Massachusetts hospitals are teaching Trump how easily trans care can be erased

When Teddy Walker moved from Texas to Massachusetts at 16, he began receiving gender-affirming care. Years later, Walker watched the same hospital system stop prescribing hormones and puberty blockers to transgender minors.

“I started gender-affirming care at Baystate Health,” Walker told The Advocate. “So that was very personal to me.”

Walker founded Protect Trans Futures after Fenway Health ended care for patients younger than 19 in fall 2025. Fenway said continuing treatment could jeopardize federal support essential to its broader mission. Outer Cape Health Services, Greater Lawrence Family Health Center, and Baystate later ended or restricted care, according to the group.

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The result, Walker said, is a medical system retreating without any federal law prohibiting the treatment — or any Massachusetts provider known to have lost funding for offering it.

Protect Trans Futures has heard from patients who received unusable referrals, encountered waits lasting six to eight months, or had to restart lengthy evaluations. One 18-year-old referred from Fenway to Boston Children’s Hospital was rejected because of their age, Walker said. It ultimately became easier for the patient to fly back to a Republican-led state for care.

“We have people always coming up to us at tabling events saying, ‘Oh, I just came out of this doctor’s appointment, and they said my care has ended,’” he said. Walker was the activist who, in August, confronted Attorney General Andrea Campbell during a heated live radio appearance, as previously reported by The Advocate. Campbell defended fighting the Trump administration rather than prosecuting hospitals she said were struggling to survive its financial threats.

Her office issued a legal advisory warning that denying medically necessary treatment may violate Massachusetts law. It also said it knew of no patients who ultimately lost access. Campbell’s office did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

Walker disputes that assertion. They said the state should investigate providers rather than expect young organizers to compile lists containing patients’ sensitive information.

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“We’re not just asking, ‘There must be a lawsuit,’” Walker said. “There could be investigations. There could be orders to resume care like in other states and consequences if that doesn’t happen.” Days after the interview, Protect Trans Futures and 19 allied organizations announced that more than 3,300 letters demanding action had been sent to Campbell’s office.

Walker sees the hospitals’ retreat as a national warning. If political threats alone prompt compliance in a state with strong legal protections, he said, the administration learns that it need not win in court.

“You’re sending a message of willingness to do what the Trump administration wants,” Walker said. “Every child deserves healthcare, and trans kids are not included.”