Virginia’s MAGA attorney general, Jason Miyares, refers to gender-affirming care for trans minors as “chemical and surgical mutilation of children.”
Our neighbor to the north, Maryland, has an AG that isn’t a total Neanderthal.
“The president’s attempt to ban gender-affirming care is an effort to strip transgender people of their humanity. It tells transgender children and young adults that their president does not see them as they are. Our office stands with those who need this treatment to live the lives they envision for themselves,” said the Maryland attorney general, Anthony Brown.
Brown led a coalition of 18 state AGs in filing an amicus brief in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland on Friday supporting the motion for a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration executive order directing federally-run insurance programs to exclude coverage for gender-affirming care for trans minors.
The brief filed on Friday cites a recent study conducted by the University of Washington finding that in individuals ages 13-20, receiving gender-affirming care was associated with 60 percent lower odds of moderate to severe depression and 73 percent lower odds of having suicidal thoughts over a 12-month period.
The brief also cites the Trevor Project, a national nonprofit provides confidential counseling to LGBTQ+ youth, and has reported a 700 percent increase in access to its crisis services since the 2024 election and a 46 percent increase in volume since Inauguration Day.
Their effort stands in stark contrast to the work of Miyares, who wrote letters to UVA Health and VCU Health last month directing them to stop offering medical care for minors in the midst of gender transition.
ICYMI
The letters from Miyares, who is running for re-election in the 2025 cycle, asserted that “(h)ospitals and institutions that continue to mutilate children place themselves at significant legal risk and face substantial financial exposure.”
Both UVA Health and VCU Health responded initially to the Miyares letters by agreeing to suspend gender-affirming care for trans minors.
UVA Health announced a reversal of that move on Feb. 14, a day after a federal district court issued a temporary restraining order blocking enforcement of the Trump executive order.
The MAGA-majority on the UVA Board of Visitors, on Friday, voted to roll back the Feb. 14 reversal.
The BOV approved a resolution directing doctors at UVA Health to refer trans teens patients in the process of receiving gender-affirming care through the health system’s Transgender Youth Health program “as soon as practicable to alternative private providers.”
ICYMI
“The Board of Visitors supports our doctors continuing to treat their current patients at the University in a manner consistent and compliant with existing law and, if appropriate, to refer current patients as soon as practicable to alternative private providers that may be less susceptible to the significant legal and funding uncertainties facing the University and other public providers,” reads the language of a resolution approved by the BOV after a closed meeting held on the matter on Friday.
Contact the UVA Board of Visitors
Telephone: 434-924-7081
Email: [email protected]
VCU Health has not resumed gender-affirming medications or surgical procedures for patients under 19 years old.
The lack of backbone from the two universities is made possible by Miyares using the state AG’s office to play politics with kids’ lives.
Contact Jason Miyares
- Phone: (804) 786-2071
- Online: Office of Attorney General contact page
- Address: 202 North Ninth Street, Richmond (directions)
“Healthcare decisions, including gender-affirming care, should be made by patients, families, and doctors, free from political interference,” said California Attorney General Rob Bonta, another leader in the state AG legal fight.
“As we continue to face relentless attacks on transgender rights, my office remains unwavering in our commitment to defending the rights of transgender individuals as they seek to live their lives as their authentic selves,” Bonta said. “Alongside attorneys general nationwide, I am proud to submit this amicus brief today in defense of the law and against the federal government’s unlawful, hate-mongering attempts to strip away the right to access gender-affirming care.”
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Chris Graham
