Massachusetts hospitals end gender-affirming care for minors as activists fight back
Baystate Health and other providers have stopped offering the care, prompting widespread protests and leaving families to seek treatment out of state.
Healthcare institutions across Massachusetts, including Baystate Health, Fenway Health, and Outer Cape Health Services, have stopped providing gender-affirming care for minors, prompting activists and families to organize protests and demand the care be restored.
Baystate Health made the decision earlier this year, citing pressure from federal threats tied to President Donald Trump's opposition to the care. The rollback has forced families to seek treatment elsewhere while advocates argue the restrictions endanger young transgender people who depend on the services, which include puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and mental health visits.
A decentralized group of activists gathered outside Baystate Medical Center in Springfield in spring 2026 with a large banner depicting a bus labeled with the hospital's logo. Signs read "Baystate bows to Trump, throws trans kids under the bus" and included messages like "Gender affirming care gave me my life back" and "I don't want to live if I can't live as myself."
Ali Wicks-Lim, a western Massachusetts resident and organizer, said the protest emerged from community conversations after Baystate cut off services. "We are dealing with a medical treatment that can be life-saving for youth, and we want people to be aware of what's at stake," Wicks-Lim said. Organizers have demanded that Baystate not attend pride events unless it reverses the decision. Protests have also been held in Northampton and outside Baystate facilities in Greenfield.
Baystate Health declined to be interviewed but released a statement from President and CEO Peter Banko saying the hospital must "delicately balance our functional realities with the rapidly changing legal and reputational landscape." Banko called for celebrating LGBTQ+ members of the hospital's team and learning from others' stories but did not address the specific protests or reverse the decision.
Some families have become so concerned about the legal and social climate for transgender people that they are considering leaving the country. A mother identified as Madison told The Shoestring that her family moved back to Massachusetts in 2020 believing it was safe, but they are now planning to leave again after Trump's return to office. She worries the government could take away her children based on her allowing her trans son to receive gender-affirming care.
Protect Trans Futures, a Boston-based organization, has mobilized against Fenway Health's decision to end the care. Teddy Walker, a 21-year-old organizer with the group, said waiting for gender-affirming care is a struggle for many young people. "Some people don't live long enough to see it," Walker said. The organization was founded in early October after learning of Fenway's decision and has organized vigils, pride events, and marches while calling on Attorney General Andrea Campbell to enforce queer civil rights.
Fenway Health emerged in 1971 from the HIV epidemic, when many providers systematically denied care to queer people, resulting in thousands of deaths. The clinic began in a church basement as a volunteer-run drop-in center. Fenway declined to be interviewed but said in a statement that it remains "deeply committed" to providing gender-affirming care.