A Finnish nationwide cohort study of gender clinic referred adolescents and young adults determined that the clinic referred youth had more severe psychiatric issues than matched controls both before and after treatment, with the authors concluding that “psychiatric needs do not subside after medical gender reassignment.” Notably, the study looked at all clinic-referred patients under 23 between 1996 and 2019. The study also found that “patients referred after 2010 displayed noticeably more psychiatric morbidity than those referred earlier” and that the need for specialist-level psychiatric treatment actually increased after medical transition. Because medical transition does not appear to resolve comorbid psychiatric issues, the researchers argue that gender dysphoria sometimes develops within the context of other preexisting psychiatric disorders rather than the inverse, that untreated dysphoria culminates in psychiatric comorbidity. Writing on twitter, Ben Ryan provides context from the study authors on why accessing specialist psychiatric services was used as a proxy for measuring severe psychiatric dysfunction.
After announcing a pause on “affirming care” last month, Minnesota Children’s Gender Health Program is reversing course, announcing on Monday that it will resume treatment for minors. The hospital was initially responding to two proposed federal rules by the Trump administration which would prohibit Medicare and Medicaid funding of pediatric gender medicine. After a federal court vacated a related, non-binding declaration on “sex-rejecting procedures” by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., however, Minnesota Children’s presumably felt emboldened to resume its practices. The hospital is set to begin contacting families who were impacted by the pause.
The Department of Education is investigating Westford County Public Schools (WPS) for policies which violate Title IX by prioritizing “gender identity” over sex for the purpose of accessing bathrooms and locker rooms. The policies were implemented shortly after Trump retook office and issued an executive order, Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism And Restoring Biological Truth To The Federal Government. “Prior Administrations regularly misinterpreted Title IX to pander to political ideology and police ‘misgendering’ despite not having sound legal grounds,” Department of Education spokesperson Amelia Joy told Fox News Digital in a statement. Later in the week, the admin also announced an investigation into the Los Angeles Public School District over social transition policies that undermine parental rights.
Journalist Ben Ryan writes about heretofore unseen panel footage from the U.S. Professional Association for Transgender Health—an offshoot of WPATH—that lays bare how the world’s top “affirming care” experts conceive of their practices behind closed doors. Some of the more interesting quotes involve how the clinicians allow contested ideological assumptions to override their obligation to properly screen and assess patients, with one clinician, Maddie B. Deutsch, arguing that a trans-identified child who does not currently have sex-distress today could still qualify for medical intervention based on the logic of preventing hypothetical distress at a later developmental juncture. Similarly, noted clinician Johanna-Olson Kennedy expressed her contempt for assessment in general. “I think that a lot of this conversation outside of maybe these spaces gets talked about through a lens of like, ‘How can we make sure people are really trans?’ right?” Dr. Olson-Kennedy said. “And they’re not going to regret their decision later? And I just want to be really clear about that, because that’s actually not the discussion that I’m interested in participating in,” Olson-Kennedy told the panel.
According to the New York Times, the Trump administration terminated multiple civil rights settlements negotiated between school districts and the Obama and Biden administrations, which retroactively run afoul of the Trump administration's Title IX policies. According to Education Department officials, the terminations rescind deals made with school districts in “Delaware, Pennsylvania and Washington State, as well as two school districts and a community college in California.” “Today is yet another demonstration of the Trump administration’s commitment to uphold the law, protect our students and restore common sense,” said Kimberly M. Richey, the assistant secretary for civil rights at the Education Department. “No longer will the federal government force educational institutions to violate the law or punish them for upholding it.”
U.S. District Judge Brendan A. Hurson denied the Trump administration’s request to overturn a preliminary injunction that blocks the provisions of two executive orders which aim to prohibit federal funds from being used to facilitate the medical transition of dysphoric minors. The decision maintains the status quo from a March 2025 ruling in PFLAG v. Trump, which culminated in a nationwide injunction blocking the funding provisions. The case is now before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit.
After securing a 6-3 victory in the Supreme Court’s decision in Mirabelli v. Bonta—which invalidated a California law that prohibited school staff from notifying parents about changes to their child’s “gender identity”— a U.S. District court has ordered California to pay $4.5 million in attorney fees for the plaintiffs. “California threw everything it had at this case. It lost at summary judgment, lost at the Supreme Court, and now Californians will foot the bill for their government officials’ refusal to respect the fundamental rights of families,” said Thomas More Society Executive Vice President and Head of Litigation Peter Breen.
Joseph Figliolia
Policy Analyst
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