Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
White House Signals It Opposes Gender Surgery For Trans Minors
The New York Times: Biden Administration Opposes Surgery For Transgender Minors
The Biden administration said this week that it opposed gender-affirming surgery for minors, the most explicit statement to date on the subject from a president who has been a staunch supporter of transgender rights. The White House announcement was sent to The New York Times on Wednesday in response to an article reporting that staff in the office of Adm. Rachel Levine, an assistant secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services, had urged an influential international transgender health organization to remove age minimums for surgery from its treatment guidelines for minors. (Rabin, Rosenbluth and Weiland, 6/28)
The 19th: Texas Supreme Court Upholds Gender-Affirming Care Ban For Trans Youth
The Texas Supreme Court found that parents in the state do not have the constitutional right to seek gender-affirming care for their children. The court on Friday upheld the state’s ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth in a ruling that pushed the state’s interpretation of parental rights into a more limited scope when it comes to medical decision-making. (Rummler, 6/28)
ABC News: LGBTQ People Say Their Mental Health Is Positively Impacted When States Have Protective Laws
Growing up in the 1990s and early 2000s just outside of Akron, Ohio, Shane Stahl felt it was taboo to talk about being part of the LGBTQ+ community or about LGBTQ+ experiences. Stahl, 40, who identifies as a gay man, said that although he grew up in an accepting and supporting family, he didn't feel like it was possible to openly express himself and feared he would be ostracized from his community if he did so. (Kekatos, 6/29)
On the spread of mpox —
CBS News: S.F. Officials Monitor Rise In Domestic Mpox Cases As Global Outbreak Spreads
"Within Pride Month, we want to make sure that we have our community up to date and aware," said Scott Bertani, with the National Coalition for LGBTQ Health. "As of May, the nation has seen roughly about 150 percent increase in cases of the current disease, which is Clade 2." ... "We are far under the total aggregate case numbers of what we saw in 2022 but we are doubling the case numbers of what we saw in 2023, which suggests there remains an opportunity to have lots of ongoing vigilance," Bertani said. (Darrow, 6/29)
