Donald Trump vows to ban gender-affirming healthcare for kids in stinging attack on LGBTQ+ rights

Donald Trump has said he would ban gender-affirming care for minors if he’s re-elected president in 2024.

Trump hit out at “left-wing gender insanity” and the importance of “mothers and fathers” in a video shared on his Truth Social platform.

In what might be his most significant attack yet on trans rights, Donald Trump described gender-affirming care for minors as “an act of child abuse” before outlining his plan to stop “the chemical, physical and emotional mutilation of our youth”.

“I will sign a new executive order instructing every federal agency to cease all programmes that promote the concept of sex and gender transition at any age,” Trump said.

“I will then ask congress to permanently stop federal tax-payer dollars from being used to promote or pay for these procedures and pass a law prohibiting child-sexual mutilation in all 50 states – it’ll go very quickly.

“I will declare that any hospital or healthcare provider that participates in the chemical or physical mutilation of minor youth will no longer meet federal health and safety standards for Medicaid and Medicare and will be terminated from the programme immediately.

“Furthermore I will support the creation of a private right of action for victims to sue doctors who have unforgivably performed these procedures on minor children.”

Donald Trump will declare only two genders are recognised by the law

Trump said his government would investigate “big pharma and the big hospital networks” to find out if they’ve “deliberately covered up horrific long-term side effects of sex transitions in order to get rich”.

He also said teachers or school officials who tell a child they’re “trapped in the wrong body” would face “severe consequences”, including the loss of federal funding.

Instead, teachers would be required to “promote positive education about the nuclear family, the roles of mothers and fathers”, Trump said, adding that they would be prohibited from “erasing the things that make men and women different and unique”.

Trump went on to claim he would pass a bill establishing that the only genders recognised in the United States are male and female.

The same bill would also prohibit trans women from participating in women’s sports, Trump said.

Closing his address, Trump incorrectly stated that the concept of gender transition was “invented” by “the radical left” in recent years, saying it had never been heard of in human history beforehand.

“Under my leadership this madness will end,” he said.

Trump’s broad attack on trans rights comes as Republicans increasingly move to stir up culture wars for their own gain.

A number of states have already banned gender-affirming care for minors, despite the fact that studies have overwhelmingly shown that trans people who access such treatment are significantly less likely to experience depression and anxiety and consider suicide than those who can’t.

The American Medical Association, the American Academy of Paediatrics and the American Psychological Association have all expressed support for gender-affirming care for minors.

Meanwhile, Trump has repeatedly lashed out at the LGBTQ+ community in his desperate bid to get back into the White House.

In January 2022, he promised to ban trans athletes from competing in sports if re-elected, a move that sent a strong signal of where his campaign was headed.