Ten Connecticut families on Tuesday filed complaints against Connecticut Children’s Medical Center and Yale New Haven Health, challenging the hospitals’ decisions earlier this year to stop providing medication-based gender-affirming care for minors. The two complaints — one by three famil ies against Connecticut Children’s and the other by seven families against Yale New Haven — were filed with Connecticut’s Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities, the state entity that handles discrimination complaints. The families allege that the hospitals violated Connecticut anti-discrimination laws by withholding medically necessary treatment to transgender patients, according to copies of the complaints obtained by The Connecticut Mirror.  “The hospitals stopped providing care to these patients because they are transgender, while they continue to provide the same treatments to patients who are not,” Hannah Hussey, an attorney with GLAD Law who is representing the patients, said during an interview with CT Mirror. GLAD Law has no affiliation with GLAAD, the nonprofit LGBTQ advocacy organization. Monica Buchanan, a spokesperson for Connecticut Children’s, did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.  Robert Hutchison, a spokesperson for Yale New Haven Health, said the decision to end medication treatment for transgender youth “was not made lightly. “We worked closely with patients and their families to offer transitional support as the medication treatment component of the pediatric gender-affirming care program wound down, and our providers continue to provide mental health and other health care services to these patients in a compassionate care environment,” Hutchison stated in emailed comments. Earlier this year, the Trump administration took aim at providers of pediatric gender-affirming care. In January, President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at withholding federal funding from institutions, including medical schools and hospitals, that provide gender-affirming care to kids. The directive also sought to restrict coverage of those services from federally-run insurance programs, like Medicaid. A federal judge temporarily blocked the order the following month. In July, the Department of Justice issued more than 20 subpoenas to providers of youth gender-affirming care across the country in connection with investigations related to “healthcare fraud, false statements, and more.” Despite the threats from the federal administration, as of July 2025, “no federal law or policy prohibited medical care for transgender minors” nor required the hospitals “to terminate medically necessary healthcare services for transgender patients,” according to the complaints.  A ‘severe disruption’ The families in the complaints reported that the termination of medication treatment, including puberty blockers and hormone therapy, caused severe disruption to critical medical care.  One family who lost access to care at Connecticut Children’s had moved to Connecticut from another state primarily to secure ongoing treatment for their transgender daughter, according to a complaint. Another parent whose daughter was treated at Yale searched unsuccessfully for another in-state provider and ultimately had to drive nine hours for an out-of-state appointment.  All individuals in the complaints are identified by pseudonyms to protect the privacy of children “who have been diagnosed with a stigmatized medical condition.” At the same time, the complaints allege, the hospitals haven’t terminated puberty blockers and hormone therapy for children who are not transgender, but may need them to treat other diagnoses.  In the complaints filed on Tuesday, the attorneys for the families allege that the hospitals’ termination of services violate Connecticut anti-discrimination laws, including legislation signed by Gov. Ned Lamont in 2025 that “prohibits licensed health care facilities from discriminating in the provision of health care services because of sex and gender identity or expression.” In August, Attorney General William Tong filed a lawsuit along with officials from 16 other states against the Trump administration, accusing it of intimidating providers of youth gender-affirming care. At the time, Tong strongly criticized the hospitals for suspending medication treatment. “I have expressed to them not just my disappointment, but the state’s profound disappointment, in their actions. And the state’s position is that the actions they have taken are wrong,” Tong said during a press conference at the time, though he added that the facilities are “between a rock and a hard place.” In response to the August lawsuit, the Department of Justice has “filed a motion to dismiss, challenging the states’ standing, among other grounds,” Elizabeth Benton, a spokesperson for Tong’s office confirmed. The state’s opposition motion is due Dec. 22, and the DOJ will then have the opportunity to reply.  Yale and Connecticut Children’s are not alone in their decision to end medication treatment. In the months following the Trump administration’s actions, a growing number of hospitals and hospital systems have stopped or restricted care. But, Hussey, the GLAD Law attorney representing the complainants, said not all hospitals have made the same decision. Boston Children’s Hospital, for example, received one of the subpoenas from the federal government issued to more than 20 providers of youth gender-affirming care, and challenged it in court. In September, a federal judge ruled in the hospital’s favor. ...read more read less