Judge blocks Trump’s gender-affirming care executive orders nationwide

A federal judge Thursday blocked parts of two executive orders issued by President Trump that collectively seek to restrict gender-affirming care.

U.S. District Judge Brendan Hurson at the conclusion of a hearing found a group of transgender teens and LGBTQ organizations that sued were likely to prevail on all of their claims that the orders are without authority and amount to illegal and unconstitutional discrimination.

It adds to a series of court orders across the country in recent days temporarily blocking Trump’s actions, ranging from orders restricting birthright citizenship to transferring incarcerated transgender women to male facilities to Trump’s firing of the head of a whistleblower office.

Under Hurson’s new ruling, various federal agencies are temporarily prohibited from withholding or conditioning funding based on a health care facility providing gender-affirming care anywhere in the country.

The plaintiffs — a group of transgender teens, their parents and two organizations, PFLAG and GLMA — raised alarm that hospitals across the country quickly moved to cancel appointments after Trump issued two executive orders as part of what his administration has called a crackdown on “gender ideology.”

The Justice Department contested the plaintiffs’ arguments, also insisting that the case was premature and should wait for additional guidance. The judge rejected those arguments, going as far as to call the government’s position “disingenuous” at one point.