We, the undersigned LGBTQ+ organizations, strongly oppose the May 2025 report issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which denies science and ignores decades of peer-reviewed research supporting the legitimacy and safety of health care for transgender youth. This document is not a neutral review of evidence; it is a politically motivated agenda that misrepresents established medical consensus and risks serious harm to vulnerable young people and their families. It is promoting dangerous, discredited conversion therapy by another name.
Every major medical association in the United States, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, and the American Psychiatric Association, affirms that health care for transgender people delivered in a thoughtful, individualized, age-appropriate manner based on the standards of care is essential, safe, and often life-saving.
The HHS report fuels misinformation, sows confusion in an already politicized landscape, and emboldens efforts to criminalize care for transgender youth and their caregivers across the country.
The implications are dangerous. Just as we’ve seen the consequences of sidelining medical expertise in other areas of health policy, allowing politics to dictate standards of care undermines the health and well-being of youth. These decisions belong in the hands of patients, their families, and their trained medical providers, not bureaucrats or politicians.
We urge policymakers and the public to reject this misleading report and instead turn to the full body of research and expert consensus that supports the safety and efficacy of the health care that transgender youth receive. We remain steadfast in our commitment to ensuring that every young person, regardless of their gender identity, has access to the care, dignity, and support they deserve.
Signed,
PFLAG Greater Boston – Nina Selvaggio, Executive Director
Fenway Health – Jordina Shanks, CEO
Transhealth – Jo Erwin, CEO
The Network/La Red – Beth Leventhal, Executive Director
MassEquality – Tanya V. Neslusan, Executive Director
MA Transgender Political Coalition – Tre’Andre Valentine, Executive Director
SpeakOUT Boston – Ellyn Ruthstrom, Executive Director
