At a time when the Supreme Court is hearing arguments over whether trans kids should be considered human enough to receive the same life-saving medical care as everyone else—and as some of the most powerful people in the world continue to punch down on them—it’s great when a victory for trans youth medical rights comes along. So how about two?
Parents of trans kids came together last year to fight against Sutter Health halting gender-affirming care in Northern California, and got the healthcare provider to back down—even as Trump’s federal ban on trans youth medical care looms.
And last week, that parent-led activist group, Rainbow Families Action, joined with District 1 Supervisor Connie Chan to introduce a Board of Supervisors resolution “reaffirming San Francisco’s commitment to the right of its transgender, gender-nonconforming, intersex and two-spirit (TGNCl2S) residents and employees to obtain gender-affirming care without discrimination; and demanding healthcare providers and insurance carriers operating within the city to adhere to state and local laws mandating access to medically necessary healthcare, including gender-affirming care.”
Tue/3, 4:30pm will see a “Patients Before Politics” rally on City Hall steps in support of Chan’s resolution, which includes Rainbow Families Action, the San Francisco Labor Council, and the Harvey Milk Democratic Club.
The unfolding story of families coming together to stand up for trans kids’ medical rights is inspiring. Last April, on Trans Visibility Day, more than 100 parents and kids marched on Governor Newsom’s house in Kentfield, after he threw the trans community under the bus by endorsing phony right wing talking points about trans athletes and medical care for trans youth. It was a transformative moment for many Bay Area families with trans kids, who came together and found their protest voice.
That activism was stoked again in November, when Sutter Health announced to its doctors and caregivers that it was halting trans youth care for patients under 19, leaving families scrambling to find alternative care. Adding insult and injury, the decision came on Trans Day of Remembrance, during Thanksgiving week, and after most healthcare plan open enrollment periods for the year had closed.
To the parents of trans kids, who had been tipped off about the internal announcement by a concerned Sutter caregiver, that was simply unacceptable.
“The march on Newsom’s house was birth moment of Rainbow Families Action,” organizer and parent Arne Johnson told me over the phone, about the group which formed to respond to increased attacks on trans youth. “We were pretty unformed as activists, just an angry hornets nest at that point. But the Newsom protest showed that we could have power joining together. We’ve spent that last year making connections and building our base.”
Parents hopped on the Slack group and fired up their organizing engine. “I don’t think that Sutter thought they would get pushback,” Johnson said. “They don’t have a huge gender care clinic like at Stanford, Kaiser, or UCSF. But we are 300 parents strong, and we’ve realized that when something happens to one of us, it happens to all of us.”
Rainbow Families Action quickly organized media outreach and a colorful protest that marched from Sutter Health offices in Emeryville to Sutter corporate offices on Powell Street in San Francisco, with 18 other organizations signing on to the action. State Senator Scott Wiener, various clergy members, and even a Sutter nurse got involved.
Sutter soon backed down, and doctors and caregivers were told they could message patients about receiving care again. While the reprieve may be temporary in the face of a federal ban, it fired up Rainbow Families to organize more into a political force for more permanent change.
“We were introduced to supervisor Chan by the Harvey Milk Club, and within a few minutes of talking she had offered and committed to doing this resolution,” Johnson said. Teaming up with the San Francisco Labor Council helped shore up Rainbow Families strength.
“Right now we’re in an all-out struggle just to stop hospitals from taking care away from our children. To have the backup of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, in demanding hospital leaders keep delivering care that is medically sound and evidence-based not only for our children, but also for the children of the employees of San Francisco who have large contracts with these healthcare organizations, is very meaningful.”
In the broader fight for trans kids’ rights, “they might dismiss a group of parents, but it’s less likely they will ignore a city that has more than 30,000 employees covered by those companies,” Johnson said. “If we can get hospitals to keep caring for our kids, we can all fight the real enemies of children together.”
