Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) has announced it will permanently close its Center for Transyouth Health and Development this summer, citing direct pressure from the Trump administration and worsening federal threats. The center, one of the oldest and largest of its kind in the nation, has served nearly 3,000 transgender children, teens, and young adults, most of whom rely on public insurance.
In an internal email sent to staff Thursday morning and later shared with families, CHLA executives confirmed the program will close on July 22. “There is no doubt that this is a painful and significant change to our organization and a challenge to CHLA’s mission, vision, and values,” the message read.
The decision comes after months of heightened political pressure and policy shifts from the federal government, including actions from the Department of Justice, Health and Human Services, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. According to the email, federal agencies have signaled intentions to criminally and civilly prosecute hospitals and doctors who provide gender-affirming care, threats the hospital now says are no longer hypothetical.
“Taken together, the Attorney General memo, HHS review, and the recent solicitation of tips from the FBI to report hospitals and providers of GAC strongly signal this administration’s intent to take swift and decisive action,” the statement continued.
The announcement has devastated families across California who relied on CHLA as one of the only providers in the state offering gender-affirming care to trans youth through public insurance. Maxine, the mother of a current patient, described the emotional toll: “We’re just disappointed and scared and enraged… The challenge is how we break news to this kid who has had such a positive experience with everybody at Children’s.”
The center’s closure marks another alarming rollback in transgender healthcare access, especially for families already marginalized by income, insurance limitations, and geography. While CHLA reversed a temporary pause on new hormone therapy patients earlier this year following intense public outcry, Thursday’s announcement reveals how sustained federal targeting has made the program unsustainable. Roughly 40% of pediatric beds in Los Angeles are housed at CHLA, which receives the bulk of its funding from public sources, placing it in a uniquely vulnerable position.
“CHLA has a responsibility to navigate this complex and uncertain regulatory environment in a way that allows us to remain open as much as possible for as many as possible,” the leadership team stated, emphasizing that continuing the program could jeopardize care for hundreds of thousands of other children.
Trans rights advocates warn that this decision may signal a dangerous new chapter. “CHLA needs to be a leader in this and stand up to the Trump administration, because other hospitals are taking note of what they’re doing,” said Maebe Pudlow, a trans nonbinary activist and Silverlake Neighborhood Council member. “It feels very conveniently timed when everybody’s focus is on ICE raids happening in Los Angeles. I think it’s despicable.”
Thursday’s email also points to decreased support from the state, referencing California’s ongoing budget crisis and what it called an “ebbing” of assistance even as federal attacks escalated.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who intervened earlier this year to ensure compliance with state anti-discrimination laws, has not yet commented on the closure. In February, Bonta affirmed, “California law has not changed, and hospitals and clinics have a legal obligation to provide equal access to healthcare services.”
For now, families are left scrambling.
“We’re slowly going underground, underground, underground,” said Maxine. “You put one thing in place, and then you have to prepare for when that gets taken away. We’re just trying to stay a couple of steps ahead, sticking together with other parents, knowing who our allies are.”
As transgender children and their families continue to face unprecedented legal and political attacks, the closure of the CHLA Transyouth Center underscores a bitter truth: survival for many now hinges on community, resilience, and resistance in the face of systemic erasure.
