Over few years, transgender youth and their families have been targeted across the country, with attempts to limit transgender and gender diverse youth from using school bathrooms and facilities, keep them from playing on sports teams and ban their access to the specialized and life-saving healthcare they deserve. The result has been that nearly half (41%) of all transgender youth currently live in a state in which they can not access the essential healthcare they deserve due to ill-informed legislative policies. 

 

This past year, the current federal administration has taken unprecedented steps to impede parents’ rights to access essential healthcare and resources for their transgender and gender diverse children and teenagers. Enlisting nearly every federal agency from the Department of Justice (DOJ) and FBI to the Center for Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and issuing executive orders to spread harmful disinformation and intimidate hospitals, clinics and doctors into stopping the provision of longstanding, proven and life-changing healthcare to trans youth. 

 

As the only exclusively pediatric, multispecialty team in the region that incorporates specialists in pediatrics, adolescent health, pediatric endocrinology, pediatric psychology and clinical social work, as well as support from colleagues in pediatrics and adolescent psychiatry and speech therapy, we are uniquely positioned to help support transgender and gender diverse young people and their families in Minnesota and beyond. In 2023, Minnesota passed the Trans Refuge Bill, protecting access to essential healthcare for transgender youth in Minnesota and making our state a safe haven for those from South Dakota, North Dakota, Iowa, Montana, Missouri and others to access healthcare that has been banned in their states. 

 

Access to care is so critical right now for the young people of our community and those beyond the borders of Minnesota, that investing in and expanding our ability to provide care can and will make a difference immediately in the lives of transgender youth and their families. There are currently an estimated 140,000 young transgender and gender diverse people in the United States who can’t access the healthcare they need in their home states, and with ongoing federal threats, even programs in states without bans in place have been shuttering their doors, leaving parents and kids suddenly without the healthcare and support they were need and depend on. Donations of any size will help kids and families access care when they need it from our interdisciplinary team of Kid Experts at Children's Minnesota.  

 

When transgender and gender diverse kids are seen, heard and believed, they do better. When we support kids to be who they are, we know they can grow up to be happy, healthy, safe and strong.  All kids deserve to thrive and transgender and gender diverse kids are no exception. Help us support parents to access the healthcare and resources their kids need, no matter where they come to us from to seek care, and show our patients that their lives and futures matter.

Learn more about transgender and gender diverse kids