Kaiser Permanently Ends Gender Transition Services for Colorado Minors

By Nicole C. Brambila | The Denver Gazette

Citing pressure from the Trump administration, Kaiser Permanente is the latest health system to acquiesce to demands that it cease providing gender transition services to minors that includes chemical or surgical procedures.

Kaiser CEO Greg A. Adams announced the change in an email to executives, saying “there has been significant focus by the federal government on gender-affirming care” for minors since President Donald Trump assumed office.

“After significant deliberation and consultation with internal and external experts including our physicians, we’ve made the difficult decision to pause gender-affirming surgical treatment for patients under the age of 19 in our hospitals and surgical centers,” Adams said in the email.

While the pause begins Aug. 29, Kaiser does not operate any hospitals in Colorado — only out-patient clinics.

“All other gender-affirming care treatment remains available,” Adams said. “We continue to meet with regulators as well as our clinicians, patients, their families, and the community with the goal of identifying a responsible path forward.”

“Gender-affirming” care is an umbrella term that refers to a range of social, psychological or medical interventions for transgender individuals, including hormone therapy and surgical procedures. 

Supporters of affirming transgender identity have pointed to research showing efforts to “out” LGBTQ+ students, especially transgender students, make those students “feel less safe at school, have higher rates of suicide ideation, and are disproportionately represented among unhoused youth, at least partly due to rejection at home. Conversely, affirming transgender students can improve their mental health and academic outcomes.”

Meanwhile, critics of medically transitioning minors have said America is an outlier and many European countries, after embracing “gender affirming care,” now emphasize psychological care over the transition of young people. In particular, the National Health Service in England said it will no longer prescribe “puberty blockers” — drugs that suppress sex hormones during puberty — to children and other young people seeking gender transitions, saying there is “not enough evidence of safety and clinical effectiveness.”

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