Gender-affirming care for transgender people protected under new Philadelphia order

Philadelphia joined a growing number of Democratic-led cities calling themselves places of refuge for transgender people when Mayor Jim Kenney signed an executive order Tuesday protecting those who come here for gender-affirming care.

In nearly half of states nationwide, Republican-led legislatures have enacted legislation to restrict access to puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and surgical treatments for transgender youth.

The newly signed executive order prohibits the city from using any resources to assist states that seek to investigate or punish someone for providing or receiving gender-affirming care in Philadelphia.

“We won’t help those who seek to discriminate against trans people,” Kenney said ahead of the signing in City Hall.

Celena Morrison, the executive director of the Philadelphia office of LGBT affairs, called gender-affirming care a life-saving option. Research has indicated that such care can benefit youth who experience the psychological distress that comes when the gender and sex assigned at birth don’t match a person’s identity, known as gender-dysphoria.

“As this anti-trans legislation has become bolder and further reaching, our commitment to protecting trans’ and gender-expansive individuals’ access to health care also needs to become bolder,” Morrison said.

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Transgender individuals have long faced discrimination when seeking health care, said Sultan Shakir, executive director of the Mazzoni Center, the city’s largest LGBTQ health and wellness agency, during the signing ceremony. The patients who come to Mazzoni want to be treated in a way that allows them to live their true authentic lives, he noted. And its health care providers want to provide services for their patients without fear of prosecution by other states.

“Today’s executive order also sends a message that we respect and value our medical providers here in Philadelphia,” Shakir said.

Other Democratic-led cities and states have adopted similar protections for trans people seeking care. In June, New York City’s Mayor Eric Adams signed an executive order protecting gender-affirming care. Last spring, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy instructed state agencies not to collaborate with other states’ efforts to punish patients or providers.

The city’s support for gender-affirming care follows other city efforts to protect health care providers and patients from restrictive health laws enacted in other states. Last winter, City Council passed a trio of bills aimed at protecting abortion providers and patients in Philadelphia from prosecution under other states’ laws.