Legal documents outline the impossible choices faced by families attacked by the Trump regime and stonewalled by CHLA—and how lawyers stepped up to stop them.
Thank you for this excellent reporting, S. Baum. These brave families exemplify how we can push back successfully if we are determined and savvy enough.
Excellent report. It's worth noting parents fighting the same type of subpoena of the records of DC's Children's Hospital recently had it quashed thanks to the efforts of the parents' private attorney and GLAD, a terrific GLBTQ legal advocacy organization based in Boston MA.
These stories recall the resistence to the Nazis. I know we draw this comparison to often, when the truth is closer to the abolishionists fighting against slavery and the elite white men who believed everyone was inferior to them
This is incredibly affirming news and a meaningful victory for privacy, dignity, and the rights of transgender youth and their families.
The Trump administration’s attempt to compel Children’s Hospital Los Angeles to turn over sensitive medical information for more than 3,000 transgender minors raised serious legal and ethical concerns, particularly around constitutional privacy protections and the sanctity of confidential health care decisions.
Thanks to the courage of the six CHLA families who stood up and filed suit — and the legal teams who backed them — the Department of Justice has withdrawn its demand for identifying patient records.
The settlement not only safeguards these children’s private health information but also reaffirms that medical decisions belong in the exam room, not political investigations.
This outcome is a strong reminder that families and patients have the right to confidentiality and respect.
Efforts to weaponize personal health data for political leverage should be rejected, and today’s resolution sends a clear message that privacy and dignity must be protected — especially for minors seeking lawful, medically supported care.
Overall, it’s a meaningful win for civil liberties and for every family that refused to be intimidated into giving up their rights.
This just proves that we can never give in and continue to be vigilant, stand strong and united
This is great news. ‘Gender-affirming care’ is on the federal government’s Banned Words list and its removal from government publications also removes the evidence base for its effectiveness. As it is replaced with the anti-healthcare term ‘sex-rejecting procedures,’ which is then declared to be associated with increased depression and suicide, the federal government will argue that it is not medical care and therefore not covered by privacy laws. It is important that states step up and explicitly protect gender-affirming care as medical care, with all attendant rights, access and privacy.
Heroism sometimes comes from little children, and I imagine sometimes their voices shake. I know mine would. No child should have to experience this abuse from their government.
My family is preparing to leave the country to keep our trans daughter safe. It’s difficult and painful to leave everything we know behind, but it’s worth so much more to keep her safe and who she is
Nothing good ever comes of authoritarian governments making lists of disfavored minorities. I'm glad it's meeting resistance, but it's maddening that so many institutions have caved so easily, and that so many more offer silence instead of support.
Thank you for this excellent reporting, S. Baum. These brave families exemplify how we can push back successfully if we are determined and savvy enough.
Excellent report. It's worth noting parents fighting the same type of subpoena of the records of DC's Children's Hospital recently had it quashed thanks to the efforts of the parents' private attorney and GLAD, a terrific GLBTQ legal advocacy organization based in Boston MA.
These stories recall the resistence to the Nazis. I know we draw this comparison to often, when the truth is closer to the abolishionists fighting against slavery and the elite white men who believed everyone was inferior to them
History never repeats, but it rhymes.*
There are certainly parallels to Nazi oppression, the fight against slavery, colonialism, and many other human rights abuses over history.
* Paraphrase of Mark Twain, Charles Dudley Warner, and Theodor Reik; see https://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/01/12/history-rhymes/
This is incredibly affirming news and a meaningful victory for privacy, dignity, and the rights of transgender youth and their families.
The Trump administration’s attempt to compel Children’s Hospital Los Angeles to turn over sensitive medical information for more than 3,000 transgender minors raised serious legal and ethical concerns, particularly around constitutional privacy protections and the sanctity of confidential health care decisions.
Thanks to the courage of the six CHLA families who stood up and filed suit — and the legal teams who backed them — the Department of Justice has withdrawn its demand for identifying patient records.
The settlement not only safeguards these children’s private health information but also reaffirms that medical decisions belong in the exam room, not political investigations.
This outcome is a strong reminder that families and patients have the right to confidentiality and respect.
Efforts to weaponize personal health data for political leverage should be rejected, and today’s resolution sends a clear message that privacy and dignity must be protected — especially for minors seeking lawful, medically supported care.
Overall, it’s a meaningful win for civil liberties and for every family that refused to be intimidated into giving up their rights.
This just proves that we can never give in and continue to be vigilant, stand strong and united
This is great news. ‘Gender-affirming care’ is on the federal government’s Banned Words list and its removal from government publications also removes the evidence base for its effectiveness. As it is replaced with the anti-healthcare term ‘sex-rejecting procedures,’ which is then declared to be associated with increased depression and suicide, the federal government will argue that it is not medical care and therefore not covered by privacy laws. It is important that states step up and explicitly protect gender-affirming care as medical care, with all attendant rights, access and privacy.
Heroism sometimes comes from little children, and I imagine sometimes their voices shake. I know mine would. No child should have to experience this abuse from their government.
Excellent! Thank you, Baum.
What do these lawyers like to drink? I'll send them more.
Finally some good news
This is huge. Thank you so much for this reporting!!!
My family is preparing to leave the country to keep our trans daughter safe. It’s difficult and painful to leave everything we know behind, but it’s worth so much more to keep her safe and who she is
So proud of those parents and their amazing lawyers taking the fight to Trump!
Nothing good ever comes of authoritarian governments making lists of disfavored minorities. I'm glad it's meeting resistance, but it's maddening that so many institutions have caved so easily, and that so many more offer silence instead of support.
Thank you and thank you to those courageous families that stood firm for everyone’s rights.
Some good news. It shows how banding together and pushing back can actually work.
Let’s keep winning. Continue to expose these buffoons as trying to keep us distracted.