One-hundred-fifty people, according to The Daily Progress, gathered and spanned the entire facade of the building. In a Twitter thread by Daily Progress reporter Dmity Martirosov, the crowd grew from around 50 people to 100 in a matter of minutes, and leaflets were handed out during the protest urging people to tell UVA to stand up for trans rights

What makes this even more jarring was that this protest was organized on short notice, with United Campus Workers of UVA, a labor union representing UVA employees, sending out these notices less than a day after UVA announced it would no longer offer gender-affirming care to people under 19.

Charlottesville friends

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— Kathryn (@kathrynlaughon.bsky.social) January 31, 2025 at 7:22 PM

One Bluesky user who attended the protest in Charlottesville had this to say:

I was at the UVa protest…there were *well* over 100 people there; my guess is ~300 (not bad for a hastily-organized rally). The people support-honking and fist-pumping as they drove by were very encouraging, and I'm sure there are plenty of health care workers who are very, very angry.

— Birdie Rappinghood (@birdierappinghood.bsky.social) February 1, 2025 at 6:39 AM

Two days after the protest in Charlottesville, organizers in Washington, D.C., met at Bruce Monroe Community Park to begin their march towards the Children’s National Hospital in response to the hospital suspending prescriptions on puberty blockers that same week.

One protestor, wishing to be credited as John Lee, shared photos from the protests for the media to republish, in which we can see how large the turnout was in comparison to the impromptu protest at UVA.

The protest saw parents, community leaders, and Transgender individuals holding signs with defiant messages in clear view of the hospital administration.

Less than one day after the march in D.C. a protest erupted outside New York University – Langone in response to them canceling appointments for individuals under 19 wishing to receive gender-affirming care. LGBTQ Nation’s Lana Leonard reported from the event 

The protest in New York is without a doubt the largest of these three with people packed shoulder to shoulder.

from tonight’s protest in Manhattan over NYU Langone’s choice to preemptively comply with Trump’s executive order impacting healthcare for trans youth under 19

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— Lex McMenamin (they/them) (@leximcmenamin.bsky.social) February 4, 2025 at 1:53 AM

Paired with this is a call for people to write letters to NYU-Langone expressing their disapproval of the hospital’s actions. Over 100,000 letters had been sent in by the time of publication.

at a very packed-seeming (like can’t move in the crowd packed) rally for trans kids because NYU-Langone is still apparently complying with Trump’s exec order trying to ban gender-affirming care. it’s also very quiet, sound wise. that’s my scene report til I get good photos. details/organizers:

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— Melissa Gira Grant (@melissagiragrant.com) February 4, 2025 at 12:44 AM

New York state Attorney General Letitia James sent a letter to the hospital, warning them that denying care to transgender people violates state discrimination laws.

One thing is for sure is that this civil unrest shows no signs of stopping with 2 other protests at the LA Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles and the University of Illinois Health in Chicago sometime today.

Univ of IL Health, which runs UIC Hospital, has reportedly been quietly enforcing Trump’s illegal & discriminatory ban on gender affirming care for trans, nonbinary, & intersex youth under 19 yo. Join the protest: Thurs 2/6, noon, UIC West Campus (Hermitage & Taylor). #Chicago #ProtectTransYouth

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— jung 정 (@itsjunghan.bsky.social) February 4, 2025 at 4:10 PM

Protest tomorrow at Children's Hospital LA over their cessation of gender affirming care for trans youth.

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— Alejandra Caraballo (@esqueer.net) February 5, 2025 at 8:19 PM

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