Sixty-six groups are urging Children’s Wisconsin and UW Health to resume gender-affirming care for minors, saying it is medically necessary, age-appropriate and accessed with the informed consent of both patients and their parents.
The May 21 letter, sent to both hospitals’ CEOs, is signed by local businesses, churches and organizations that advocate for the state’s LGBTQ+ residents, argues that is has been increasingly difficult to access gender-affirming care since the hospitals paused their treatment offerings earlier this year.
The Journal Sentinel reported in January that the hospitals had halted medication treatments for gender-affirming care, including puberty blockers and hormone therapy. In December, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had warned hospitals they could lose federal funding for offering gender-affirming care to minors and put forth proposed rules that would bar hospitals providing those services from getting Medicaid and Medicare payments.
But a federal judge in Oregon vacated Kennedy’s directive in April, saying it was issued unlawfully. Wisconsin was among plaintiff states that had challenged it. The ruling also prohibits the federal government from enforcing the directive or “any materially similar policy” in the plaintiff states.
“This decision puts a stop to the federal action that had, until now, presented the most imminent threat of enforcement,” the May 21 letter says. The proposed rules “are exactly that – proposed, not finalized, and not in effect.”
Abigail Swetz, executive director of the statewide LGBTQ+ advocacy group Fair Wisconsin, said the letter is a signal of support from a wide range of Wisconsinites, and that it’s “high time” for the hospitals to resume care because of the ruling in Oregon. Fair Wisconsin and GSAFE, an LGBTQ+ youth-focused organization, drafted the letter.
“I think it’s easy to miss because the hatred and the hostility is so loud, but it is actually quite true that there are so many of us who are showing support,” Swetz said. “This is just one more illustration of that.”
In a statement to the Journal Sentinel, a spokesperson from Children’s Wisconsin said the hospital recognizes the impact that the pause in care has on patients and families, and said the situation is “due to ongoing legal and regulatory uncertainty affecting organizations and providers across the country.”
A UW Health spokesperson said in a statement the hospital continues to believe that gender-affirming care is evidence-based, but that the prospect of federal action has not been fully resolved and “therefore, the current risk is too great to resume this care.”
Children’s Wisconsin previously provided such care at its Gender Health Clinic; UW previously provided care at its Pediatric and Adolescent Transgender Health (PATH) Clinic. After the two clinics paused care in January, parents of young patients told the Journal Sentinel they were worried what abruptly cutting off ongoing medical treatments would do to their children’s health.
The Trump administration has made a point of targeting transgender people. The Department of Health and Human Services has opened investigations into children’s hospitals in multiple states for providing gender-affirming care.
However, state courts have sided with transgender minors seeking gender-affirming care, including in Colorado, where its highest court on May 20 ordered Children’s Hospital Colorado to resume such care.
Many of the nation’s major medical associations have endorsed gender-affirming care as important for the overall health of transgender youth, who experience disproportionately high rates of depression, anxiety and suicidal ideation. A 2025 survey from The Trevor Project, a nonprofit suicide prevention organization for LGBTQ+ youth, found transgender and nonbinary youth who reported being unable to access hormones to support their gender transition were nearly twice as likely to report a suicide attempt in the past year compared to those who had access.
Health policy experts say gender-affirming care for youth is regularly misunderstood. At the onset of puberty, and with the consent of parents or guardians, medical intervention may begin with the use of puberty blockers, which temporarily and reversibly block the physical changes that come with adolescence. Older adolescents can discuss with their families and medical team whether hormone therapy is appropriate. Surgeries are exceedingly rare for minors.
Madeline Heim covers health and the environment for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Contact her at 920-996-7266 or mheim@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Groups ask UW Health, Children’s to resume youth gender-affirming care
Reporting by Madeline Heim, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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