Features

Some global LGBTQ travelers are skipping America this Pride season

Dan Allen June 6, 2025

People march in the 2024 San Diego Pride Parade.Daniel Knighton / Getty Images

For many European gays, the festive Eurovision Song Contest each May marks the unofficial kickoff to the global Pride season.

As usual, there were soaring highlights and scandalous lowlights among the competing Eurovision nations at the 2025 edition of the contest in Basel, Switzerland, this month. But another country was on the lips of many queer jet-setters this year: the United States, with its spate of new anti-trans and anti-immigrant policies that are causing some LGBTQ travelers to reconsider their upcoming American itineraries.

Several European countries, including Denmark, Finland and Germany, have issued official cautions for LGBTQ travelers visiting the U.S., particularly those with an “X” gender listed on their passport. Meanwhile, out of concerns for participant safety, Canada’s leading LGBTQ rights group, Egale Canada, pulled out of participation in WorldPride DC, and the African Human Rights Coalitionhas called for a boycott of this edition of the international Pride event, coordinated by InterPride and usually held every two years.

“It doesn’t feel right to at the moment,” Karl Krause told NBC News at Eurovision in Basel, referring to travel to the U.S. Krause, who is German by birth, lives in Amsterdam with his Dutch partner, Daan Colijn, and together they are travel-focused content creators known to their followers as Couple of Men. In 2021, Lonely Planet awarded them its first Best in Travel LGBTIQ Storyteller Award, a nod to their work for the LGBTQ community.

Daan Colijn and Karl Krause smiling and holding hands during Fort Lauderdale Pride — Daan Colijn and Karl Krause during Fort Lauderdale Pride in 2023.Couple of Men

“As gay men traveling to the U.S., we are probably still the more privileged part of the community,” Krause said. “But we had some interesting conversations recently in Bilbao with a trans person who was like, ‘I cannot, I literally cannot travel to the U.S., because I have no idea how they would receive my diverse passport, if I would be put in detention or whatever. I have my little daughter — I’m not going to risk any of this.’”

Krause said that was the moment he realized that while he and Colijn as gay men may not yet be feeling the full effects of the Trump administration’s policies, they were already having an impact on other travelers within the LGBTQ community.

“So how can we in good feeling promote this destination?” he asked. “How can I send a trans friend or nonbinary friend and try to inspire them to go to the U.S. when they are in what’s supposed to be the best time of their year, to spend in a country where they don’t feel safe?”

Colijn added that he and Krause want to send their followers “somewhere where they are safe, where they feel welcome.”

“At the moment, of course a lot of people will still feel very, very welcome in the majority of America — a lot of places are still the same, or maybe even trying to do better. But we just want to be careful in what we are supporting,” Colijn said.

John Tanzella, president and CEO of the International LGBTQ+ Travel Association, or IGLTA, told NBC News that such concerns are commonplace this year.

“We’ve heard from travelers feeling uncertain about visiting the U.S., especially trans and gender-diverse individuals,” he said. “These decisions are often driven by concerns about safety, treatment at the border and access to affirming health care. Some have canceled their trips. Many others are still coming, but they’re being more selective about where they go.”

Nicoló Manfredini, an Italian trans man living in Valencia, Spain, said he was recently able to enter the U.S. without incident thanks to having an “M” marker on his passport, but the government’s anti-trans policies currently make America a place he would rather not visit again.

“Originally I had planned to go to WorldPride, but not now,” he said.

Given the current environment in the U.S., Manfredini added, he said he would only travel to the U.S. if he had to do so for work.

Even American gender-diverse people are adjusting their travel plans because of Trump administration policies, according to a study released earlier this month by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law. Of the more than 300 transgender, nonbinary and other gender-diverse people surveyed, 70% said they are less likely to go on vacation to U.S. states they view as less trans-affirming.

Krause said that despite usually attending at least one and sometimes several U.S. Pride events every year, this year will be different.

“We were actually planning to go to Washington, D.C., for WorldPride, but this is off the table for us … How safe can we be in Washington? Just saying that scares me a little bit,” he said, noting the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol was particularly concerning. “I don’t know what is going on there now and who is coming, and I don’t feel safe with the idea that I’m going there and I’m walking and maybe there is a mob [coming] from whatever direction.”

Capital Pride Alliance, the organizers behind WorldPride DC, which started earlier this month and continues through June 8, did not respond to requests for comment from NBC News, but the event’s website details security protocols and includes a passport advisory for transgender and nonbinary travelers.

Sahand Miraminy, director of operations for Capital Pride Alliance, told The Washington Post this week that security measures at WorldPride DC will include weapons screening at the entrance to the street festival June 7 and 8, which will also be fenced in.

In addition to the local and federal “agency support that we have, we also hire private security and have many forms of safety measures and surveillance that we may not share at all times with the public,” he said, “but there are certainly conversations that we’re having with those agencies on a weekly basis.”

Organizers at NYC Pride, arguably the most globally popular of U.S. Pride events each year and held like most big cities during Pride Month in June, are also stepping up security plans for 2025.

“NYC Pride has contracted a private firm with vast experience managing LGBTQIA+ events to lead on-site security,” spokesperson Kevin Kilbride said. “Given the size and visibility of our events, NYC Pride is monitored and secured by municipal agencies at every level of government to protect our freedom of expression and ensure a safe space for our community.”

A person looks out a window — A reveler looking out a window during the 2023 Pride Parade in in New York City. David Dee Delgado / Reuters file

Tanzella said that since safety is unfortunately never guaranteed for the LGBTQ community, careful planning is more essential than ever for LGBTQ travelers coming to the U.S. this year.

“Research destinations with strong reputations for inclusion and visible LGBTQ+ support,” he advised. “Connect with local LGBTQ+ organizations for on-the-ground insights, stay informed about local laws and current events, and have a plan for accessing affirming health care if needed. Most importantly, prioritize places where you feel respected and supported.”

Cities and states with long-standing reputations for LGBTQ inclusivity are getting more attention, Tanzella added.

“In this climate, a destination’s visible commitment to inclusion through its policies, community engagement, and public support truly matters,” he said.

In October, the IGLTA will host its annual global convention in Palm Springs, California, a destination Colijn said he and Krause can and will enthusiastically visit.

“We were there just last year, and we felt how amazing and welcome and how much old queer culture is there,” he said. “So of course we want to go there, and we can fully tell people to go there. Unless of course we might get in trouble at the border.”

Krause, however, noted that he and Colijn still haven’t booked their Palm Springs trip just yet, because they fear that under the Trump administration “everything can change overnight.”

“There is no long-term planning,” he said.

Kilbride said he understands the need global queer travelers feel to exhibit caution this year, but he said he believes Pride remains one of the most powerful tools in the collective struggle for equality.

“We stand with the international LGBTIA+ community, particularly our trans and nonbinary siblings,” he said. “But we also believe the fight for our community is more important now than ever. We need to show up big to make it clear: We’re here, we’re queer, and we’re not going anywhere.”

Features/ Top Stories/ Transgender / Transsexual

Republican support for same-sex marriage is lowest in a decade, Gallup Poll finds

Brooke Sopelsa June 5, 2025

Marriage for same-sex couples has been legal across the United States since the Supreme Court’s Obergefell v. Hodges decision a decade ago. While Democratic support for gay nuptials has risen steadily since that landmark 2015 ruling, Republican support has tumbled 14 points since its record high of 55% in 2021 and 2022, according to a Gallup report released Thursday.

In the latest Gallup Poll, 41% of Republicans and 88% of Democrats said marriages between same-sex couples should be “recognized by the law as valid, with the same rights as traditional marriages.” This 47-point gap is the largest it has been since Gallup first started asking the question in 1996. The report found 76% of independents and 68% of all U.S. adults surveyed backed marriage rights for same-sex couples.

A separate question about whether “gay or lesbian relations” are “morally acceptable or morally wrong” found a similar political trend, with 86% of Democrats, 69% of independents and 38% of Republicans answering answering “morally acceptable.”

When broken down by nonpolitical subgroups, women, younger people and college graduates were more likely to support gay marriage and find same-sex relations morally acceptable than men, older people and those who did not graduate college.

The Gallup report’s authors noted that the “widening political divide suggests potential vulnerabilities in the durability of LGBTQ+ rights” in the country.

The report cited Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ concurring opinion in the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling — which overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade abortion rights decision — that stated the high court ”should reconsider” some of its past rulings, including the 2015 same-sex marriage decision.

And, as NBC News reported earlier this year, lawmakers in at least nine states have introduced measures to try to chip away at same-sex couples’ right to marry.

Everybody's Business/ Features/ Top Stories

These 14 corporations have stopped or scaled back sponsorship of LGBTQ+ Pride events

Ryan Adamczeski, The Advocate June 4, 2025

When corporations got rid of their diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, many also axed their commitments to LGBTQ+ Pride Month.

Even before Donald Trump’s executive orders terminating all DEI positions in the federal government, dozens of major companies had already abandoned their practices. Many made their decisions after conservatives online specifically targeted them for their policies and threatened boycotts, with failed filmmaker turned failed congressional candidate Robby Starbuck taking credit for spearheading the movement.

This withdrawal didn’t just encompass inclusive work environments and hiring practices, or participation in the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index — in abandoning DEI, companies also ceased many of their community partnerships. This included small businesses, minority- and women-owned businesses, and organizations supporting underserved groups: veterans, people of color, and LGBTQ+ people.

As a result, many of the companies abandoning DEI have stopped sponsoring Pride Month events. Here are the companies that have walked back their support, some of them after decades of allyship.

Anheuser-Busch

The brewer behind brands such as Bud Light, Budweiser, Corona, and Stella Artois declined to sponsor Pride in its home city of St. Louis after a partnership of over 30 years. DEI and outreach director, Jordan Braxton, told NBC News that St. Louis Pride was left $150,000 short of its goal, until donations from the community made up the difference within days.

The company also withdrew from San Francisco Pride and Columbus Pride. Anheuser-Busch, which was the target of a conservative boycott after simply sending a free beer to a transgender influencer, has not yet commented publicly on its backing out of Pride events.

Booz Allen Hamilton

U.S. government defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corp. dropped its sponsorship of WorldPride, which is being hosted in Washington, D.C. from May 17 to June 8., shortly after it ended its DEI programs.

Chief People Officer Aimee George Leary said during a virtual company town hall first viewed by Bloomberg : “While our existing people programs comply with law, it is clear from [Trump’s] executive orders and other public statements, that the definition of what’s allowed is changing, so we must make changes. If we don’t, we could be ineligible for contracts with the federal government. This would put our ability to operate and our company at risk.”

Citi

Banking giant Citi was one of the low-level donors that withdrew or scaled back its sponsorship of NYC Pride. Spokesperson Kevin Kilbride told The New York Times that “the vast majority of what we have heard is that folks are treading carefully from an economic perspective.”

Comcast

Comcast was another major company that withdrew from San Francisco Pride, according to Ford. A spokesperson for the corporation would not comment on why it backed out, but noted to NBC that it is sponsoring other Pride celebrations in its home state of California, including Silicon Valley Pride, Oakland Pride, and some events at San Francisco Pride that are hosted by other nonprofits.

Diageo

Diageo, the company behind alcohol brands such as Baileys, Captain Morgan, Crown Royal, and Smirnoff among others also withdrew from San Francisco Pride. A spokesperson told NBC that the company backed out due to some changes in the sponsorships budget for California, but that it would still be active in the city during June, and would be involved in Pride events around the country through its Smirnoff vodka brand.

Garnier

Heritage of Pride, the organization that produces New York City’s annual Pride events, previously had five “Platinum” donors — those who had donated $175,000. This year, it has just one. Hair care company Garnier was one of the four “Platinum” donors that has withdrawn its support in 2025 after several years of sponsorship.

Lowe’s

Lowe’s Home Improvement withdrew its support for Pride Month events this year in Columbus, Ohio. Stonewall Columbus Executive Director Densil Porteous told The Columbus Dispatch that the $125,000 in lost donations was made up for by the community and their other partners.

“Those [companies] who probably only saw this opportunity as a marketing moment have backed down, and we are sorry to see them go,” Porteous said. “But we are thankful for those partners who continue to support us.”

Mastercard

Mastercard was another one of NYC Pride’s four “Platinum” donors that withdrew support after several years of sponsoring the celebration. However, the company will still be participating in the march and other events.

“Mastercard is a longstanding supporter of the many communities of which our employees are members, including the LGBTQIA+ community globally,” a spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal.

Nissan

Automaker Nissan was another one of the low-level donors that withdrew or scaled back its sponsorship of NYC Pride, while also withdrawing from San Francisco Pride and Columbus Pride.

A spokesperson told NBC that the company is “currently reviewing all marketing and sales spending, including auto shows, sports properties and other entertainment activations, to maximize both efficiency and breakthrough effectiveness,” adding, “Nissan remains committed to promoting an inclusive culture for employees, consumers, dealers and other key stakeholders.”

PepsiCo

PepsiCo — which makes Aquafina, Cap’n Crunch, Cheetos, Doritos, Frito’s, Gatorade, Lay’s, Life, cereal, Lipton, Mountain Dew, Tostitos, and Quaker Oats among other snacks and drinks — was another one of the low-level donors that withdrew or scaled back its sponsorship of NYC Pride.

PricewaterhouseCoopers

Consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers was another one of the low-level donors that withdrew or scaled back its sponsorship of NYC Pride, as first reported by WSJ.

Skyy Vodka

Skyy Vodka was another one of the four “Platinum” donors that either stopped or scaled back support, or asked for their involvement to go unpublicized, as first reported by The Times.

Target

Target is the fourth “Platinum” donor to alter its commitment to Heritage of Pride. While the company is still “sponsoring NYC Pride at a level consistent with last year,” according to spokesperson Joe Unger, Kilbride told The Times that it is contributing as a “silent partner” and requested not to be listed as a Platinum donor to avoid “the publicity.”

Conversely, after Target made the decision to drop DEI initiatives, the largest Pride festival in the company’s home state of Minnesota decided to drop them as a sponsor. Twin Cities Pride raised over twice the amount pledged by Target in less than 24 hours.

Related:Target dropped DEI, so Minnesota’s largest Pride festival dropped Target’s sponsorship — and raised even more

Walmart

Walmart withdrew its sponsorship from Stonewall Columbus’ Pride Month Events. The company said that store employees in the Columbus area will still be volunteering with community organizations, including LGBTQ+ organizations.

Spokesperson Jimmy Carter told The Dispatch that the company is focused on “creating an environment where our associates and customers feel they belong.”

Features/ Top Stories/ Transgender / Transsexual

Most LGBTQ adults feel Americans don’t accept transgender people, Pew poll finds

The Associated Press June 4, 2025

LGBTQ people in the U.S. see lower social acceptance for transgender people than those who are lesbian, gay or bisexual, a new Pew Research Center poll found.

Pew found that about 6 in 10 LGBTQ adults said there is “a great deal” or “a fair amount” of social acceptance in the U.S. for gay and lesbian people. Only about 1 in 10 said the same for nonbinary and transgender people — and about half said there was “not much” or no acceptance at all for transgender people.

Giovonni Santiago, a 39-year-old transgender man and Air Force veteran who lives in Northeast Ohio and was not a participant in the survey, said he feels that acceptance for transgender people has declined in the last few years – roughly in step with the rise of state laws banning gender-affirming care for transgender minors, regulating which school and public bathrooms transgender people can use and which sports they can play.

He said he’s seen acceptance get worse nationally, following the lead of some places that were early adopters of restrictions.

“They were like the anomaly for ignorance and in hatred, especially towards trans people,” Santiago said. “But now we see that it’s just kind of sweeping the nation, unfortunately.”

Still, Santiago said he doesn’t fear for his own personal safety — a contrast with most transgender people, who said they have feared for their safety at some point.

“I guess I don’t feel it as much because I live a life that most people don’t know that I’m trans unless I specifically tell them,” said Santiago, who runs a nonprofit dedicated to supporting transgender youth.

The survey of 3,959 LGBTQ adults was conducted in January, after President Donald Trump was elected but just before he returned to office and set into motion a series of policies that question the existence of transgender people.

Demonstrators hold signs that read, "Protest Trans Youth." — A “Rise Up for Trans Youth” rally in New York against President Donald Trump’s executive actions targeting transgender people on Feb. 7.Stephanie Keith / Bloomberg via Getty Images file

On his first day, Trump signed an executive order calling on the government to recognize people as male or female based on the “biological truth” of their future cells at conception, rather than accept scientific evidence that gender is a spectrum. Since then, he’s begun ousting transgender service members from the military, and tried to bar transgender women and girls from sports competitions for females and block federal funding for gender-affirming care for transgender people under 19, among other orders.

A poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research conducted in May found that about half of U.S. adults approve of how Trump is handling transgender issues, with a range of views on specific actions.

According to the Pew poll, about two-thirds of LGBTQ adults said the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage nationally 10 years ago boosted acceptance of same-sex couples “a lot more” or “somewhat more.” The Supreme Court is expected to rule in coming weeks on a major case regarding transgender people — deciding whether Tennessee can enforce a ban on gender-affirming care for minors.

Transgender people are less likely than gay or lesbian adults to say they’re accepted by all their family members. The majority of LGBTQ said their siblings and friends accepted them, though the rates were slightly higher among gay or lesbian people. About half of gay and lesbian people said their parents did, compared with about one-third of transgender people. Only about 1 in 10 transgender people reported feeling accepted by their extended family, compared with about 3 in 10 gay or lesbian people.

Transgender people are more likely than gay, lesbian or bisexual people to say they feel “extremely” or “very” connected to a broader LGBTQ+ community and to say that all or most of their friends are also LGBTQ.

Some elements of the experience are similar. About one-third of transgender and lesbian or gay adults said they first felt they might be LGBTQ by the time they were 10 and most did by age 13. About half waited until they were at least 18 to first tell someone.

Audrey Campos smiles while standing inside of a club — Audrey Campos hosts a Loteria game night at Jackie O’s Cocktail Club in Fort Worth, Texas, on Tuesday.Ronaldo Bolaños / AP

Aubrey Campos, 41, runs a taco truck near a hub of LGBTQ bars in Fort Worth, Texas, and also serves as a community organizer. She says her parents were supportive when she came out as transgender at about age 12. But the younger trans people she works with often have very different experiences — including some who were kicked out of their homes.

“Now the times are a little bit dark,” she said. “This is a time that we to come together and make it brighter and make it known that we aren’t going to just disappear.”

Features/ Top Stories/ Transgender / Transsexual

Medicare, Medicaid agency demands info on gender-affirming care for trans youth

The Advocate, Trudy Ring June 3, 2025

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, headed by Mehmet Oz, has sent a letter to some hospitals demanding information on their provision of gender-affirming care to transgender youth.

The CMS, like all of Donald Trump’s administration, is opposed to this care, falsely claiming it is experimental and is not supported by evidence.

The letter, dated Wednesday, expresses “urgent concerns with both the quality standards adherence and profits related to these harmful procedures,” says a CMS press release. The release quotes Oz as saying, “These are irreversible, high-risk procedures being conducted on vulnerable children, often at taxpayer expense. Hospitals accepting federal funds are expected to meet rigorous quality standards and uphold the highest level of stewardship when it comes to public resources — we will not turn a blind eye to procedures that lack a solid foundation of evidence and may result in lifelong harm.”

“The United States government has serious concerns with medical interventions for gender dysphoria in children,” the letter reads. “These interventions include surgical procedures that attempt to transform an individual’s physical appearance to align with an identity that differs from his or her sex or that attempt, for purposes of treating gender dysphoria, to alter or remove an individual’s sexual organs to minimize or destroy their natural biological functions. These interventions also include, but are not limited to, the use of puberty blockers, including GnRH agonists and other procedures, approaches, or modalities, to delay the onset or progression of normally-timed puberty for purposes of treating gender dysphoria, as well as the use of sex hormones, such as estrogen, progesterone, or testosterone, and androgen blockers to align an individual’s physical appearance with an identity that differs from his or her sex. … CMS believes that these interventions were initiated with an underdeveloped body of evidence, lack reliable evidence of benefits for minors, and are now known to carry serious risks of long-term and irreparable harm.”

In reality, the procedures are not harmful and are often lifesaving. Studies by the Trevor Project, which assists LGBTQ+ youth in crisis, and other researchers have found that access to gender-affirming care reduces the risk of suicide among young trans people. Also, such care is endorsed by every major medical association, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, and the American Psychiatric Association.

Also, genital surgery is almost never performed on minors, although some undergo top surgery or facial surgery. The effects of puberty blockers are reversible, and the effects of cross-sex hormones usually are as well. Regret about transition is rare.

The letter goes on to ask about “the adequacy of informed consent protocols for children with gender dysphoria, including how children are deemed capable of making these potentially life-changing decisions and when parental consent is required.”

The answer about consent, from a Human Rights Campaign document: “If medications or surgery are part of their gender journey, they are only prescribed after further assessments to ensure they meet prescribing criteria. This can include but is not limited to documentation and referral letters, parental consent, and ongoing mental health support. At all stages, gender-affirming care is only delivered after patients and their families have been counseled, and informed consent has been given.”

The letter further asks for billing codes for gender-affirmation procedures, how much revenue these procedures generate, and what the profit margins for this care are — as if doctors and hospitals are providing it out of greed.

Dr. Kellan E. Baker, executive director of the Institute for Health Research and Policy at Whitman-Walker, an LGBTQ-focused clinic, issues a statement denouncing the letter. “This ‘request’ is a blatant attempt to intimidate providers into betraying their professional obligation to care for their patients,” Baker said. “It is vitally important that hospitals, states, elected officials, and courts stand up to these strong-arm tactics and protect patients’ right to care. And it is vital that providers recognize this document has no legal force or effect and that they continue to provide the care their patients need.”

The letter is one of many steps the Trump administration has taken to target gender-affirming care, as the administration professes not to believe trans people even exist. Trump has issued an executive order threatening to withhold federal funds from any health care provider offering gender-affirming care to people under 19; through the CMS, has advised states to stop paying for this care for young people through Medicaid, which is jointly managed by states and the federal government; and directed the National Institutes of Health to study transition regret, which, again is rare.

A recent study from the Department of Health and Human Services, headed by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is anti-trans, went so far as to recommend conversion therapy for trans youth rather than gender-affirming care. Conversion therapy has been shown to cause harm to young people and has been repudiated by all major medical and mental health organizations. Many states have barred licensed professionals from subjecting minors to it.

The “Big Beautiful Bill” on the federal budget, which was passed narrowly by the House of Representatives and is pending in the Senate, would attack gender-affirming care even further. It would bar Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program from covering any gender-affirming services for people of any age. It also would no longer classify gender-affirming care as an “essential health benefit” under the Affordable Care Act, explicitly excluding transition-related care from private insurance plans regulated by federal standards.

Features/ Top Stories/ Transgender / Transsexual

These families say they’re leaving the U.S. because of its anti-transgender climate

Jo Yarcaba June 3, 2025

Chase, a 9-year-old trans girl, sits with her parents, Candace and Brandon, as their family prepares for a life-changing move to New Zealand. Jimena Peck for NBC News

Denver parents Brandon and Candace are spending tens of thousands of dollars to move to New Zealand in July. The reason, they said, is to protect their 9-year-old transgender daughter, Chase, from the effects of the Trump administration’s policies and an increasingly hostile climate for trans people in the United States.

“You’re taught to believe, or indoctrinated, I suppose, in America that this is the land of the free and promise and all of that, and for my child’s rights to be stripped away for just being herself is gross,” Candace said, adding that she and her family feel like they have “no control over” their future in the United States.

Brandon and Candace, who agreed to speak on the condition that their last names not be used to protect their family from harassment and threats, are one of five families interviewed by NBC News who have either already left or plan to leave the country as a result of federal and state policies targeting transgender people and their health care. The families described fears of increased anti-trans violence and losing access to health care and identification documents that reflect their gender identities.

Chase, a trans girl, shares a quiet moment with her mom, Candace, in Chase's bedroom. — Chase shares a quiet moment in her bedroom with her mom, Candace, and the family cat, who will be joining them in New Zealand.Jimena Peck for NBC News

During Donald Trump’s first presidential term, many trans people talked about leaving the country, according to Sydney Duncan, a lawyer for Advocates for Trans Equality, the country’s largest transgender rights group. However, few people actually did.

Trump’s second term has had a more immediate effect on trans people and their rights because of several executive orders he issued this year. The orders, many of which are blocked in court or have faced lawsuits, have prohibited federal funds from going to hospitals that provide transition-related care to minors, barred trans women and girls from competing in female sports in K-12 schools and colleges, blocked trans people from getting passports that reflect their gender identities and banned trans people from military service.

But while an increasing number of trans people are deciding to leave the United States, Duncan cautioned that it still isn’t a widespread trend.

“The reality is that a lot of people of trans experience don’t have the resources to travel or to escape the policies of this administration,” Duncan said.

Brandon and Candace said they will arrive in New Zealand with only their clothing, sentimental items and ski gear.Jimena Peck for NBC News

‘We were supposed to be safe here’

Brandon and Candace said their fears of having to leave the country were realized just 13 days into Trump’s second term. That is when Chase’s medical team at the Children’s Hospital Colorado told them it could no longer provide transition-related medical care to anyone under 19 because of an executive order Trump issued that barred research and education grants from going to hospitals that provide such care to minors.

The couple were shocked, in part because Colorado is among about a dozen states that have passed “shield” laws intended to protect access to trans health care, they said.

“Our reaction was we were supposed to be safe here until we left,” Candace said. “And immediately, we weren’t.”

Candace looks at a book in her daughter's bedroom. — Chase keeps what the family calls a “pillow library.” It’s a collection of four to five books under her pillow that she reads after her parents put her to bed. Jimena Peck for NBC News

The hospital resumed care for minors in February after a federal judge blocked the order from taking effect, but Brandon said that didn’t provide them with much relief, in part because the Supreme Court is expected to issue a decision in the coming weeks in a lawsuit against Tennessee’s ban on transition-related care for minors. That decision could have an immediate effect on the validity of Trump’s executive order and on access to trans health care for minors and adultsnationwide.

Some parents told NBC News that if the court allows the law to stand, they fear Trump will try to declare all transition care for minors child abuse and direct the attorney general to investigate parents who have been vocal advocates for their trans kids, similar to what Republican officials in Texas did in 2022. Trump issued a proclamation in April for Child Abuse Prevention Month declaring “the sinister threat of gender ideology” one of “the most prevalent forms of child abuse facing our country today.”

So far, Chase hasn’t received any transition-related care other than therapy and regular checks at the hospital to monitor for when she starts puberty. However, she is likely to consider it in the near future, and Brandon and Candace said they don’t want to raise her in an environment in which she hears negative rhetoric about trans people from elected officials.

Chase loves playing soccer and skiing, and she keeps what the family calls a “pillow library” — a collection of four to five books under her pillow that she reads after they put her to bed. Chase said she feels both happy and sad about moving, because she doesn’t want to leave her friends, but she does want to try living somewhere new.

Chase looks at pictures of Taylor Swift in her bedroom. — Chase, who is in fourth grade, looks at pictures of Taylor Swift in her bedroom.Jimena Peck for NBC News

Asked in an interview with her parents whether she is aware of Trump’s policies regarding trans people, Chase, who is in the fourth grade, said, “I am very aware about what he has been doing to people like me, and how I feel about it is I hate it, because I think everybody deserves to have that care.”

Brandon and Candace said they chose New Zealand because Brandon loved it when he visited a few years ago, it is very LGBTQ-friendly, their kids will be able to speak the language, and its way of life is similar to Denver’s.

They began planning the move while they applied for jobs in New Zealand. On Tuesday, Brandon officially accepted a job as a sales manager at a winery in Queenstown. He should have an accredited employer visa in about four weeks, while visas for the rest of the family will take an additional two. Accredited employer visas allow people to stay for up to five years if they have received job offers from accredited employers, and they provide a path to permanent residence. It will also provide Candace with a partner visa that will allow her to work in New Zealand.

The family will leave the United States and begin 35 hours of travel to their new home on July 23. The winery offered a house on the vineyard for the family to stay for six weeks until they find a home to rent.

When Chase found out that Brandon had gotten the job at the winery, she burst into “tears of happiness,” Candace said.

Chase's family looks at a map of Queenstown, New Zealand. — Chase and her family look at a map of Queenstown, New Zealand, where they’ll be moving in July.Jimena Peck for NBC News

“School’s ending next week, and then everything kind of gets real,” she said, adding that the entire family feels a mix of excitement and sadness about having to start saying goodbye to their lives in the United States.

They estimated that the total cost of moving their family — which also includes Chase’s older brother, a 90-pound dog and two cats — will be $65,000 to $80,000. That total includes one-way plane tickets for the family of four ($6,000); relocation services for their three pets, if they can afford to take all of them ($25,000); visa applications ($3,000); lawyer fees ($2,000); and required medical tests for the move that aren’t covered by insurance.

Candace organized a GoFundMe fundraiser with a goal of $50,000, in part because, she said, she felt bad asking for anything more. The money will go toward the expenses they’ve paid with their savings so far and to whatever they need when they arrive with only their clothing, sentimental items and ski gear. They’ve raised just over $6,500 and have already taken money out of one of their 401(k) retirement plans to cover some moving costs.

Chase and her mom in their living room. — Chase and her mom share an embrace in their Denver living room. Jimena Peck for NBC News

A pre-emptive departure

The Jackson family of Missouri left more than a year before the 2024 election. Debi Jackson’s child Avery, who uses they/them pronouns and is about to turn 18, became a prominent face in trans advocacy after they were featured on the cover of National Geographic in January 2017, when they were 9 years old.

The family lived in Kansas City for 15 years and often traveled to the State Capitol to testify against legislation targeting trans people. She said that after a series of difficult events — the Supreme Court’s overturning Roe v. Wade; a shooting at a school in Uvalde, Texas, that killed 19 people; and Missouri’s enacting a ban on gender-affirming care for minors — her kids asked her why they were still in the United States.

“In that moment, I realized they were just saying they wanted out completely,” Jackson said. “A big part of it was their fear over the escalation of violence that we could all tell was going to come, because for years they had been listening to the language about trans people become more and more dehumanizing and become more and more violent in the way it was presented.”

Jackson said she also knew trans issues would be important for Republicans in the 2024 election, and she feared that photos of Avery — which she said prominent right-wing figures in Brazil, France and Poland were already using in speeches and online — could be featured in Republican attack ads.

She said she also knew the family couldn’t afford to move to another state first and then leave the country if Trump won.

Just a few months later, in September 2023, Jackson packed up her family and moved them to a country in the European Union, which for safety reasons she declined to name. She said it took her two months to raise $15,000 online to pay to transport their four dogs to Europe and for an initial deposit to rent a home.

Jackson does consulting and freelance writing remotely and was able to get a digital nomad visa, which in some countries can provide permanent residency. Now settled in her new home, Jackson said she spends time each day answering some of the hundreds of direct messages she gets on social media from parents with trans children who want to move either to other states or out of the country entirely.

Jackson said many Americans don’t know, for example, that they can’t move to other countries, particularly in Europe, and apply for asylum because of their or their children’s trans status. No countries that provide asylum to LGBTQ peoplebecause of fears of persecution accept U.S. citizens through those programs. When people are denied asylum by one of the more than two dozen member countries in the European Union, they are also banned from re-entering all other countries in the E.U. except Ireland and Switzerland for two years if they are from what are considered “safe countries.”

“I spend a lot of time researching and replying to people,” Jackson said. “That’s really the way that I deal with stress and trauma, is by trying to actually be proactive rather than reactive.”

Chase in her bedroom as she prepares for a move to New Zealand.Jimena Peck for NBC News

‘Life is starting again’

It’s not only trans minors and their parents who are making the move. Ohio couple Marina, 30, and Faye, 23 — who are both trans and requested that only their first names be used because of fears of being publicly targeted — are leaving the United States behind for Australia. Faye said one of the turning points for her was the Trump administration’s detaining and trying to deport people with valid visas and revoking the visas of foreign-born college students. Faye is an Australian citizen on a student visa, and Marina is a U.S. citizen.

The couple have to move before Marina turns 31 in August, because they plan to get work holiday visas, which are available only to those 30 and younger and would allow them to stay and work in Australia for up to a year. It costs $600 to apply, and applicants also have to show that they have at least $5,000 in their bank accounts. After that year is up, the couple have to decide whether they want to get married.

Marina said they’re looking forward to the stress of the move’s being over.

“Every time I look at my cat, I’m about to cry,” Marina said of their 10-year-old pet, which they have to leave behind until Marina’s sister can, they hope, bring her over after having completed Australia’s rigorous process to move animals into the country. “It’s really overwhelming. I feel like once we actually have our feet down on the ground in Australia, it’s definitely going to be sad and still a lot of emotion, but part of it’s definitely going to feel like life is starting again.”

As for Duncan, the Advocates for Trans Equality lawyer, she that said she and her wife, a college professor in Alabama, have talked about leaving the country but that one of the problems they’ve run into is whether there is a safer place to go.

“What does Canada look like in 10 years? Do they get to where we are now? Or do they learn from our mistakes here?” she said. “It just becomes a Rubik’s Cube of decisions to solve, and that’s exhausting.”

Features/ Top Stories/ Transgender / Transsexual

Trans people, local governments and educators face rising anti-LGBTQ hate, GLAAD report finds

Brooke Sopelsa June 2, 2025

There were 932 anti-LGBTQ incidents across the United States over the past year — from hate speech and bomb threats to fatal violence — with more than half of these acts targeting transgender and gender-nonconforming people, according to a new report from the LGBTQ advocacy group GLAAD.

The report found a year-over-year increase in incidents targeting transgender and gender-nonconforming people, state and local governments, and educators and librarians. It also found a decrease in incidents targeting drag performers and pride symbols.

“This really goes toward showing these kinds of shifting tides in hate and what extremists like to focus on at the moment,” Sarah Moore, an analyst of anti-LGBTQ extremism at GLAAD, told NBC News. “They really are kind of beholden to the new cycle of the day.”

This is the third year GLAAD has published an annual report based on its Anti-LGBTQ Extremism Reporting Tracker. The 932 incidents tracked in this latest report occurred between May 1, 2024, and May 1, 2025. This is a 20% drop from last year’s 1,173 incidents and an 80% increase from the 521 incidents tracked in its inaugural report in 2023.

GLAAD defines anti-LGBTQ incidents as both criminal and noncriminal “acts of harassment, threats, vandalism, and assault motivated by anti-LGBTQ hate and extremism.” Incidents are tracked through self-reports, media reports, social media posts and data sharing from partner organizations and law enforcement and then validated by a team at GLAAD.

Moore cautions that the incidents tracked in the report are “just a drop in the bucket in terms of what is actually happening when it comes to anti-LGBTQ hate.”

“This is more of a snapshot of what the lived experience of LGBTQ people is, as opposed to being an exact accurate representation of every incident of hate in the U.S.,” she said.

One of the most surprising findings from this year’s report, Moore said, was the sharp decrease in incidents targeting drag performers, which dropped to 83 tracked incidents from 185 the year prior.

“This really goes to show the resilience of the drag community, and that we’ve seen them take all of these amazing steps toward protecting their own personal safety, protecting the safety of their audiences and working with community security organizations,” she said.

Coinciding with this decrease in anti-drag incidents is an increase in incidents targeting local and state governments and educators and librarians.

“We saw a number of our incidents, actually, going after city council officials, going after political candidates who are either LGBTQ or who support the community, going after legislators at the state level who are trying to protect or enshrine LGBTQ rights and going after educators and librarians that are offering safe spaces for LGBTQ youth in their classrooms and in their libraries as well,” Moore said.

Anti-LGBTQ incidents take place more frequently in June, according to the past two years of reporting by GLAAD’s Anti-LGBTQ Extremism Reporting Tracker.

“That is most likely attributed to the fact that June is Pride Month, and that’s when we’re going to have the biggest number of LGBTQ events and the most visible events,” Moore said. “This June, for example, D.C. is holding WorldPride, which is going to be a really massive event and really massive showing of support for the LGBTQ community in the U.S. and globally.”

When asked if GLAAD has safety tips for those planning to attend Pride Month events this year, Moore noted that one of the hallmarks of the LGBTQ community is its “resilience and strength.”

“This hate, unfortunately, is not new to us. We have been dealing with persecution, with oppression, with these acts of hate against our community for centuries,” she said, adding that the first Pride marches were protests held on the first anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall uprising.

“So I think just really carrying on those legacies of pride as a form of protest, pride as a form of resistance, pride as a refusal to allow others to define us and to legislate our bodies and tell us that we have to be kept in private spaces and not display our true authentic selves to the rest of the world.”

Features/ Religion/ Top Stories

Quakers refuse to exclude trans people from their facilities: ‘This is what Love requires of us’

Amelia Hansford, Pink News May 30, 2025

Quakers in Britain have been commended for rejecting claims that a UK Supreme Court ruling prevents trans people from using single-sex spaces.

The Christian group, which represents Quakers, or members of the Society of Friends faith group, argued that a ruling handed down in April, which aims to clarify the 2010 Equality Act’s definitions of women and sex, has not affected the rights of trans people to use gendered facilities consistent with their birth sex.

In a unanimous ruling, Supreme Court judge Lord Patrick Hodge argued that the terms women and sex in the legislation refer to “biological women” and “biological sex.”

Lord Hodge further noted that the judgement should not be viewed as a “triumph” of one group over another in society.

Kishwer Falkner, wearing a multi-coloured scarf, speaks in a white room. — Kishwer Falkner, chair of the EHRC, has been criticised on a number of occasions for her stance on trans issues. (Youtube/UBS Center)

During the Quakers’ British Yearly Meeting on Sunday (25 May), officials criticised interim guidance brought by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), which argued that trans people should be banned from all gendered facilities, including those associated with their birth sex.

The faith group argued the guidance “goes beyond the scope” of the ruling and refused to abide by it, adding: “It is non-statutory and therefore does not have the force of law. We see the Equality Act itself as our primary legal guide when making decisions.”

It further argued that the EHRC’s interim guidance misinterprets a ruling which is “already contested and subject to legal challenge.”

“Nevertheless, the Supreme Court judgment prompts Quakers in Britain to clarify our expectations of how toilet and changing facilities across our state can be used,” a statement continued.

Quakers to keep ‘trans-inclusive’ facilities, officials agree

Officials agreed that the faith group would continue to make its spaces “trans-inclusive”, arguing that it refuses to label something as a single-sex space if it is not “possible or desirable” to monitor facilities to check if they are “truthfully” single-sex.

“Belonging is being accepted as one’s true self”

In 2023, Quakers in Britain senior staff member, Paul Parker, joined more than 215 charities in signing a pledge to stand with trans people amid the rise of transphobia across the globe.

He told PinkNews at the time that it is a fundamental Quaker belief that “Belonging is being accepted as one’s true self.”

“Who are we to resist what God has created and continues to create in all their glory?” he said. “I want our Quaker communities and workplaces to reflect this fully.”

Despite this, Sex Matters founder and “gender-critical” pundit, Helen Joyce, attempted to lecture Quakers on their own beliefs, arguing to The Telegraph that 17th-century Quakers would be “shocked and ashamed” at the group’s commitment to inclusion.

Features/ Health/ Top Stories/ Transgender / Transsexual

Why experts say Trump’s budget bill strips health care from nearly all transgender people

Christopher Wiggins, The Advocate May 28, 2025

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a sweeping Republican-led budget reconciliation package — dubbed the “Big Beautiful Bill” by President Donald Trump and the bill’s proponents — that, if enacted, would decimate access to gender-affirming care for transgender people of all ages across the country.

More than a tax bill, the legislation, passed 215-214 in the early morning hours Thursday, couples tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy with profound structural changes to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, including provisions that would strip transgender people of access to transition-related care — even when privately insured. It’s a vision of health policy that experts told The Advocate weaponizes bureaucracy and budgetary authority to target one of the most marginalized groups in the country.

What Trump’s budget bill does to trans health

At the heart of the bill are two key provisions targeting transgender health care. The first prohibits Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program from covering any gender-affirming services — puberty blockers, hormone therapy, surgeries — for people of any age. The second redefines what counts as an “essential health benefit” under the ACA, explicitly excluding transition-related care from private insurance plans regulated by federal standards.

Katie Keith, a scholar and director of the Center for Health Policy and the Law at the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University Law Center, told The Advocate the bill would “certainly increase health care costs for transgender people, both on those who have Medicaid coverage, but also those who have marketplace coverage as well.”

“By stripping federal funding for treatment for gender dysphoria, you’re imposing a whole set of barriers,” she said. “A primary one is cost. But I think it will also have the unintended — or maybe intended — consequence of deterring providers from offering this care at all.”

Keith, who previously served as deputy assistant to the president and deputy director of the White House Gender Policy Council under President Joe Biden, added that the essential health benefits provision could destabilize health coverage even for those outside ACA marketplaces.

“By proposing to exclude treatment for gender dysphoria from essential health benefits, this care would not be subject to cost-sharing limitations that apply to essential health benefits under the Affordable Care Act,” she explained. “If treatment for gender dysphoria is not considered an essential health benefit, transgender people — including those in job-based private health insurance — could face higher out-of-pocket costs for care that would otherwise be covered.”

Medicaid cuts and their fallout

The bill’s language goes beyond cost containment; it reengineers Medicaid to eliminate federal support for gender-affirming care, even in states that affirmatively cover it. As Adrian Shanker, a former Biden administration LGBTQ+ health adviser in the Department of Health and Human Services, told The Advocate, this would deliver a disproportionate blow to low-income trans people who rely on Medicaid

“Medicaid is the payer for low-income Americans, and it’s an essential safety net program,” Shanker said. “We know that trans people are disproportionately lower income and benefit from Medicaid in a higher percentage than the majority population. We know that’s even more pronounced among trans people of color and trans people who are from rural communities.”

A new study from the Williams Institute at UCLA underscores the scale of what’s at stake. Drawing on federal health data, the May report finds that approximately 1.8 million LGBTQ+ adults — nearly twice the rate of non-LGBTQ+ adults — rely on Medicaid as their primary source of health insurance. The burden is especially acute among transgender people, more than 185,000 of whom depend on Medicaid. These disparities, the authors note, are driven by intersecting inequalities — including disability, parenting responsibilities, and systemic economic disadvantage — that make Medicaid a lifeline for some of the most vulnerable in the LGBTQ+ community.

The bill would, in effect, force states to either self-fund gender-affirming care or deny it outright — something most budgets could not absorb.

The legislation’s ripple effects would be especially catastrophic in states like Colorado, where budget constraints enshrined in the state constitution limit how leaders can respond to sudden federal funding shortfalls. Mardi Moore, executive director of Rocky Mountain Equality, told The Advocate that Colorado’s unique combination of a balanced budget requirement and the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) would make it nearly impossible for the state to backfill the $10 billion the state receives annually in federal Medicaid funding.

TABOR, adopted by voters in 1992, is one of the most restrictive fiscal policies in the country. It caps state spending increases to a formula based on population growth and inflation — but inflation as experienced by government services, not consumers, Moore explained. TABOR also requires voter approval for any new taxes or tax increases, which means Colorado’s legislature cannot simply raise revenue or allocate extra funds to offset lost federal support without a ballot measure.

“The service gaps are going to widen, especially for LGBT communities, people of color, rural communities, low-income folks, and young people,” Moore said.

Why the bill targets trans health

The bill’s framing — slashing Medicaid to “pay” for tax cuts while targeting trans care — represents what critics have called a cruel calculus: appealing to a political base through culture war flashpoints. “This administration seems obsessed with the idea that their political goals are more important than the health and wellbeing of the American people,” Shanker said.

Moore, a longtime LGBTQ+ advocate, echoed that sentiment. “They know this is a winning issue for their base,” she said of the bill’s anti-trans provisions. “Our movement has not done a great job of getting information out about trans folks. The narrative that gender-affirming care is a choice and not medically necessary has taken hold. ‘Why should my tax dollars pay for your choice?’” she said. “That’s what we’re fighting.”

Related: Trump administration announces end to gender-affirming care for transgender veterans

Even if the bill dies in the Senate, Moore argued that the damage has already been done. “The national narrative is starting to take hold in Colorado,” she warned. “There’s just not enough of us who care about others to make the community well.”

A broader strategy of erasure

Advocates for Trans Equality, the largest trans-led policy organization in the U.S., called the bill a calculated political attack. “This budget proposal is a direct, calculated attack on the lives and dignity of people across the country,” Sinead Murano-Kinney, the group’s health policy analyst, said in a statement. “These cuts clearly aim to make trans people and their healthcare into political scapegoats.”

Murano-Kinney pointed to a 2022 Williams Institute report showing that 21 percent of trans adults rely on Medicaid, likely due to high rates of employment discrimination and economic instability. “Denying access to this care would not only worsen physical and mental health outcomes but would deepen housing insecurity, exacerbate mental health crises, and increase rates of depression and suicidality among trans people.

Related: Why do inmates have access to gender-affirming care? Those Trump ads you keep seeing debunked

“This is no accident — it is part of a broader political agenda driven by anti-trans extremists determined to force trans, nonbinary, and intersex people out of public life,” she added.

Insurance industry raises alarm

Notably, even the health insurance industry has balked at the logistical and financial burdens of carving out gender dysphoria care from essential health benefits. In public comments reviewed by the Center on Health Insurance Reforms at Georgetown, insurers such as the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association warned that banning care for gender dysphoria would create “significant operational burdens” and could inadvertently disrupt access to services used for other conditions, including cancer treatment, menopause care, and birth control procedures like vasectomies.

“This is just health care,” said Keith. “Many of these procedures are medically necessary for cisgender people, too. The only difference is who’s receiving the care.”

What comes next?

Keith said legal challenges are inevitable, but the immediate policy impact is clear: health care for most transgender Americans is at risk.

Related: Trump signs executive order banning federal support of gender-affirming care for anyone under 19

The Congressional Equality Caucus has condemned the bill, with Chair Rep. Mark Takano of California warning that 13.7 million Americans will lose their health insurance if it becomes law. “Attacks on the trans community are just the cherry on top,” Takano said. “Congress should be working to make healthcare more affordable — not banning medically necessary care or pulling the rug out from underneath millions who rely on Medicaid.”

The stakes are no longer hypothetical as the bill heads to the Senate.

“The word I just use over and over is cruel,” Moore said. “How much more cruel can you be, and what’s the point of this? Is the point really cruelty?”

Features/ Top Stories/ Transgender / Transsexual

Utah study on trans youth care extremely inconvenient for politicians who ordered it

Madison Pauly May 27, 2025

In 2022, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox was the rare Republican governor who seemed to truly care about the well-being of transgender kids. “I don’t understand what they are going through or why they feel the way they do. But I want them to live,” he wrote in a letter that year, explaining why he was vetoing a bill that would have banned four trans middle- and high schoolers in Utah from playing on sports teams with classmates who shared their gender identity. “All the research shows that even a little acceptance and connection can reduce suicidality significantly.”

Meanwhile, nationally, Republican politicians were making opposition to trans rights a core tenet of their platforms, filing hundreds of bills attacking trans kids at the doctor’s office, at school, and on the field. Early in the 2023 legislative session, Cox capitulated, signing a bill that placed an indefinite “moratorium” on doctors providing puberty blockers and hormone therapy to trans kids with gender dysphoria. The bill ordered the Utah health department to commission a systematic review of medical evidence around the treatments, with the goal of producing recommendations for the legislature on whether to lift the moratorium. “We sincerely hope that we can treat our transgender families with more love and respect as we work to better understand the science and consequences behind these procedures,” Cox said at the time.

Now, more than two years later, that review is here, and its conclusions unambiguously support gender-affirming medical care for trans youth. “The conventional wisdom among non-experts has long been that there are limited data” on gender-affirming pediatric care, the authors wrote. “However, results from our exhaustive literature searches have lead us to the opposite conclusion.”

The medical evidence review, published on Wednesday, was compiled over a two-year period by the Drug Regimen Review Center at the University of Utah. Unlike the federal government’s recent report on the same subject, which was produced in three months and criticized gender-affirming pediatric treatments, the names of the Utah report’s contributors are actually disclosed on the more than thousand-page document.

The authors write:

The consensus of the evidence supports that the treatments are effective in terms of mental health, psychosocial outcomes, and the induction of body
changes consistent with the affirmed gender in pediatric [gender dysphoria] patients. The evidence also supports that the treatments are safe in terms of changes to bone density, cardiovascular risk factors, metabolic changes, and cancer…

It is our expert opinion that policies to prevent access to and use of [gender-affirming hormone therapy] for treatment of [gender dysphoria] in pediatric patients cannot be justified based on the quantity or quality of medical science findings or concerns about potential regret in the future, and that high-quality guidelines are available to guide qualified providers in treating pediatric patients who meet diagnostic criteria.

In a second part of their review, the authors looked specifically at long-term outcomes of patients who started treatment for gender dysphoria as minors:

Overall, there were positive mental health and psychosocial functioning outcomes. While gender affirming treatment showed a possibly protective effect in prostate cancer in transgender men and breast cancer in transgender women, there was an increase in some specific types of benign brain tumors. There were increased mortality risks in both transgender men and women treated with hormonal therapy, but more so in transgender women. Increase risk of mortality was consistently due to increase in suicide, non-natural causes, and HIV/AIDS. Patients that were seen at the gender clinic before the age of 18 had a lower risk of suicide compared to those referred as an adult.

Submitted with the review was a set of recommendations—compiled by advisers from the state’s medical and professional licensing boards, the University of Utah, and a Utah non-profit hospital system—on steps the state legislature could take to ensure proper training among gender-affirming care providers, in the event it decides to lift the moratorium.

But according to the Salt Lake Tribune, legislators behind the ban are already dismissing the findings they asked for. In response to questions from the Tribune, Rep. Katy Hall, who co-sponsored the 2023 ban, issued a joint statement with fellow Republican state Rep. Bridger Bolinder, the chair of the legislature’s Health and Human Services Interim Committee, that dismissed the study’s findings. “We intend to keep the moratorium in place,” they told the Tribune. “Young kids and teenagers should not be making life-altering medical decisions based on weak evidence.”

Why ignore their own review? Polling, the legislators’ statement suggests. “Utah was right to lead on this issue, and the public agrees—polls show clear majority support both statewide and nationally,” Hall and Bolinder added in their statement. “Simply put, the science isn’t there, the risks are real, and the public is with us.”

Others, like former state Rep. Mike Kennedy, a co-sponsor of the 2023 ban who now represents Utah’s 3rd district in Congress, have so far been silent on the state review’s findings—as has Gov. Cox, who did not respond to the Salt Lake Tribune‘s request for comment.

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