The American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado (ACLU) filed a lawsuit against a children’s hospital that stopped providing an 18-year-old patient with so-called “gender-affirming” care.
The lawsuit, directed at the Children’s Hospital Colorado (CHCO), alleges that the hospital violated state anti-discrimination laws by not providing the “transgender” teenager with irreversible life-altering hormone treatments and surgeries.
The teenager at the center of the lawsuit is going by the pseudonym “Caden Kent” to protect his privacy, the ACLU noted. Kent allegedly received insurance authorization for a gender procedure at CHCO when the hospital rolled out its new policy and did not move forward with his transition care.
“CHCO’s abrupt cancellation of all gender-affirming surgeries for its trans patients was devastating to Caden, other impacted patients, and Colorado’s transgender community,” Tim Macdonald, ACLU of Colorado Legal Director, said in a statement.
“Refusal to provide medically necessary care based on the identity of the person seeking it, and the condition for which they are seeking it, is discriminatory and illegal under the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act,” Macdonald added.
BREAKING: We’re suing Children’s Hospital Colorado (CHCO) after they refused to provide top surgery for our 18-year-old transgender plaintiff — all while doing the same surgeries for cisgender patients.
— ACLU of Colorado (@ACLUofColorado) February 14, 2024
This is discrimination — full stop.
According to the ACLU, Kent began receiving gender care at CHCO for gender dysphoria “several years ago.” Kent planned to undergo sex reassignment surgery at age 18 and went through more than eight months of consultation for the procedure. However, the day Kent submitted an insurance authorization letter, a CHCO staffer informed him that under its new policy, effective immediately, it would not move forward with the procedure.
“Caden came forward to protect other transgender people from the discrimination he experienced,” said Emma Mclean-Riggs, ACLU of Colorado Staff Attorney. “Transgender people have the right to access necessary medical care, without fear that they may be denied that care because of who they are. Medical providers should ensure their policies and practices are non-discriminatory or prepare to be held accountable in court.”
Many LGBTQ+ supporters have been pushing to allow harmful experimental, irreversible transgender care for children. Townhall has covered how Chloe Cole, a “detransitioner,” underwent a double mastectomy as a minor and lived to regret it.
Another detransitioner, Isabelle Ayala, 20, from Florida, told the Independent Women’s Forum that she was diagnosed with gender dysphoria after meeting with a doctor for only 45 minutes when she was 14. She explained that her doctors sat her parents down and said that she would kill herself if she did not undergo gender treatment. At her next appointment, she got on hormones, which she stayed on until the lockdowns in 2020. Now, Ayala is suing the American Academy of Pediatrics for their role in her gender care.
In addition, a recent poll showed that the majority of voters support state laws banning sex change surgeries for minors, which Townhall covered.