It should be common sense: every young person must have access to health care that allows them to thrive and grow up happy and healthy. Today, the Supreme Court has chosen to endanger the lives of transgender young people by ignoring decades of medical research in support of gender-affirming care.

All young people deserve to feel safe in public spaces, and to access the health care, education, and resources they need without threat of deportation.  Yet this Administration sends plainclothes, masked ICE agents for violent attacks on immigrants at work, at school, at health care centers, and during immigration proceedings.

The Trump Administration's decision is based in anti-abortion ideology that threatens the lives of pregnant people experiencing dangerous medical emergencies. To withhold medical care from those in need is unconscionable.

Young people already face disproportionate barriers to health care access and to abortion care in particular. With this decision, the District Court will create even higher barriers to reproductive health care for young people in Florida – and particularly for young people who cannot or do not want to involve parents or other guardians in their abortion experience.

The Trump administration’s hypocrisy with regard to Title IX is staggering. While the President withholds federal funding from universities that support transgender students – essentially blackmailing institutions into actively discriminating against a marginalized group in the name of Title IX – countless survivors of sexual violence are left with unresolved complaints and zero federal support. 

The Equality Act is a long-overdue step toward ensuring LGBTQ+ people are protected from discrimination at school, in the workplace, and in any public space regulated by federal anti-discrimination law.