WA Judge Blocks Trump Directive Opposing Gender-Affirming Care

A federal judge has pumped the brakes on a White House directive that, if upheld, would withdraw federal funding from those who provide gender-affirming care to children and teens.

U.S. District Court Judge Lauren King, of Seattle, issued a temporary restraining order on Friday. Both King and Washington Attorney General Nick Brown have decried the executive order as inhumane and even lawless. They say it criminalizes the giving and receiving of gender-affirming care.

The executive order, titled "Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation," was handed down on Jan. 28.  It reads in part,

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Across the country today, medical professionals are maiming and sterilizing a growing number of impressionable children under the radical and false claim that adults can change a child’s sex through a series of irreversible medical interventions.  This dangerous trend will be a stain on our nation’s history, and it must end.

 

Accordingly, it is the policy of the United States that it will not fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support the so-called “transition” of a child from one sex to another, and it will rigorously enforce all laws that prohibit or limit these destructive and life-altering procedures.

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In response, Washington, Oregon and Minnesota filed suit. According to Brown, the directive not only denies essential medical services to vulnerable and needful transgender youth. It baldly abdicates the rule of law.

The states argue this order violates the 5^th Amendment’s equal protection guarantee by singling out transgender individuals for mistreatment and discrimination. Additionally, Congress has already authorized research and education funding for medical institutions in Washington state, and the president cannot unilaterally overrule congressional intent.

 

The states also note the president cannot unilaterally regulate or criminalize medical practices in Washington state, which are protected by the 10^th Amendment.

The Justice Department rejects these claims.