Colorado joins lawsuit challenging White House order criminalizing and ending funding for gender-affirming care

Feb. 19, 2025 (DENVER) – Attorney General Phil Weiser today added the state of Colorado to a lawsuit to invalidate a presidential order that threatens to end federal funding to medical institutions and criminalize medical professionals that provide gender-affirming care.

Last Friday, a federal judge temporarily blocked the order stating that it “blatantly discriminated against trans youth.” Weiser said the lawsuit, originally filed by Washington State in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, seeks to permanently block federal agencies from acting on the executive order and will enable health care providers to resume gender-affirming care, including in Colorado.

“The White House executive order is not only illegal, but also cruel. I’ve met with health care providers and parents, and they fear that if the executive order is allowed to stand, it will result in irreversible physical and mental health harms for transgender youth. Parents, in consultation with trusted medical providers, know what is best for their child and should have the option to seek the care their child needs to live their best lives,” said Weiser. “Gender-affirming care is legally protected health care in Colorado, and with this lawsuit Colorado hospitals will again be free to provide critical care.”

Under the threat of losing federal education and research funds, the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus stopped providing puberty delaying medications and hormone therapies to patients who had been appropriately evaluated but had not yet started these therapies. Denying access to medical care that is known to be safe and effective threatens the ability of transgender youth to thrive socially and academically. Their marginalization will exacerbate dysphoria, mood symptoms, and ultimately may cause some previously stable transgender youth to attempt suicide, according to medical professionals.

The lawsuit claims that the presidential executive order violates the Fifth Amendment’s equal protection guarantee by singling out transgender individuals for mistreatment and discrimination. Additionally, Congress has directed federal funding for medical and public health research for medical institutions in Colorado, and the president cannot unilaterally override Congress. Moreover, the president cannot on his own regulate or criminalize medical practices in Colorado, which are protected under the 10th Amendment.

Colorado joins Minnesota, Oregon, and Washington on the lawsuit.

Weiser and a coalition of attorneys general last week won a court order in another case filed in a Rhode Island federal court that prohibits Trump from cutting off any funding to the states that sued to halt the cuts.

Amended complaint: Washington et al v. Trump (PDF download).

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Media Contact:
Lawrence Pacheco
Chief Communications Officer
(720) 508-6553 office | (720) 245-4689 cell
lawrence.pacheco@coag.gov