Hundreds of people surrounded a 50-foot banner decorated with empowering messages to transgender youth, including notes like “Your bravery inspires us all” and “You deserve to thrive,” at Federal Plaza.
The communal art project was created during Unite for Trans Youth Lives, an Aug. 10 rally and protest organized by Trans Up Front IL in the face of mounting attacks against transgender youths’ access to life-saving health care, mental health services and other human rights.
“We need them in our future,” said Asher McMaher, executive director of Trans Up Front IL and a parent of a transgender daughter. “Trans people have always been here and always will. And we cannot allow this administration to try to eliminate the next generation.”
The rally was organized in response to recent rollbacks in health care access for transgender youth, including four major hospitals in Chicago—UI Health, Rush University Medical Center, University of Chicago Medicine and Lurie Children’s Hospital—that have suspended gender-affirming surgeries or other care for people under 19.
These decisions are part of a national trend in which health care systems are abandoning transgender youth care in the face of political pressure from President Donald Trump’s administration, which has threatened to revoke funding for institutions offering gender-affirming care to minors.
Every major national medical association has recognized that such care is medically necessary and life-saving for transgender people facing gender dysphoria, and experts have said denying these services can increase rates of anxiety, depression and self-harm.
University of Chicago Medicine specifically cited impending federal Medicaid and Medicare cuts in its July 18 decision to end gender-affirming care for patients under 19.
McMaher said hospital systems are “pre-complying.”
“We are a sanctuary state. … If we are sacrificing our children due to Medicaid, where is the money on the side to make sure that each one of them still access care?” McMaher said.
Bob, a member of Trans Up Front IL’s Parents and Caregivers Advisory Board, said the recent wave of care suspensions has left families feeling abandoned.
“We are here to show those trans youth that they are loved and… they have a future,” Bob said. “And believe me when I say they will f–king vote.”
Bob warned that hospital decisions to halt gender-affirming care are “denying life” to young people who depend on it.
“Doctors are no longer free to supply the life-saving care they swore an oath to supply,” Bob said. “Hospitals are no longer free to extend care to every person, regardless of need.”
State Rep. Hoan Huynh also criticized the Trump administration’s push to pressure hospitals into ending gender-affirming care for youth while slashing federal funding for LGBTQ+ services.
“Those cuts are going to cost lives,” Huynh said. “Gender-affirming care is health care, and health care is a human right in this country.”
During Huynh’s remarks, one protester called out, “Where’s Kwame?” She was referencing Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, who earlier this month joined a multistate lawsuitchallenging the Trump administration’s threats to transgender youth care.
Ald. Andre Vasquez (40th Ward) told the crowd that Illinois’ protections don’t make it immune to attacks from the federal government.
“We might feel like a blue oasis in a blue state, but we are not safe,” Vasquez said. “We keep each other safe, whether it’s volunteering for organizations, creating mutual aid systems or just being available to hear somebody cry out. Make yourself available to do so, because you’re going to need it as well.”
Other speakers included Channyn Lynne Parker, CEO of Brave Space Alliance and interim CEO of Equality Illinois; Dr. Chris Balthazar, executive director of TaskForce Prevention and Community Services; Dr. Corey Lascano, LGBTQ+ chair of the Chicago Teachers Union; and Albe Gutierrez, senior operations manager for Chicago Therapy Collective.
The protesters at the rally called for the restoration of gender-affirming care for trans youth and for the LGBTQ+ option on the national 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline to be refunded. They also demanded increased funding for housing programs for trans youth.
“Help us make sure these kids make it to become adults, because we need them here,” McMaher said.
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