Democrat-Led States Sue to Keep Radical Gender Surgeries for Minors Legal, Defying Trump’s Child Protection Order

In a stunning display of defiance against President Donald Trump’s push to protect America’s children, more than a dozen Democrat-led states have filed a lawsuit to block his administration from cracking down on sex change procedures for minors.

The suit, led by far-left New York Attorney General Letitia James, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. The coalition of blue-state officials claims the Trump administration is waging what they call a “harassment campaign” against doctors and hospitals who facilitate irreversible hormone treatments and mutilating surgeries for individuals under 19.

In reality, the administration is fulfilling a campaign promise to put children before ideology, halting what many experts and detransitioners now call dangerous medical experimentation on vulnerable youth.

The legal complaint names President Trump, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate as defendants. At the heart of the dispute is Trump’s bold January 28 executive order that cut federal funding for sex change procedures and authorized criminal investigations into providers offering them to minors. The memos from Bondi and Shumate further direct federal prosecutors to target hospitals, doctors, and pharmaceutical companies complicit in what the administration calls “child abuse disguised as care.”

Trump allies say the crackdown is long overdue. “There’s no such thing as a ‘gender-affirming’ double mastectomy on a healthy teen girl,” one senior DOJ official said. “There’s abuse, there’s irreversible damage, and there’s a billion-dollar industry profiting from it. That ends now.”

The lawsuit comes amid growing national backlash against youth gender medicine. In response to federal investigations, Kaiser Permanente announced last month it will suspend sex change surgeries for patients under 19 beginning August 29. Also in July, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles shut down its entire transgender youth clinic — once the largest of its kind in the country.

Democrat states are digging in their heels. The lawsuit includes 17 jurisdictions — all of which allow sex changes for children. They claim that banning such procedures is a civil rights violation, though many Americans argue it’s common sense.

Attorney General Letitia James, who has become a partisan culture war figure, accused the Trump administration of “ruthlessly targeting” trans-identifying youth. “This is about dignity, safety, and rights,” she said. But critics say her statements ignore the irreversible consequences suffered by thousands of regretful young people misled into thinking hormones and surgery would solve their mental health struggles.

Globally, the tide is turning. Even traditionally progressive nations are rethinking the rush to affirm gender ideology in minors. Earlier this year, the United Kingdom banned puberty blockers for youth, citing lack of evidence and serious long-term risks. France, Sweden, and Finland have also dramatically scaled back medical interventions for children.

President Trump, who campaigned in 2024 on protecting children from “radical gender ideology,” has repeatedly stated: “There will be no more chemical castration of American youth under my administration. Not on my watch.”

As the lawsuit moves forward, the battle lines are clear: one side seeks to protect confused children from permanent harm, the other insists on enabling irreversible procedures before kids are even old enough to vote or drive.

In the eyes of many conservative Americans, this lawsuit isn't about healthcare — it’s about whether adults have the right to impose dangerous ideology on children under the guise of compassion. President Trump and his administration have made it clear: America’s kids come first.