Democrat California Rep. Nancy Pelosi doubled down Thursday on her support for sex changes for minors, telling reporters she is pushing for national action.
One of California’s largest health care providers, Kaiser Permanente, will halt gender-transition surgeries for patients under 19 starting Aug. 29, citing Trump administration restrictions that have drawn praise from parental rights groups and criticism from LGBTQ advocates. Responding to California’s recent pause on sex change procedures, Pelosi said she remains committed to advancing the issue on Capitol Hill.
“That is something that I’m working for at the national level. And we have, can I say, are hoping that we can have gender affirming here for our trans kids,” Pelosi said. “And that it’s a sad thing for us. I don’t know what effect we can have nationally with what we have going on in the White House and in the Congress. It’s really very sad if you were there.”
Pelosi noted her office displays a transgender flag outside its congressional building door.
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“Outside our door, we have a trans flag outside of our door in the congressional office building. We have the trans flag, as do some of our other colleagues. But that view is not necessarily shared by people on the other side of the aisle,” Pelosi said.
Kaiser’s policy shift follows President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 14187, titled “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation,” which directs federal agencies to stop funding, promoting, or supporting sex change procedures for individuals under 19. The order also requires agencies to rescind policies based on World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) guidance and mandates that the Department of Health and Human Services review and update care standards for minors with gender dysphoria.
Federal enforcement has also intensified. In June, the FBI launched investigations into Boston Children’s Hospital, Children’s Hospital Colorado, and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles for allegedly violating a federal law banning genital mutilation by performing pediatric sex change surgeries. Attorney General Pam Bondi directed state attorneys general to pursue such cases under 18 U.S.C. § 116, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison per offense.
Leaked messages from the WPATH’s private forum, obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation, revealed members discussing how to push a “developmentally delayed” young adult toward an irreversible sex change and strategizing ways to pressure parents into approving such procedures for children.
