\u201cThis was\u202fa very difficult\u202fdecision,\u202fmade to ensure we can continue serving all children and families across the communities we serve,\u201d a CHOC spokesperson said in a statement to LAist.<\/p>\n
But parents of CHOC patients who attended a rally Saturday opposing the move said that they were not consulted by hospital leadership for the decision. Some said they would have advocated for CHOC to preserve its gender-affirming care for all patients if they were.<\/p>\n
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Security guards stood watch over the rally from the roof of an adjacent CHOC-owned building.<\/p>\n
Haley Horton, a health care advocate who carpools to CHOC with trans youth patients, said the hospital’s move was a \u201cbusiness decision.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c\u200aI know my son’s nurse who’s at this hospital doesn’t want that happening,\u201d Horton said. \u201cI know the doctors at this hospital don’t want this to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
The background behind the decision<\/p>\n
An ongoing concern for hospitals is the potential that their Medicaid and Medicare funding will be revoked if they offer gender-affirming care to minors.<\/p>\n
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services are currently in the middle of a public comment period for two proposed rule changes that would stop the use of federal dollars for gender-affirming care for youth, and restrict all Medicare and Medicaid funding for hospitals that provide the care.<\/p>\n
Those rules have not taken effect and are expected to be challenged by LGBTQ+ legal rights organizations.<\/p>\n
A CHOC spokesperson also confirmed to LAist that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services\u2019 inspector general\u2019s office had launched an investigation into the hospital. Legal experts interviewed by LAist have referred to subpoenas and investigations launched by the federal government as \u201cscare tactics,\u201d and say that it\u2019s possible they won\u2019t hold up in court.<\/p>\n
According to TransFamily Support Services, a San Diego-based organization that also protested the closure of Rady Children\u2019s Hospital\u2019s clinic in San Diego, the hospital system will continue to offer<\/a> services like hormone replacement therapy to people 19 and older.<\/p>\n CHOC did not respond to a direct question from LAist asking the hospital what provisions were being made for families who now have two weeks to find another health care provider in an extremely precarious market. When Children\u2019s Hospital Los Angeles closed its gender-affirming care clinic last July, administrators gave families a six-week off-ramp to find another provider, and many doctors wrote out prescriptions to tide people over for months.<\/p>\n What families are saying<\/p>\n Though Horton’s son isn’t trans, she said she has been in touch with the families she knows with trans teenagers who are patients at CHOC. She told LAist that those families did not attend the weekend rally in order to protect their mental health as they \u201cscramble\u201d to find alternate care.<\/p>\n The rally also drew turnout from elected officials and public figures, like Tustin School Board Trustee Allyson Mu\u00f1iz Damikolas.<\/p>\n Damikolas said she came out on behalf of her kids, who are also patients at CHOC due to a complex medical condition, and to support trans youth nationwide.<\/p>\n Chris Kluwe, a former NFL player turned political advocate who\u2019s running to represent Huntington Beach in the state assembly, said CHOC\u2019s leaders were \u201ccowardly bureaucrats who aren’t willing to stand up and do the right thing\u201d in the face of a \u201ctyrannical federal government.”<\/p>\n Chris Kluwe, who’s running to represent Huntington Beach in the state assembly, showed up to rally against the CHOC clinic’s closure.<\/p>\n OC LGBTQ+\u00a0 groups denounce the move<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aI’m a transgender woman and I’m here to tell you that denying people this gender affirming care doesn’t make gender dysphoria go away,\u201d said Stephanie Wade, chair of Lavender Democrats of Orange County. \u201cAll it does is make it metastasize into suicidal depression. And I’ve been there. I dealt with this as a child. We can’t take this away from kids.\u201d<\/p>\n Wade pointed to studies<\/a> that show<\/a> that trans youth who are denied access to gender-affirming care are more likely to attempt suicide.<\/p>\n Stephanie Wade of Lavender Democrats was one of many local LGBTQ political leaders attending Saturday’s rally.<\/p>\n Felicity Figueroa, the chair of the Orange County Equality Coalition, called on hospital leadership to consult with the families and doctors, especially given that the proposed federal rules have not yet taken effect.<\/p>\n \u200a\u201cThey’re saying it’s gonna affect the other kids who aren’t LGBTQ,\u201d Figueroa said. \u201cBut are they asking the parents of the other kids if they’re willing to throw their neighbor’s kids under the bus just because of a [possibility]? That’s the thing. They aren’t listening.\u201d<\/p>\n Lasting concerns\u00a0<\/p>\n Brit Cervantes of OCGAPNet, an advocacy organization for gender-affirming providers in Orange County, said the closure of CHOC\u2019s clinic would likely have ripple effects that could reverberate for years.<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aThere’s going to be a time where we exist beyond this administration, and we will have to work to rebuild this trust with our patients after we abandon them. \u200aThat is a very long lasting impact,\u201d Cervantes said.<\/p>\n Cervantes, a medical professional, said that discontinuing hormone therapy can lead to major complications akin to what menopausal women experience.<\/p>\n In addition to the effects on local adolescents, the rally\u2019s organizers also pointed to what they saw as a wider-scale erosion of rights and norms under the second Trump administration. It took place on the same day that ICU nurse Alex Pretti was shot and killed by immigration agents on the streets of Minneapolis.<\/p>\n Speakers at the rally outside CHOC blasted the hospital leadership for capitulating to the Trump administration.<\/p>\n Kanan Durham, executive director of the Huntington Beach-based nonprofit Pride at the Pier, linked the closure to \u201cblackmail, intimidation and state violence\u201d happening at other levels of the federal government, including the actions of immigration enforcement officers in Minneapolis.<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aSuggesting that evidenced-based health care that is supported by every major institution in the Western world is medical fraud is to set a foundation where the government can decide who is allowed to have health care and who is not,\u201d Durham said. \u201cThey are making decisions based on their own moral judgements. And if that’s where they’re coming from, then any American, anybody living in this country has their health care under risk.\u201d<\/p>\n The backstory<\/p>\n Children\u2019s Hospital Los Angeles, which was the largest provider of pediatric gender-affirming care in the country, closed its Center for Transyouth Health and Development last July<\/a>, affecting even patients over 19.<\/p>\n That was followed by other providers who said they\u2019d stop or pause certain types of health care for trans youth, including Kaiser Permanente\u2019s ongoing pause of gender-affirming surgeries and certain implants for people under 19.<\/p>\n Advocates say these closures are making it harder and harder for trans youth in Southern California to find the care that they need.<\/p>\n Pride at the Pier, OCGAPNet and TransFamily Support Services are also soliciting signatures for an open letter<\/a> to CHOC and Rady\u2019s leadership asking them to reverse their decision.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1769942864_409_.jpeg\")
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