Hospitals in the D.C. area are putting a prompt stop to aiding transgender youth and their families continue their transition after President Donald Trump signed an executive order that bans all gender-affirming care nationwide for minors under 19.

On Jan. 28, days after Trump took office, signed the executive order, “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation,” which immediately halted the prescription and medical treatment of gender-affirming care for all minors under the age of 19 across the country. The order use of “chemical and surgical mutilation” is in reference to the various kinds of gender-affirming care that youth may receive when in the care of a medical practice.

“Today, medical professionals are maiming and sterilizing a growing number of impressionable children under the radical and false claim that adults can change a child’s sex through a series of irreversible medical interventions.” says the executive order. “This dangerous trend will be a stain on our nation’s history, and it must end.”

The executive order laid out various guidelines for medical practices to follow that must be implemented within the coming months. These include “ending reliance on junk science,” in referring to following the World Professional Association for Transgender Health’s guidelines for youth, and “defunding chemical and surgical mutilation,” which seeks to ban hospitals and medical schools to use federal funding for gender-affirming care.

Hospitals, medical schools, and clinics across the country have begun to abide by the executive order and drop trans and gender diverse youth as they dismantled programs that provided care of any kind that treated a child’s gender dysphoria. Children’s National Hospital in Northwest Washington is one of those institutions.

“Children’s National is committed to providing compassionate and comprehensive care in accordance with the law,” said Children’s National in a Jan. 30 press release. “As a result, we are currently pausing all puberty blockers and hormone therapy prescriptions for transgender youth patients, per the guidelines in the executive order issued by the White House this week. Children’s National already does not perform gender affirming surgery for minors.”

“We recognize the impact this change will have, and our commitment to creating a better future for children and families remains at the forefront of our mission,” it added. “We will do everything we can to ensure the same uninterrupted access to mental health counseling, social support, and holistic and respectful care for every patient at Children’s National. We are working directly with patients and providers to ensure every patient has access to the information and support services they need, and we appreciate their continued trust and understanding as we work through these changes.”

The hospital did not provide the Washington Blade with additional comment.

Activists in response to the decision organized a march that took place outside Children’s Hospital. on Feb. 2. D.C. Safe Haven, a group founded to “provide TLGBQ people in the DMV area with opportunities to transform their lives,” helped organize the march.

Similar protests have taken place across the country.

The Gender Liberation Movement organized the “Rise Up for Trans Youth” march in New York’s Union Square on Saturday. The group was one of the organizers of a march that took place in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 4 when the justices heard oral arguments in the U.S. v. Skrmetti case, which challenges a Tennessee law that bans gender-affirming care for minors under 18.

“VCU Health and Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU have suspended gender-affirming medications and gender-affirming surgical procedures for patients under 19-years-old in response to an executive order issued by the White House on Jan. 28, 2025, and related state guidance received by VCU on Jan. 30, 2025,” the hospital said in a statement. “Our doors remain open to all patients and their families for screening, counseling, mental health care, and all other health care needs.”

Equality Virginia, a queer advocacy group that works across the state, in a statement to the Blade criticized the executive order and response to it.

“Executive orders are not legislation, they are not law, and they do not supersede state laws,” said Narissa Rahaman, the group’s executive director. “The General Assembly has taken up bills on both transgender athletes and gender-affirming care, and in both cases, the general assembly has declined to pursue bans on either. State law is clear; what is unclear is why the Youngkin administration is spending its final year cozying up to the Trump administration and repeatedly singling out transgender Virginians for discrimination.”

“To the transgender and nonbinary athletes and youth seeking healthcare in Virginia who are feeling scared: Equality Virginia will not stop fighting for you, no matter who occupies the Governor’s Mansion or the White House,” added Rahaman.

Petitions are urging D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb, Health and Human Services, and Children’s National to use D.C.’s human rights law to challenge the executive orders. Lambda Legal, along with the American Civil Liberties Union and the law firms Jenner & Block and Hogan Lovells have filed lawsuits against Trump’s mandate on behalf of families of trans youth.

An upscale senior and assisted living apartment building located two blocks from Dupont Circle, which is scheduled to hold a grand opening ceremony on Feb. 12, has announced it is “LGBTQ+ friendly.”

A statement released by the new seniors home, called the Inspir Embassy Row, located at 2100 Massachusetts Ave., N.W., says it is proud to have received recognition as a SAGECare Platinum Credentialed Provider from the New York City-based LGBTQ seniors advocacy and training group SAGE.

“To earn this prestigious credential, a minimum of 80 percent of Inspir’s management and non-management staff completed comprehensive training in LGBTQ+ aging cultural competency,” the statement says.

“The program covered crucial topics including historical and contemporary LGBTQ+ struggles, proper terminology usage related to sexual orientation and gender identity, and strategies to address the unique challenges faced by this demographic,” according to the statement sent to the Washington Blade.

Inspir Embassy Row’s general manager, Tim Cox, who is gay and said he lives with his husband just five blocks from the soon to open facility, provided the Washington Blade with a tour of the senior living building. He said it includes 174 apartments, including studio apartments and one and two-bedroom apartments.

Residents have signed up for about 45 of the apartments so far, Cox said, including some LGBTQ residents, who will begin moving in on Feb. 18. He said the upscale building is open to seniors who currently do not need assisted living services as well as those who need different levels of care, including memory loss care.

He said a doctor and nurse practitioner will be among the staff team providing services for residents. Although most of the apartments have a kitchenette with a refrigerator and microwave but no cooktop and a limited number have full kitchens, Cox said three meals a day will be served in the building’s large, first floor dining room. The building also includes common areas with spaces for entertainment such as the showing of movies and a large grand piano for visiting performers.

“At Inspir Embassy Row, we’re dedicated to creating an inclusive environment that celebrates the diversity of our residents,” Cox said in the statement released by the building, which is the former home of the Fairfax Hotel.

“This SAGECare certification is a testament to our commitment to providing personalized, compassionate care that respects and honors the identities and experiences of all our residents, including those in the LGBTQ+ community,” Cox said.

He added, “Our goal is to create a home where every resident feels valued, respected and free to be themselves. The SAGECare certification is just the beginning of our journey to set a new standard for inclusive senior living in Washington, D.C.”

But the monthly rent for residents of Inspir Embassy Row will likely place it out of reach for many potential senior residents. Cox said the monthly rent for a one-room studio apartment is $8,100, with the monthly cost of a one-bedroom apartment ranging from $11,500 to about $15,000. A two-bedroom apartment will cost $18,500 per month.

Some of those costs will be covered for residents who have long-term care insurance, Cox said.

Asked if potential residents who can afford the monthly costs at Inspir Embassy Row would be better off staying in their own homes and hiring staff and others to comfortably assist them, Cox said Inspir provides far more than just meals and a place to stay.

When remaining at your own home “you’re isolated, you’re lonely, you don’t have activities,” he said. “When you have people coming to care for you, they’re not there as companions,” Cox said. “So, for this, we give them opportunities. We take them to the Kennedy Center. We have music here on a daily basis.”

Cox added, “We have authors come in. We have speakers that are renowned coming in. Since we’re on Embassy Row, we’ll have ambassadors come in to introduce their country. So, really it is being able to get to know our community better and being social, interactive.”

The statement released by Inspir Embassy Row says the facility will provide “LGBTQ+ specific activities, events, or support groups to allow residents the opportunity to share similar experiences with other residents,” and there will be “partnerships with local LGBTQ+ organizations.” 

Officials with five local LGBTQ community organizations and officials with another four groups that also provide services for LGBTQ D.C. residents testified before a D.C. Council performance oversight hearing on Jan. 30 that examined the work of Mayor Muriel Bowser’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs.

The hearing, which also examined the Mayor’s Office of Veterans Affairs and Office of Religious Affairs, was called by D.C Council member Brianne Nadeau (D-Ward 1) in her role as chair of the Council’s Committee on Public Works and Operations. 

Nearly all the witnesses praised what they called the LGBTQ Affairs Office’s longstanding support for the D.C. LGBTQ community through a wide range of services and programs and what they called the “dedicated” work of its director, Japer Bowles.

Officials with at least four of the LGBTQ organizations, including the D.C. LGBTQ Budget Coalition and the LGBTQ youth advisory group SMYAL, expressed concern over what they called long delays in funding from grants awarded to LGBTQ and LGBTQ supportive groups by the Office of LGBTQ Affairs.

Several of the witnesses, including Kimberley Bush, executive director of the D.C. LGBTQ+ Community Center, who submitted written testimony, said the funding delays were being caused by other D.C. government agencies that administer city grant programs. 

Bush stated that the delays in funding for the LGBTQ+ Community Center for a  $50,000 Community Development Grant and a $50,000 Violence Prevention and Response Team (VPART) Grant, “by no fault” of the LGBTQ Affairs Office, “caused extraordinary and substantial financial strain on our cash flow.”

Heidi Ellis, coordinator of the D.C. LGBTQ+ Budget Coalition, raised a related issue of concern that the mayor’s office, based on “shifting priorities,” sometimes significantly lowers the level of grant funds from the Office of LGBTQ Affairs to community-based LGBTQ grant recipients.

Ellis and other witnesses at the hearing referred to this as “yo-yo funding and shifting of mayoral priorities” that they said makes it difficult for LGBTQ groups receiving city grants to continue their programs and services.  

In his own testimony, and in response to questions from Nadeau and D.C. Council member Zachary Parker (D-Ward 5), who is the Council’s only gay member, LGBTQ Affairs Office Director Bowles said some of the delays in grant payments were due to a vacancy in the office staff position that administers the grants, which he said has now been filled.

Among other things, Bowles said the complexity of the grant approval process, which he said involves “different layers of funding decisions” by other D.C. government offices, also has caused some delays. He said that despite what he called some of his office’s challenges, the office continues to expand its role in supporting the local LGBTQ community.

“With Mayor Bowser’s leadership and support, I’m proud to have led efforts that transformed the office,” he stated in his testimony. “We secured the bid for WorldPride 2025, expanded our grant programs from $75,000 to over $6 million, revamped our community engagement strategy, and much more,” he said.

“These changes have had a direct impact on addressing public safety concerns and providing housing and support to vulnerable residents,” he added. According to Bowles, his office’s LGBTQIA+ Community Development Grant program saw a record expansion in fiscal year 2024, with more than $1 million awarded to 29 community-based organizations. (The Washington Blade has been a recipient of a grant that funds a journalism fellow who reports on local LGBTQ community news.)

“These grants support a wide range of LGBTQIA+ dedicated initiatives, including mental health counseling, youth leadership, and arts and culture projects,” he said. “As part of our broader advocacy efforts, we secured funding for the Violence Prevention and Response Team, which provides trauma-informed legal and counseling services to survivors of hate-based incidents.”

Among the LGBTQ officials who praised Bowles’s work and the LGBTQ Affairs Office while raising concerns about the office’s ability to carry out its ambitious programs was Vincent Slatt, chair of the D.C. Advisory Neighborhood Commission’s Rainbow Caucus. The caucus currently consists of 38 out LGBTQ ANC commissioners based in all eight D.C. wards.   

Slatt called on Mayor Bowser and the D.C. Council to increase the number of full-time staff members for the LGBTQ Affairs Office from its current six staff members to 10 or 11 full-time staffers.

“To address these challenges, we strongly recommend increasing the office’s staff to match the scale of its responsibilities and the growing needs of our community,” Slatt told the committee. He added that the office’s current “chronic staffing and budget shortage disparities will become even more concerning in light of the recent and anticipated homophobic and transphobic attacks expected from the White House and Congress.”

The other LGBTQ community witnesses who praised the LGBTQ Affairs Office’s overall work were Rebecca York, SMYAL’s director of Youth Development and Community Engagement; Justin Johns, director of operations for the D.C. LGBTQ+ Community Center; Ryan Bos, executive director of the Capital Pride Alliance; and Bo Belotti, development manager for the community services organization HIPS.

In response to a request from the Washington Blade for comment on whether the mayor and other city officials were taking steps to address the issue of grant funding delays raised at the D.C. Council hearing, the office of the mayor released this statement: “Washington, D.C. is proud to support the LGBTQIA+ community. The Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs continues to deliver impactful programs with its dedicated staff, and we are always assessing ways to enhance support across all community affairs offices.”

The Office of the D.C. Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED) responded to the Blade inquiry with its own statement: “DMPED has been working closely and collaboratively with the D.C. LGBTQ+ Community Center to finalize their grant agreement. We are proud to support this transformative project that is delivering a world-class services center for our LGBTQ community.”