Liberal U.S. states sue Trump over transgender care ban

The Pride flag seen at Windsor, Ont. on Aug. 1, 2025. (Gary Archibald/CTV News Windsor)

A coalition of liberal U.S. states on Friday said it was suing U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration over an order to prevent clinics providing gender-affirming care to children.

The lawsuit, brought by officials from California and 15 other states, as well as the District of Columbia, challenges an executive order that denounces the treatment as “chemical and surgical mutilation.”

The order, which Trump signed in January, calls on the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) to investigate providers who offer such treatment, even in states where it is legal.

“The President and his Administration’s relentless attacks on gender-affirming care endanger already vulnerable adolescents whose health and well-being are at risk,” California’s Attorney General Rob Bonta said.

“Their demands that our healthcare providers discriminate against transgender individuals and deny them access to medically-necessary healthcare is cruel and irresponsible.”

The DoJ said last month it had issued more than 20 subpoenas to doctors and clinics providing treatment to adolescents.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said at the time that “medical professionals and organizations that mutilated children in the service of a warped ideology will be held accountable.”

The lawsuit, filed in a U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, argues that the administration’s actions have no legal basis and should be declared unlawful.

“These actions have created a chilling effect in which providers are pressured to scale back on their care for fear of prosecution, leaving countless individuals without the critical care they need and are entitled to under law,” said Bonta.

LGBTQ+ rights have become a divisive subject in the United States, where Trump rode a wave of public support for his crusade against so-called “woke ideology.”

In his first days in office, Trump declared the federal government would recognize only two genders -- men and women -- and has targeted transgender people in a slew of other orders.

In February, he issued an executive order aimed at banning transgender athletes, allowing federal agencies to halt funding to any institution that does not consider birth-assigned genders in determining sex.

The lawsuit groups California with New York, Massachusetts, Illinois, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia.

It is the latest legal effort from a coalition of Democratic-run states aimed at pushing back at what liberals see as overreach by the Trump presidency.