A4TE Endorses Rep. Balint’s Call for Recission of Anti-Trans Executive Order

Washington, D.C. Today, Rep. Rebecca Balint sent a letter to President Trump demanding he rescind his recent executive order banning transgender medicine. Advocates for Trans Equality endorsed the letter, and Sinead Murano-Kinney, Health Policy Analyst, released the following statement:

“Advocates for Trans Equality applauds Congresswoman Balint of Vermont, for her continued leadership in defending the rights of transgender people across the nation, in her call for the President to rescind his dangerous Executive Order on transition-related healthcare. 

“This order directs agencies to implement and enforce a wide range of existing and prospective policies to rob adolescents of their innate bodily autonomy, based entirely on unsubstantiated and fringe theories, which no legitimate body of medical experts has recognized and has been widely discredited.

“President Trump’s claims to “protect children” are utterly hollow, as evidenced by his continued attacks on the longstanding and evidence-based field of transition-related healthcare. Evidence has shown that when trans adolescents cannot access medically necessary transition-related healthcare, they are at an increased risk of depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and suicidality. Without question, withholding access to this care for trans adolescents is nothing short of a betrayal of the well-established ethical principles of the medical profession.

“We are heartened and inspired by Representative Balint’s continued resolve and leadership, in calling on her colleagues to fight this administration every step of the way in their constant attempts to target a vulnerable subgroup of an already vulnerable community. Representative Balint and her co-signing colleagues clearly understand what is at stake in this fight and we are proud to endorse this letter and the efforts of all members of Congress who have signed on.”