Trump's executive orders target transgender rights

• The order, signed Tuesday, prohibits the use of federal funds for youth gender-affirming care and categorizes anyone under 19 years old as children.

Reality check: Gender-affirming care is supported by major medical organizations including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Psychiatric Association, which concur that gender-affirming care is lifesaving medical care.

• Drugs like puberty blockers, the federal funding of which would be blocked, are temporary and reversible and are used for both trans youth and non-trans youth who experience early-onset puberty.

Zoom in: Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago is known as a leader in providing gender-affirming care, founding its program in 2013.

• "We are reviewing the recent executive orders addressing gender affirming care and assessing any potential impact to the clinical services we offer to our patient families," spokesperson Julianne Bardele told Axios in a statement.
• "Our team will continue to advocate for access to medically necessary care, grounded in science and compassion for the patient-families we are so privileged to serve."

Lurie doctors have described legislation in other states, such as Texas, as "state-sanctioned discrimination of transgender youth" and "cruel, damaging and contradictory to standards of care for these patients."

• Their doctors have faced harassment from conservative groups.

Between the lines: Fewer than 0.1% of adolescents received drugs for gender-affirming care between 2018 and 2022, per a study led by Harvard University researchers and published this month.

• No patient under 12 years old who was transgender or gender diverse received hormones, the study found.

The fine print: Trump directed the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to publish a review within 90 days of existing literature on best practices for promoting the health of children with gender dysphoria.

• The order also calls for removing federal funding from medical schools and hospitals that research gender-affirming care.

Catch up quick: Last week, Trump also signed an executive order saying the federal government would recognize only two sexes, male and female.

• He's also called on the Pentagon to formulate a new policy that would target transgender service members.

What they're saying: The order "is basically like saying the government has announced that there are two types of cancer: breast and lung. Just because you deny the existence of the others doesn't mean they don't exist," Northwestern professor and gynecologist Eve Feinberg said in a statement.

• "Our existence is not up for debate, and our resistance will not waver," Channyn Lynne Parker, CEO of Brave Space Alliance, an LGBTQ+ focused center on Chicago's South Side, said in a statement. "Brave Space Alliance is committed to continuing our work — providing resources, advocating for systemic change, and fostering spaces of empowerment where our community can thrive."

What we're watching: In 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that discriminating against a transgender person is a violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which could raise legal questions about Trump's order regarding only two sexes.

• Groups including Equality Illinois are encouraging trans people and parents of trans children to know their rights: "Transgender, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming students are protected from discrimination on the basis of their sex, sexual orientation, and gender-related identity as it relates to their participation in educational opportunities, programs, and activities."
• Equality Illinois encourages people to file a complaint with the Illinois Department of Human Rights if those rights have been violated.