Judge Halts Trump’s Order Banning Transgender Surgeries

A federal judge extended the pause on President Donald Trump‘s executive orders aimed at defunding transgender procedures for children and claimed that Trump had a “desire to harm” transgender youth in her decision.

The lawsuit brought forward by attorneys general from Colorado, Minnesota, Oregon, and Washington argues the orders violate the Fifth Amendment’s equal protection clause and the Tenth Amendment’s limitations on federal authority over state medical practices. U.S. District Court Judge Lauren King, a Biden appointee, granted the plaintiffs a preliminary injunction on most of the lawsuit after a temporary restraining order expired.

King ruled that the order declaring two genders “denies the very existence of transgender people and instead seeks to erase them from the federal vocabulary altogether and eliminate medical care for gender dysphoria at federally funded medical institutions.”

“Such ‘[a] bare desire to harm a politically unpopular group cannot constitute a legitimate governmental interest,’” she wrote.

King also argued that the executive orders could affect medical care for transgender people unrelated to transitioning, and for cisgender males seeking a vasectomy.

The lawsuit targets two Trump executive orders: “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism,” which aims to strip funding for federal programs that “promote gender ideology,” and “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation,” which aims to cut off federally funded research and educational grants for institutions that provide transgender procedures for minors.

During arguments Friday, Washington Assistant Attorney General William McGinty claimed that some children may commit suicide “if they can no longer receive this care.”

The targeted executive orders, some of the first signed during Trump’s second term, require that the federal government recognize one’s biological sex instead of gender identity and eliminate federal funding for transgender care for people under 19 years old.

The science on transgender procedures, including hormone replacement and surgery, is hotly debated. Defenders have long argued that transgender procedures are needed to improve the mental health of patients and prevent them from committing suicide.

However, one of the largest studies of its kind, published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine on Monday, found the opposite regarding transgender surgeries. Surveying a database of 107,583 U.S. patients from 2014 to 2024, researchers found that “those undergoing surgery were at significantly higher risk for depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, and substance use disorders than those without surgery.”

Transgender surgeries, “while beneficial in affirming gender identity, [are] associated with increased risk of mental health issues, underscoring the need for ongoing, gender-sensitive mental health support for transgender individuals’ post-surgery,” the study says.