Judge pauses Trump executive order restricting child sex changes

On Thursday, a federal judge in Maryland temporarily halted President Donald Trump’s executive order restricting sex changes for minors. The lawsuit was brought forth by the ACLU on behalf of LGBTQ advocacy groups and young people who identify as transgender.

US District Judge Brendan Hurson issued a 14-day restraining order placing the executive order on pause, the Associated Press reported. Hurson, a Biden appointee, said that the order "seems to deny that this population even exists, or deserves to exist."

In the emergency motion, lawyers wrote that "Over the past week, hospitals across the country have abruptly halted medical care for transgender people under the age of nineteen, cancelling appointments and turning away some patients who have waited years to receive medically necessary care for gender dysphoria," and argued that the orders signed by Trump are "unlawful and unconstitutional."

"Under the Constitution, it is Congress, not the President, who is vested with the power of the purse. President Trump does not have unilateral power to withhold federal funds that Congress has authorized and signed into law, and he does not have the power to impose conditions on the use of funds when Congress has not delegated to him the power to do so."

The lawsuit took issue with two executive orders that Trump signed: the Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation order and the Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government order.

"President Trump cannot override these statutes and require federal grantees to engage in precisely the discrimination that Congress has prohibited. Nor does he have the authority to violate the equal protection rights of thousands of transgender people under nineteen, including the Transgender Plaintiffs, 4 by depriving them of necessary medical care solely on the basis of their sex and transgender status," the motion stated.

The attorneys claimed that the orders "gravely threaten transgender people in the United States by pitting the health and wellbeing of that vulnerable minority population against the health and wellbeing of countless others and millions of dollars in federal funding. They have caused—and will continue to cause— severe and irreparable harm if this Court does not issue a Temporary Restraining Order enjoining the Agency Defendants from implementing and enforcing Section 3(g) of the Gender Identity Order and Section 4 of the Denial of Care Order."

The initial lawsuit was filed on February 4 on behalf of PFLAG, the American Association of Physicians for Human Rights, and multiple minors and their family members against Trump, the US Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institutes of Health, and multiple officials. 

The suit states that five minor patients, Gabe Goe, Bella Boe, Cameron Coe, Robert Roe, and WG, adult plaintiffs Lawrence Loe and Dylan Doe, and some PFLAG members "are transgender people under the age of nineteen who have been thriving because they have had access to medically necessary treatment for their gender dysphoria."

Gabe Goe is 14, Bella Boe is 12, Cameron Coe is 12, Robert is 16, WG is 17, Lawrence Loe and Dylan Doe are both 18. All were receiving or were scheduled to receive "receive medically necessary care that the Executive Orders prohibit."

"President Donald Trump, through the Denial of Care and Gender Identity Orders, unilaterally seeks to terminate access to this health care immediately by directing agencies to withhold funding from entities that 'promote gender ideology’ or provide medical care to transgender people under nineteen for the purpose of gender transition."

The suit claims that the orders "unconstitutionally usurp congressional authority by withholding lawfully appropriated federal funds from medical institutions, providers, and researchers, such as GLMA’s health professional members" and "infringe upon parents’ fundamental rights" by "overriding the aligned judgment of parents, adolescents, and their doctors regarding necessary medical care."

The suit stated that gender dysphoria, if left untreated, can result in "negative mental health outcomes, including severe anxiety and depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, eating disorders, substance abuse, self-harm, and suicidality."

The suit also claims that puberty-delaying treatment is "temporary" and "does not cause infertility." In regard to "gender-affirming hormone therapy," the suit claims that it "does not necessarily result in a loss of fertility, and many individuals treated with hormone therapy can still biologically conceive children." 

It also noted that the same treatments used for treating gender dysphoria are also used in cases such as puberty blockers for cases of central precocious puberty, testosterone in cases of Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, and chest surgeries for gynecomastia. "The potential risks associated with these medical interventions when used to treat gender dysphoria are comparable to the risks associated with many other medical treatments to which parents routinely consent on behalf of their children—and that the Executive Orders permit."