Despite legal challenges to President Donald Trump’s executive orders targeting trans rights and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, some institutions are complying with the orders — a move some advocates say is premature and potentially illegal. Hospitals have canceled gender-affirming surgeries, colleges have curtailed DEI programs, and high schools have taken anti-trans steps over fear of losing federal funding. Though many institutions haven’t complied with the orders, advocates say the ones that have are causing harm to multiple communities.
A 17-year-old high school junior on Long Island, New York, who did not want his name published due to safety concerns, told Prism that he has known he was trans since he was 12 years old. He felt an urgent need for top surgery last year and chose Northwell Health after an October 2024 consultation. He was excited about his surgery scheduled for Feb. 3.
On Jan. 28, Trump issued an executive order banning health care institutions that receive federal funding from providing gender-affirming care to those under 19. A judge has since temporarily blocked enforcement of the order, which faces a legal challenge from the American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal, and other groups on behalf of affected youth and their families.
However, the student’s surgery, just days away, was canceled.
“It just was crushing. It was so bad. I couldn’t even think straight,” he said. “It felt like my life was just falling apart. I couldn’t get anything done.”
The teen said reading the executive order sent him into a mental breakdown, and he made decisions at that moment that are still affecting his life.
“I just remember feeling so disgusted with myself reading the wording they used. I just felt so hopeless,” he said.
The New York attorney general instructed hospitals to continue gender-affirming care under state law, and Northwell reversed its decision and rescheduled the teen’s surgery, which took place on Feb. 20. He said he feels immense relief now that it’s complete, but the experience of having the appointment canceled is still on his mind. He has nightmares and fears losing access to his hormone therapy. “I do think I am traumatized,” he said.
Executive orders cannot undo laws passed by Congress or Supreme Court decisions, including existing identity-based nondiscrimination protections that conflict with the orders.
“The United States Constitution delegates the power to make laws to Congress, not the President,” said Chris Stoll, senior staff attorney with the National Center for Lesbian Rights, in an email. “When executive orders violate the law or exceed the President’s authority under the Constitution, courts have not hesitated to invalidate them.”
Protests, directives from attorneys general, and judges blocking Trump’s orders caused some, but not all, institutions to reverse course across the country. Many schools, companies, and health care providers never curtailed inclusive practices and have committed to continue them. But the fact that some institutions immediately complied — whether or not they later walked back their decision — has left some transgender patients and others affected by the orders feeling abandoned by the institutions meant to serve them.
Cameron Moore, a 19-year-old college student in New York, also had his top surgery delayed because of the order. Weill Cornell Medicine in Manhattan sent him an email on Feb. 4 that he would have to reschedule his upcoming consultation until after his 20th birthday. “Due to recent regulatory changes, we must ensure that all surgical consultations adhere to the updated age requirement of 20 years or older,” the email said. The executive order bans gender-affirming health care for those “under 19 years of age,” causing some confusion about whether 19-year-olds like Moore are included. Moore said he feels wronged by both Trump and Weill Cornell Medicine.
“They had a decision to make, and they picked the one that affected people badly,” Moore said. “The doctor’s office could have gone, ‘OK, we won’t pay attention to the executive order because it doesn’t have any effect, it’s not something you have to follow.’”
Moore, who has wanted this procedure since he was 11, now has a consultation scheduled in May with a different surgeon, after which he will need to wait for a surgery date later in the year.
Trump has issued 82 wide-reaching orders since Jan. 20 that have resulted in gender-affirming surgery delays and dozens of companies, nonprofit organizations, public media, and colleges gutting their DEI programs or removing any mention of trans services from their websites. Another order outlaws LGBTQIA+-inclusive education, while another targets trans inclusion in sports, forcing schools to choose whether to comply.
Many activists have criticized some institutions for “obeying in advance,” referencing Yale historian Timothy Snyder’s book On Tyranny, which states that “most of the power in authoritarianism is freely given.”
University of Miami student Ryan Chaffee was disturbed when the school deleted several web pages about DEI after Trump’s Jan. 20 order for the federal government to end all support of DEI. Chaffee helped organize more than 50 student organizations to launch a petition that has gathered over 1,300 signatures, asking the university to publicly acknowledge the removal of DEI resources, reinstate them, and engage openly with students about strengthening support for underrepresented groups while maintaining funding.
“When I came here for orientation, they touted the diversity and inclusion measures, and now it’s all being backtracked,” he said.
“I was kind of upset about it because I was under the impression that as a private university, we’d be safe,” Chaffee continued. “It’s just kind of scary how this can impact people.”
The criticism has turned too much to organizations’ responses to the executive orders, according to Heron Greenesmith, deputy director of policy for Transgender Law Center, when the onus should be on Trump himself.
“We want to make sure that the focus is back on the administration, who are essentially causing organizations to make these decisions, putting folks into situations where they have to make these choices,” they said.
“The intent of these orders is to persecute trans people, to undermine bodily autonomy, and to scare and threaten people into not providing programs and services for trans people, which is why community is the antidote to all of these orders,” Greenesmith continued. “They’re trying to divide us, to isolate us, to break up the community, but we’re way more powerful than they are.”
Prism is an independent and nonprofit newsroom led by journalists of color. We report from the ground up and at the intersections of injustice.
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