Protesters took to the New Haven Green Thursday night to protest against Yale New Haven Health’s recent decision to end medication treatments, including hormone therapy and puberty blockers, as part of its gender-affirming care services for people under the age of 19.
Connecticut Children's also announced in July it's winding down its youth gender care program.
The decisions are causing backlash among LGBTQ+ advocates and elected officials who characterized the developments as an “abdication,” according to previous reporting from Connecticut Public.
Protesters rallied Thursday against Yale New Haven Health specifically. According to a social media post promoting the rally, the decision by Yale New Haven Health was made to appease the federal government. President Donald Trump’s administration has criticized gender-affirming care for minors, claiming it harmed children.
But advocates such as Elizabeth Schvartz say many of those criticisms against gender-affirming care are rooted in misinformation. Schvartz studies at Yale University and said Yale could have used its sizable endowment to safeguard access to those services.
Schvartz said much of the care either prevents or delays the onset of puberty. Yale New Haven Health is culpable if trans minors end up harming themselves as a result of being denied access to care, according to Schvartz.
“I think that every single administrator who made this decision has blood on their hands and should not be forgiven,” Schvartz said.
Yale New Haven Health previously stated to Connecticut Public the decision was not made lightly and was made after monitoring federal executive orders and administrative actions relating to gender-affirming care for patients under 19.
New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker attended the protest and was asked by Schvartz what the city could do.
Elicker said he cannot force the university or the hospital to provide medical care. But said he is showing support for the community.
Elicker said he recently spoke to Yale New Haven Health CEO Christopher M. O’Connor. While he said he expressed his concerns, he said he wasn’t optimistic they would change direction, although he noted school-based health centers are partnered with mental health organizations.
Elicker said Yale New Haven Health was forced into the decision.
“We should fight for our community and push back when there's attempts to cut our funding,” Elicker said. “At the same time, our hospitals need to thrive in our community and serve everyone, and they're put in a very awful position too.”
Democratic State Sen. Saud Anwar represents East Hartford, Ellington, East Windsor and South Windsor. Anwar is also a pulmonologist and practices critical care medicine.
Anwar criticized the decisions.
“As a physician, my foremost concern is for a patient’s well-being,” Anwar said. “Studies repeatedly show that access to gender-affirming care delivers significant mental health improvements for transgender teens and youth, as well as improvements to their overall health and their quality of life. Therefore, I find it extremely disturbing to see the federal government mandate that this care will be ripped from the patients needing and benefitting from it most. “
Meanwhile, Ben Proto, chairman of the Connecticut Republican Party and Republican State Rep. Nicole Klarides-Ditria, who is a member of the Public Health Committee, are among those who support the hospital’s decision.
Proto said in a statement earlier this summer that there are growing societal concerns about gender-affirming care for minors that "center on the appropriateness of subjecting young children — who are still years away from fully developing mentally, emotionally, intellectually, physically, and sexually — to irreversible medical procedures."
Klarides-Ditria said she supported psychotherapy for minors struggling with gender dysphoria, a condition where a person feels distressed when their gender identity differs from their gender at birth, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Klarides-Ditria claimed gender reassignment surgery and gender-affirming care harm children who are not yet fully developed. She referred to studies in the United Kingdom, but did not explicitly state the name of the study.
In 2024, Yale Law School issued a critique of a medical research paper from the United Kingdom widely used to promote rollbacks of gender-affirming care for minors throughout the United States. It claimed the paper suffered from flawed methodology and made debunked claims over gender affirming care.
Klarides-Ditria pushed back on claims that opposition to gender-affirming care is rooted in intolerance.
“Unfortunately, at this time these important issues are being used for political gains,” Klarides-Ditria said. “I don’t think we are turning our backs on kids. I think we are trying to protect them.”
