Gender-affirming care ban passes US House of Representatives

The Trump administration has escalated its attack on the transgender community with the Republican majority House of Representatives passing legislation that will ban federally funded gender-affirming care for transgender people of all ages.

Part of a broader legislative package called the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”, there will be major healthcare and welfare changes that will potentially impact health care access for hundreds of thousands of Americans, particularly transgender people enrolled in Medicaid or covered under the Affordable Care Act.

The changes aren’t yet guaranteed to take effect as the bill must still pass the Senate, which the Republicans hold by a small majority (53 - 47).

According to UCLA’s Williams Institute, there are currently around 180,000 transgender adults in the United States who have Medicaid as their primary source of health insurance. The passing of this legislation by the US House of Representatives is indicative of an increasing trend of hostility towards the transgender community and LGBTQIA+ rights more generally, with the American Civil Liberties Union currently tracking 575 anti-LGBTQIA+ bills in the US.

Read more here.