{"id":230525,"date":"2026-03-21T22:26:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T22:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/230525\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T22:26:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T22:26:09","slug":"san-diego-civil-rights-suit-targets-rady-childrens-health-over-transgender-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/230525\/","title":{"rendered":"San Diego civil rights suit targets Rady Children\u2019s Health over transgender care"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A<\/a>Rady Children\u2019s Hospital. (Photo by Thomas Murphy\/Times of San Diego)<\/p>\n

This\u00a0story<\/a>\u00a0was originally published by\u00a0CalMatters<\/a>.\u00a0Sign up<\/a>\u00a0for their newsletters.<\/p>\n

Four San Diego-area families allege that Rady Children\u2019s Health<\/a> violated the civil rights of their transgender children by deciding to discontinue gender-affirming care, according to a class action lawsuit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The complaint, filed in San Diego County Superior Court, accuses the regional health system of discriminating against transgender children in violation of multiple state laws. It claims the roughly 1,900 patients of Rady\u2019s gender clinic suffered harm from canceled appointments, inability to access medications such as hormone therapy and emotional distress caused by the hospital\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy singling out transgender patients and terminating their medically necessary care without consent or concern for their physical and mental health, defendants have discriminated against plaintiffs on the basis of their sex, gender identity, and disability,\u201d the complaint, filed Thursday, states.<\/p>\n

Representatives for Rady did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The health system has not yet filed a response in court.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In late January, Rady Children\u2019s Health \u2013 which operates hospitals in San Diego, Orange and Imperial counties \u2013 said it would no longer provide gender-affirming care for minors because of \u201crecent federal actions.\u201d The Trump administration has characterized transgender health procedures as \u201cchemical and surgical mutilation\u201d and directed federal agencies to defund any supportive programs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Federal investigators have subpoenaed clinics and hospitals around the country, including Rady Children\u2019s Health. The Trump administration is also pursuing a rule change\u00a0that would eliminate<\/a>\u00a0government funding for hospitals that provide transgender health care to minors, effectively creating a near total national ban on the services.<\/p>\n

Attorney General Rob\u00a0Bonta sued Rady<\/a>\u00a0in February under a provision of the state\u2019s corporations code, alleging that the health system had violated a merger agreement that required it to maintain existing services, including gender-affirming care. A judge issued a temporary restraining order<\/a> prohibiting Rady from terminating services. That litigation is ongoing.<\/p>\n

LGBTQ advocates across the state criticized Bonta, however, for not pursuing civil rights violation charges against Rady. California law prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity and defines gender-affirming services, which can include therapy, hormone treatment and surgery, as \u201cmedically necessary health care.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Other medical institutions in California have already terminated or limited gender-affirming care for minors citing federal pressure. Advocates had hoped that legal intervention from the state would have a broader impact on these hospitals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This lawsuit aims to help patients of Rady\u2019s gender clinic as well as send a message to other children\u2019s health providers, said Shannon Minter, legal director for the National Center for LGBTQ Rights, which represents the plaintiffs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t just as a society stand by silently and passively while hospitals, of all places, make decisions to exclude an entire group of people just based on who they are. That sets such a dangerous precedent,\u201d Minter said.<\/p>\n

The country\u2019s leading medical societies \u2013 including the\u00a0American Medical Association<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0American Academy of Pediatrics<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 and\u00a0dozens of independent scientific studies<\/a>\u00a0recognize gender dysphoria as a serious medical condition requiring treatment.<\/p>\n

CalMatters<\/a>\u00a0is a nonpartisan and nonprofit news organization bringing Californians stories that probe, explain and explore solutions to quality of life issues while holding our leaders accountable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rady Children\u2019s Hospital. (Photo by Thomas Murphy\/Times of San Diego) This\u00a0story\u00a0was originally published by\u00a0CalMatters.\u00a0Sign up\u00a0for their newsletters. Four…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":230526,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[1846,81393,12656,74,76,75,40284],"class_list":["post-230525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-lawsuit","tag-rady-childrens-health","tag-rady-childrens-hospital","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-transgender"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=230525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230525\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/230526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=230525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=230525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}