LPAC Responds to HHS Report on Trans Healthcare

May 1, 2025 — Washington, D.C. –Today, LPAC, the nation’s only organization dedicated to advancing the political representation of LGBTQ+ women and nonbinary candidates, responded to news that the Department of Health and Human Services published a report attacking the evidence-based Standards of Care for transgender youth, and endorsing dangerous, discredited conversion therapy practices—which they are now calling “exploratory therapy.” This report is not based on science, and instead is an agenda-driven political attack on transgender young people and their families.

“For decades, every major medical association–including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics–have affirmed that medical care is the only safe and effective treatment for transgender youth experiencing gender dysphoria,” said Janelle Perez, Executive Director of LPAC. “This report is simply promoting conversion therapy by a different name – and the American people know better. We know that conversion therapy isn’t actually therapy – It isolates and harms kids, scapegoats parents, and divides families through blame and rejection. These tactics have been used against gay kids for decades, and now the same people want to use them against transgender youth and their families.

The end result here will be a devastating denial of essential health care for transgender youth, replaced by a dangerous practice that every major U.S. medical and mental health association agree promotes anxiety, depression, and increased risk of suicidal thoughts and attempts.

Like being gay or lesbian, being transgender is not a choice, and no amount of pressure can force someone to change who they are. We also know that 98% of people who receive transition-related health care continue to receive that health care throughout their lifetime. Trans health care is health care.”