Weekly Update: Kaiser Halts Gender-Affirming Care Surgeries for Youth, Plus 5 Actions You Can Take
Welcome to Basic Rights Oregon’s weekly newsletter, where we update you on the LGBTQ2SIA+ news you should know, things you can do, and ways you can help. If you have questions, reach out here. To receive this newsletter as a weekly email, signup for email updates at the bottom of our Contact Us page. BRO’s work—including this newsletter—is funded entirely by our supporters. Donate here.
Good morning, friends of BRO! We’re doing things a bit differently this week. We know our community has been rocked by recent news of Kaiser changing its gender-affirming care policies for youth, so we’re focusing just on that for the news section. (And don’t worry, we’ll still have action items you can take at the end!).
Here’s our full response to Kaiser’s actions:
Facing continued pressure from the Trump administration, Kaiser Permanente has announced a nationwide pause on providing gender-affirming surgeries to transgender young people under the age of 19, including at its Oregon healthcare facilities. The pause will be effective starting August 29th, 2025.
Fortunately, Basic Rights Oregon has helped build strong policies here in Oregon that protect all Oregonians – including those seeking reproductive and gender-affirming healthcare. Kaiser’s announcement stated they will continue to provide other GAC services, including puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and other non-surgical interventions. Decades of research shows that these life-saving surgeries are vital to well-being, and yet healthcare providers are being pushed to make these sweeping changes due to fear-mongering at the federal level.
Basic Rights Oregon is disappointed and frustrated with this decision, and we are responding to hundreds of families in our community who are directly and personally impacted. In pressuring Kaiser to stop these life-saving services, the Trump administration is deliberately attacking young trans people by removing their access to healthcare. We believe these personal medical decisions are just that—personal—and should be left up to patients, their doctors, and their families. These discriminatory actions being taken by the Trump administration do not come from a place of concern or care for trans youth but rather, are consistent with their explicit goal to remove protections and resources from a population they hope to eradicate.
While these attacks by our fascist government continue to impact the most vulnerable people in our community, Basic Rights Oregon will not give up or stop this fight. We continue to hold conversations with Oregon healthcare experts and stakeholders, and we remain committed toward our efforts to protect bodily autonomy. We refuse to allow the government to control our bodies and our lives, and we encourage Oregonians to speak out and resist.
To get involved in this fight, consider signing the petition to support our Equal Rights for All Ballot Measure, a collaborative effort between Basic Rights Oregon, the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, and the Latino Network. As always, we are sending love and support to trans youth and families who are being personally attacked by our nation’s leaders. As things develop, we will continue to keep our LGBTQ2SIA+ community informed.
And here’s what else you can do:
Once you’ve signed the Equal Rights for All petition, consider also getting involved by training to collect signatures from other registered Oregon voters.
Salem Pride is happening in September, and we’re recruiting volunteers! Keep the spirit of Pride going into fall by signing up to help with tabling and signature collection.
Planning a movie and chill night this weekend? Consider renting Ponyboi, a new film centering an intersex main character, portrayed by intersex activist River Gallo. Now more than ever, it’s important to support LGBTQ2SIA+ creators, and intersex stories are still few and far between in mainstream media.
We’re now selling tickets for Ignite, our biggest and queerest annual fundraiser! This year’s theme is WILD AND FREE, and we’re celebrating what it means to live out, proud, and without limitations. Get more info on tickets and sponsorship opportunities here.
Finally: Pride season may be slowing down, but there’s still time to support BRO and score some limited-edition Pride merch. Check out our online Pride shop here!
That’s all we’ve got for you this week. Thanks for reading, and also thanks to everyone who joined us at Portland Pride last weekend! Our communications manager is about to go on vacation, so we’ll be taking a break from the newsletter this week—we’ll see you again in two weeks.