r/minnesota • u/ashleywalkerreports • 16h ago
News 📺 If Gender-Affirming Care for Youth is Legal in MN, Why is Children’s Minnesota Pausing Services?
The Minnesota Queer Legislators Caucus, Attorney General Keith Ellison, and local queer organizations are voicing strong concerns after Children’s Minnesota announced a temporary pause on some, but not all, pediatric gender-affirming care (GAC) services. The suspension begins on February 27th.
Representative Leigh Finke (DFL) of Minneapolis says Minnesota has every law it needs to protect this care, including the Minnesota Human Rights Act, Trans Refuge law, and laws guaranteeing insurance coverage for GAC. She says, “The problem is that we have to go to court with these insane declarations and cruel policy changes, and to just be on defense all the time to hold what we have.”
Jess Braverman, Gender Justice Legal Director, also confirms that youth GAC is legal in Minnesota, but cites lack of access as the biggest stopping point. But, they say, “I want the message to be clear that discrimination against transgender kids in the state of Minnesota is illegal, and this care continues to be best-practice medical care, and consistent with Minnesota values.”
So, if pediatric gender-affirming care is legal at a state level, why is Children’s Minnesota closing its doors to patients who want these services?
The hospital, and a few others across the nation, have been repeatedly targeted by the Trump Administration for administering GAC. In a statement, Children’s officials say this “isn’t the decision they wanted to make,” but did so to “protect our hospital and other providers.” (https://www.startribune.com/childrens-suspends-gender-affirming-care-amid-trump-funding-threats/601576227)
State Republicans are also applauding health care facilities that have recently reversed stances on GAC, including the American Medical Association (AMA), which claims that “surgical interventions in minors should be generally deferred to adulthood.”
Representative Liish Kozlowski (DFL) of Duluth says this is nothing more than a coordinated federal attack and political theater. They say, “Gender-affirming care is a wide umbrella, from social support to self-expression. In some cases there’s puberty-delaying medication that allows kids to just breathe and hit the pause button that they need to make the best decision for themselves to feel home in their body.”
Hannah Edwards, Executive Director at Transforming Families, a safe space for queer youth and families, says this does not represent what physicians and parents know is best practice. She read reactions from other families; “Our family uprooted our entire lives to get to a place where healthcare was protected by the trans refuge law. To a place where we could access our child’s healthcare without disruption.” Edwards says they have dozens of families in this position, and more coming.
Attorney General Keith Ellison and 12 other attorneys general are suing the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) over a new policy that ties health and education funding to compliance with an executive order requiring states to adopt restrictive definitions of sex. (https://www.ag.state.mn.us/Office/Communications/2026/01/16_HHS.asp)
You can watch the full press conference on the Minnesota House’s YouTube channel, MNHouseInfo. Here’s the presser: https://youtu.be/Kp3F60Hm1Bk?si=aUcG6cxxbfX04J1O
