US news | The Guardian
· collected 2026-09-05 · by Lex McMenamin in Boston
A group of trans activists from across Massachusetts brought their needles, hormone gels, pills and sharps containers to Boston on Wednesday to send a message to state attorney general Andrea Campbell.
asserted
group → bring → Campbell
Organizers with the youth-led group Protect Trans Futures (PTF) took their hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in the lobby of her office building, then occupied the space, refusing to leave without a commitment to protect civil rights for trans kids.
asserted
Organizers → lead → kids
While Massachusetts is considered one of the legally “safest” places for trans people, some local hospitals are still dropping youth gender-affirming care and canceling surgery appointments amid an expansive legal fight across the US.
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hospitals → consider → US
Gender-affirming care remains legal for all in Massachusetts, but the Trump administration’s attempt to undermine state laws has still created barriers to care, and a chilling effect.
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attempt → affirm → care
So organizers came asking Campbell to order those hospitals to reinstate care, or investigate or launch litigation against them for failing to do so.
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organizers → ask → them
Some advocates – who share Protect Trans Futures’ outrage at the hospitals for pre-emptively complying with Donald Trump’s agenda – fear undermining a sympathetic attorney general and eventually ending up with a less friendly replacement.
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who → share → replacement
But many trans organizers see the action as simply holding the government to its own standards.
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organizers → see → standards
“Massachusetts politicians at the local, state and federal level are very naive in thinking and hoping that there’s not this massive loss of care, but that’s not the reality of patients and families,” said Teddy Walker, a 21-year-old with Protect Trans Futures.
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Walker → think → Futures
“The Trump administration’s policies are working exactly as intended.”
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policies → work → ?
A majority of American medical experts support access to trans youth care, which demonstrably reduces suicide and mental health risks.
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which → support → suicide
Nonetheless, in 27 states, such as Texas and Missouri, youth gender-affirming care is now restricted or banned; in some, doctors can be prosecuted for providing it, and parents have been investigated for seeking it out for their children.
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parents → affirm → children
Fifty percent of trans youth ages 13 to 17 live in one of those states.
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percent → live → states
Even hospitals in blue states, like New York’s NYU Langone, which ended care last year, have been subpoenaed for the medical records of their former minor clients.
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which → end → clients
After the state attorney general’s building had closed for the day, organizers were handed a phone: An assistant attorney general offered them a meeting – a step organizers had taken months before, with no results.
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organizers → close → results
So they refused.
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they → refuse → ?
After a few hours, nine organizers, including Walker, were arrested by state troopers.
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organizers → include → troopers
(The attorney general’s office told the Guardian they were not involved in the decision to arrest the protesters.)
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they → tell → protesters
He screamed a message to supporters witnessing his arrest – a chant from LGBTQ+ activists who held die-ins and other protests to force a change in the Aids epidemic: “Act up!
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who → scream → epidemic
Over the last few years, hundreds of thousands of trans people and families with trans kids have fled home states with anti-trans laws, relocating to states like Massachusetts in hopes of maintaining access to gender-affirming care and other trans civil rights.
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thousands → flee → care
Massachusetts is one of a handful of US states with shield laws to protect LGBTQ+ residents from lawsuits and penalties from states where gender affirming care is criminalized.
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care → protect → states
In addition, elected officials in the state are vocal supporters of their trans constituents, including Gov Maura Healey, the state’s first woman and lesbian governor, and Senator Edward Markey, who won the Democratic primary this week in a race that was largely defined by trans rights.
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that → elect → rights
But the Trump administration attacked these state-level protections for trans youth healthcare soon after taking office in January 2025.
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administration → attack → January
In the first weeks of his second term, the president signed an executive order threatening to cut off federal funding for hospitals that provide gender-affirming medical care to trans youth.
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that → sign → youth
Later that year, health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr sought to target Medicaid funding to hospitals providing youth gender affirming care.
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Jr → seek → care
Many of those efforts have been tossed; there are no reports of hospitals losing federal funding for providing this care.
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hospitals → toss → care
Still, in response to the administration’s directives, at least three local hospitals or healthcare systems in Massachusetts have ended gender-affirming care programs for patients under 19.
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hospitals → end → 19
(This means that 18-year-olds, who are legally adults, are impacted.)
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who → mean → ?
A fourth Massachusetts hospital canceled all appointments for a gender-affirming surgery for adult trans women, even though adults aren’t the subject of Trump’s executive order.
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adults → cancel → order
Initially, organizers protested outside these hospitals in an effort to pressure them to reinstate the care.
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organizers → protest → care
They later shifted their focus to pressuring state officials to enforce existing civil rights laws.
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They → shift → laws
In April, Campbell’s office met with a group of trans youth advocates after some hospitals ended care for youth.
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hospitals → meet → youth
She has repeatedly expressed support for trans youth, saying that trans healthcare “remains legal and protected” in Massachusetts, and warning hospitals that ending youth gender-affirming care “may amount to discrimination” under state law.
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ending → express → law
And on 2 September, the same day as the protest at her office, Campbell joined 21 other state attorneys general in suing the Trump administration over its attempt to block Medicaid coverage for youth gender affirming care.
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Campbell → join → care
In August, Walker publicly confronted Campbell at an event at the Boston public library over her inaction.
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Walker → confront → inaction
She stated she will not litigate against hospitals that have ended care, and has not ordered them to reinstate it, as attorneys general in blue states like New York and California, as well as Colorado’s supreme court, have done.
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attorneys → state → York
After Wednesday’s protest, the attorney general’s office shared with the Guardian the email it sent to Protect Trans Futures.
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it → share → Futures
In it, the attorney general’s office argued that what’s been done in California and New York were imperfect comparisons and would not result in care being reinstated in Massachusetts.
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care → argue → Massachusetts
The office reiterated that youth gender affirming care remains legal in the state, and wrote, “The cessation of gender-affirming care for minors by Fenway Health, Outer Cape Health Services and Baystate Health has not resulted in a wave of hospitals or clinics ceasing to provide care in the Commonwealth.”
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hospitals → reiterate → Commonwealth
The email added, “The AGO and PTF share a common goal: maintaining access to gender-affirming care.”
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AGO → add → care
Campbell’s office has said it is unaware of any youth who has lost care, but Walker, of the group Protect Trans Futures, says he knows dozens of youth and their families who have.
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who → say → youth
…and 34 more, not listed.
