Officials, activists rally for transgender rights, call on UPMC to provide gender-affirming care to minors

Cori Fraser last week was preparing to take their 18-year-old child for a gender-affirming surgery at UPMC.

But Salem, Fraser’s child who also uses they/them pronouns, found out just days before the surgery that it was canceled.

Fraser said UPMC had scrapped planned gender-affirming treatments for patients under 19 to comply with an executive order President Donald Trump signed in January, though a federal judge has halted the measure, at least temporarily.

“It’ll be June for Salem when they can have top surgery because they’ll be 19,” Fraser said. “Salem can wait three months — but for some kids, it’s years.”

This kind of care, Fraser said, is imperative.

“Gender affirming health care is lifesaving health care,” Fraser said.

Fraser and dozens of other members of the LGBTQ community joined local officials to call for UPMC to provide gender-affirming care, including to minors.

Trump in January signed an executive order, dubbed “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation” that called on federal leaders to “immediately take appropriate steps to ensure that institutions receiving Federal research or education grants end the chemical and surgical mutilation of children.”

A federal judge issued an injunction that blocked enforcement of the order, which threatened federal funding for institutions that provided gender-affirming care for patients under 19.

UPMC did not detail how the policy — or the subsequent injunction — impacted their policies around gender-affirming care.

“UPMC is fully committed to providing exceptional care for all our patients,” a spokesperson wrote in a statement. “We continue to monitor and comply with directives coming from the federal government that affect the ability of our clinicians to provide specific types of care for patients under 19.”

The health care giant continues to offer behavioral health and “other support within the bounds of the law,” the statement continued.

“We empathize with the patients and families who are directly affected by these ongoing changes,” UPMC’s statement said.

Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey joined Thursday’s rally outside of UPMC’s Downtown headquarters to call for the health network to provide care.

“If you’re worried about Donald Trump, don’t bow down,” Gainey said. “Stand up.”

Gainey and various activists, local and state leaders signed a letter directed to UPMC CEO Leslie Davis and the hospital network’s board of directors calling for UPMC to immediately reinstate gender affirming care for new and existing patients; fund alternative providers to ensure trans youth receive health care if a court order or law mandate UPMC ceases such care; establish an advisory committee with transgender youth, community leaders and health care officials before May 1; and not retaliate against LGBTQ communities.

“UPMC must reject political pressure and fulfill its responsibility to provide healthcare without discrimination,” the letter reads.

It asserts that UPMC bean denying gender affirming care for new and some existing patients under age 19 at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh after Trump’s January order.

Dena Stanley, executive director of Trans YOUniting and the organizer of Thursday’s rally, said that as a Black transgender woman, she’s seen many others in her community struggle to get the gender-affirming care they sought.

“It’s disgusting what’s happening,” she said, vowing to fight alongside transgender youth for access to care.

Kaiah Scott, program coordinator of local LGBTQ advocacy organization QMNTY, estimated Trump’s recent order could impact about 300,000 transgender people under age 19 nationwide.

“They are trying to push us back into days when we were not allowed to be who we are,” she said.