RFA and Partners Remind Bay Area Hospitals of CA Law

Healthcare Leaders,

First, we want to emphasize how very grateful we are that your organization is still providing care for our transgender and gender-expansive children. We know that yours and other hospitals are under enormous political pressure to abandon them, and each additional day, week, month of care is incredibly valuable to a beautiful trans child and those who love them.

We are now at a moment in history where every gesture, every action taken to protect, care, and fight for the most vulnerable among us, will resonate deeply into the future. While the target is currently on our kids, if they are sacrificed, many other populations will be in their sights. When we look back on previous convulsive periods of history, we view the institutions who went along to survive as episodes of shame — places where we tell ourselves we would never go again. 

Yes, the proposed new CMS rules, the Kennedy declaration, the illegal investigations and subpoenas — all of this presents an existential threat to your hospitals. The attacks are coming from everywhere and they are relentless. But we believe you are still providing care because you know in your hearts that the moment you let hateful bigots force you to abandon vulnerable children represents a far greater existential threat to our entire healthcare system. Once we open that door, it is impossible to close. Next you’ll be ordered not to administer measles vaccines and will watch children die needlessly in your ICUs. We know where this leads. 

Institutions that have capitulated to this administration have continued to lose, over and over again. Ask Columbia University about how conceding to demands has worked out. Care for our children is the first domino. Do not let it fall.

If you think that capitulating means you are choosing survival, ask yourselves, why do we exist? What are you saving? Jobs? Medical care for some but not for others? If you comply with illegal demands in the face of threats, your institution cannot fulfil its mission.

There is no moral struggle without risk. There is no certainty how it will play out if you stand up for our children. What is absolutely certain is what will happen if you don’t: An entire population will be fed to the wolves, and they will be hungry for more.

The public comment period on the proposed new Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services rules ends February 17. There is no legal reason to stop care on that day, and there are plenty of legal reasons to continue. More importantly, you have a moral obligation to continue caring for our children every single minute that you possibly can. There will be another date after February 17: the March 24 hearing on Kennedy’s declaration. (California’s Attorney General has already joined 17 other states in filing an amicus brief to halt any actions related to this overreach,and expert legal analysis confirms that HHS cannot impose retroactive penalties on providers.) And then another date after that, in May or June when the CMS rules are finalized, or when the legal challenges are heard. There will be more dates.

Each one represents an opportunity for you to stand up for the right thing, as professionals who have devoted your careers to providing and improving healthcare and as Americans. Please don’t let our children down. 

Gratefully,

Rainbow Families Action

With:

CA LGBTQ Health and Human Services Network

Trans Families Support Services

Alliance for Trans Youth Rights

TransFamilies SV

TransFamilies SC

San Diego Pride

Pride at the Pier

Viet Rainbow of Orange County

Gender Justice

OCGAPNet

GAYLESTA

PFLAG Tri Valley

PFLAG San Francisco

PFLAG San Jose/Peninsula

PFLAG Clayton/Concord

PFLAG Danville/San Ramon

PFLAG Oakland/East Bay

PFLAG LaMorinda