BOULDER, Colo. — Members and supporters of Colorado’s LGBTQ+ community spoke out at a rally in Boulder on Wednesday following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to uphold a Tennessee law barring minors from receiving gender-affirming care, such as puberty blockers or hormones.
Roughly half of U.S. states have laws in effect restricting gender-affirming care for minors. Current Colorado law protects gender-affirming care, though supporters fear that could change one day.
“Unfortunately, it is really unsurprising,” said Ren Q. Dawe, a transgender comedian from Gunbarrel.
Dawe called gender-affirming care “beyond life-saving.”
“I tried to end my life multiple times when I was a teenager, much before I was able to get on HRT [hormone replacement therapy] or gender-affirming care,” said Dawe. “I am so grateful to have found my community. I was able to understand my identity a lot better. It gave me words to put to an internal situation, an internal dilemma that I had lived with for my entire young adult life.”
National
Supreme Court upholds Tenn. law barring gender-affirming care for minors
Emily Stout lives in Longmont and has two kids, one who is trans and another who is “potentially non-binary.”
“Just a devastating thing to hear and to experience as a parent,” she said of Wednesday’s high court decision. “Our lives don't revolve around being trans. It's just being a family and loving your kid and believing that they should be able to be their full, authentic self.”
Major medical associations — including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics — have backed gender-affirming care, but it has become part of a divisive national debate.
Those who oppose gender-affirming care say children aren't able to make informed decisions about it, while some worry about the potential for long-term health risks.
In its decision, the Supreme Court majority wrote, “This case carries with it the weight of fierce scientific and policy debates about the safety, efficacy, and propriety of medical treatments in an evolving field. The voices in these debates raise sincere concerns...”
- Read SCOTUS's 118-page ruling below
Before President Donald Trump returned to office this year, the Department of Health and Human Services shared a document titled "Gender-Affirming Care and Young People," which explains the topic and says “research demonstrates that gender-affirming care improves the mental health and overall well-being of gender diverse children and adolescents.”
The Trump administration added a disclosure at the top of the document, explaining that a court order required it to be restored. The disclosure goes on to say, “Any information on this page promoting gender ideology is extremely inaccurate, and disconnected from the immutable biological reality that there are two sexes, male and female. The Trump Administration rejects gender ideology and condemns the harms it causes to children, by promoting their chemical and surgical mutilation, and to women, by depriving them of their dignity, safety, well-being, and opportunities. This page does not reflect biological reality and therefore the Administration and this Department rejects it.”
The Trump administration announced Wednesday that the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline will end its specialized services for young people who are “LGB+” on July 17 in order to “focus on serving all help seekers.”
The option, also known as “Press 3,” was established as a pilot program in 2022 with third-party The Trevor Project. The announcement goes on to say, “Everyone who contacts the 988 Lifeline will continue to receive access to skilled, caring, culturally competent crisis counselors who can help with suicidal, substance misuse, or mental health crises, or any other kind of emotional distress. Anyone who calls the Lifeline will continue to receive compassion and help.”
LGBTQ+ supporters at Wednesday’s rally denounced that decision, as well.
“Some level of support will still exist,” said Stout. “But those people will no longer be trained to understand some of the specific challenges that trans community folks actually, you know, deal with in their lives. So it is incredibly dangerous.”
Dawe said those responding to community members in crisis need extra training and attention, similar to those in crisis who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder or are involved in domestic abuse situations.
“They need people that know what they're talking about, and they need people that are familiar with their situation,” said Dawe. “Otherwise, we might handle that entirely wrong and escalate a situation and lose someone in the process.”
Read more stories about Pride and the LGBTQ+ community here
Colorado State Rep. Brianna Titone, a Democrat representing House District 27 in Jefferson County and the first openly trans lawmaker elected in the state, came to the rally to show support. She called Wednesday’s SCOTUS decision something she saw coming, but still felt “like a gut punch.” She also said the community is strong and will continue to fight to be accepted.
“We have to stop this madness and this grift of using trans people as a scapegoat,” she told Denver7. “We support each other, we have each other's backs, and we're not going anywhere.”
Help is available for you or someone you know experiencing a crisis. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is reachable by calling or texting 988. You can also visit 988lifeline.org.
