Event Details
Friday, December 12th from 12pm–1:30pm
Cabrillo College Horticultural Center Room 5005
6500 Soquel Drive, Aptos, CA 95003
Mission:
The Safe Schools Project and The Queer Youth Task Force of Santa Cruz County are proud to host a panel titled ‘Why YOU should care about gender affirming care.’ This important panel event will highlight stories from local queer and transgender youth, inviting leaders and decision makers in the health and education arenas to help protect youth access to gender affirming care in Santa Cruz County.
Well renowned professionals will educate us on why it is important for transgender and gender nonconforming youth to have affordable access to gender affirming care. Even though Santa Cruz is a sanctuary city and county, our queer, trans and nonbinary youth are still susceptible to being targeted by anti-LGBTQIA+ federal policies that would ban the gender affirming care they rely on, prevent them from accessing school facilities that match their gender identity, and make it increasingly difficult for schools to honor their names and pronouns.
This event will help empower adults to stand up for youth, ensuring local policies continue to follow data-driven, medically recognized science that supports access to gender affirming care and other protections for our queer and trans youth.
Background:
The American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Osteopathic Pediatricians, and the Human Rights Campaign created a wonderful guide for families of transgender children: Supporting & Caring for Transgender Children
Gender transition is an umbrella term for the steps a transgender person and their community take to affirm their gender identity. Depending on the person’s age and their individual needs, these steps can include social, medical, surgical and legal changes. For children who have not reached puberty, medical interventions are not part of transition. At this stage, their transition process only includes “social transition”. (p.8–12)
This gathering will align leaders in Santa Cruz County on next steps to ensure equitable, affirming care for trans, gender diverse, and gender expansive youth.
Youth Panelists
TBA
Professional Panelists
Dr. Jen Hastings (Jen/Jen)
Dr. Jen Hastings started the Transgender Health Care Program at Planned Parenthood Mar Monte in 2003 and went on to develop Transgender Guidelines for PPFA. Dr. Jen is affiliated with the UCSF Dept of Family and Community Medicine as a volunteer Clinical Professor and with Ibis Reproductive Health, a research group studying and publishing on the reproductive needs and experiences of transgender and gender expansive people in the US, including fertility, contraception, and abortion. Jen is a local and national consultant and educator on transgender healthcare, increasing medical access and understanding.
A.D. Sean Lewis (he/him)
is a lawyer who has been organizing for racial, gender, economic, and disability justice for over a decade. He is a Senior Attorney at Lambda Legal where he works on a range of transgender rights cases. Prior to joining Lambda, A.D. worked at the Prison Law Office where he advocated for thousands of trans and LGBQIA+ people on a number of class action cases. He was previously an Equal Justice Works fellow at Disability Rights California where he advocated for trans people with disabilities in jails, state hospitals, and psychiatric confinement. During law school, A.D. worked for Disability Rights Washington’s Trans in Prison Justice Project and East Bay.
Resources
Community
- TransFamilies 10 Things we can do to support Our Children Who Are Questioning Their Gender
- Invite someone speak to your org from the community
Legal/Policy
- Equality California Equality California brings the voices of LGBTQ+ people and allies to institutions of power in California and across the United States, striving to create a world that is healthy, just, and fully equal for all LGBTQ+ people.
- State level policies for workplaces
- Tracking Gender-Affirming Care Bans in the US KFF Policy Tracker state-by-state
- Lambda Legal The Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc. (“Lambda Legal”) is a national organization working to achieve full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and everyone living with HIV, through impact litigation, education and public policy work.
- KFF Overview of Executive Orders. As a one-of-a-kind information organization, we bring together substantial capabilities in policy research, polling, and journalism in one organization to meet the need for a trusted, independent source of information on national health issues—one with the scope and reach to be a counterweight to health care’s vested interests and a voice for people.
NOTE: The links below take you to the Executive Orders on Whitehouse.gov. The analysis for the impact of each EO can be found on the KFF website.- Protecting Children From Chemical and Surgical Mutilation, January 28, 2025
- Quality and Safety Special Alert Memo on Provision of Gender Affirming Care to Children, March 5, 2025
- State Medicaid Director Letter “Re: Puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgery related to gender dysphoria,” April 11, 2025.
- Department of Justice Memorandum “Preventing the Mutilation of American Children,” April 22, 2025.
- HHS Report “Treatment for Pediatric Gender Dysphoria: Review of Evidence and Best Practices,” May 1, 2025.
- HHS Letter “Urgent Review of Quality Standards and Gender Transition Procedures” May 28, 2025
- CMS Informational Bulletin “Rescission of Guidance on Adding Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Questions to State Medicaid and CHIP Applications for Health Coverage” June 5, 2025
- Final Rule Changing ACA Coverage of Gender-Affirming Care, June 25, 2025.
- Federal Trade Commission Request for Information on Gender Affirming Care Practices, July 28, 2025.
- CDC Priorities Statement, September 17, 2025.
- National LGBTQ Taskforce. The National LGBTQ Task Force fights for justice, advances liberation, promotes equity, and is working towards a world where you are free to be you. The Impacts of the Big Bill of Betrayal.
Health
- Whitman-Walker For over fifty years, Whitman-Walker has been part of the fabric of the local DC and national community. Founded to support the needs of the LGBTQ community, Whitman-Walker was a first responder and care-provider for those living with HIV. We are a leader in care and policy advocacy; a research center working to discover breakthroughs in HIV treatment and prevention science. Whitman-Walker envisions a society where all people are seen for who they are, treated with dignity and respect, and afforded equal opportunity to health and wellbeing.
- Explanation on the “Defunding” of Planned Parenthood (Hyde Act vs withholding access to Medicaid funds for abortion providers).
Sponsored by the Queer Youth Task Force (QYTF) and funded, in part, by Health Services Agency (HSA) and the County of Santa Cruz.
