Mainstream newsrooms aren’t really covering the latest attack on gender-affirming care

Nearly one in four trans people in the U.S. use Medicaid to access gender-affirming care. 

Nearly one in four trans people in the U.S. is at risk of having this care taken away due to the eleventh-hour adds to H.R. 1, the “One Big Beautiful Act.” Initially, the bill banned gender-affirming care through Medicaid only for youth, but a last-minute change expanded that to trans adults. 

The bill passed through the House with a 215-214 vote on May 22 and is now moving through the Senate, with several Democratic Party representatives saying they were unable to fully read the amended bill put forth late on the evening of May 21. 

In The Independent, Rep. Sarah McBride, the first openly trans member of Congress, called it “one more example of health care that they’re trying to rip away.”

But across several mainstream publications, there is little coverage of how the legislation impacts trans people. ln immediate coverage of the bill, broader summarization of “Medicaid cuts” eclipses the component of the legislation directly targeting trans people. LGBTQ+ community publications like LGBTQ+ Nation and Them., along with NBC OUT, covered the amendment. But from the New York Times to Politico, CNBC, and ABC News, there was no initial mention of the impact the passage of this bill could have on trans people. 

Several mainstream newsrooms are not laying out key priorities in the bill, including this provision that further limits trans people’s access to public life. As anti-trans legislation continues to reach record levels year over year, these publications are choosing to not include accurate reporting on what’s at stake for trans people in the bill or how these legislative priorities contradict scientific evidence.  

The proposed removal of Medicare coverage for gender-affirming healthcare comes on the heels of a slew of executive orders seeking to codify the existence of only two genders, withhold hospitals’ federal funding for gender-affirming care, and more. Also on the horizon is the U.S. v. Skrmetti decision, which will rule on a Tennessee ban on youth gender-affirming care like puberty-delaying medications and hormones. 

“The Supreme Court’s decision in this case will have transformative implications for LGBTQ+ rights, parental authority, and the limits of state power in regulating medical care,” the Trans Journalists Association writes in its guidance for covering the case. 

At least 27 states, including Tennessee, have issued bans on gender-affirming care for those under 18. Among them is Utah, where a study released on May 22 — commissioned by the state’s own legislators — found “overall, there were positive mental health and psychosocial functioning outcomes” for trans youth receiving that gender-affirming care. The report was commissioned to offer lawmakers a chance to reevaluate Utah’s current ban on gender-affirming care for trans youth.

Despite the review’s conclusions, the state’s politicians haven’t taken any specific actions. The situation in Utah could have major national implications as the Skrmetti decision looms, despite remaining relatively uncovered by larger, mainstream publications (with the exception of Mother Jones). 

Current attacks on trans healthcare follow a conservative shift toward limiting trans youth’s access to life — particularly their healthcare and participation in sports — after a focus on trans people’s access to bathrooms through bills like H.B. 2 in North Carolina in 2016. 

MSBNC columnist Katelyn Burns, a long-time trans journalist, asks in her latest column: “When is enough enough?”

“We’ve moved well past any well-meaning ‘reasonable concerns’ and into genuine life-threatening government quashing of trans life,” she wrote. “If we don’t say anything about this, or take any steps to fight back, or even start questioning the right-wing rhetoric on trans issues, one day you all will wake up and realize there are no more trans people living publicly around you.”

Per a Data for Progress survey conducted this year, just 29% of Americans surveyed knew a trans person personally. Newsrooms choose what stories to cover and who to prioritize in those stories, including whether or not they explain the impacts of major legislation on trans people. 

The Trans Journalists Association is currently working with MuckRock to document the administration’s actions targeting trans communities. Learn more about the initiative on the Trans Journalists Association website. 

The association also has two living guides — a style guide for better coverage and a workplace guide for creating safer work environments for all — to provide support and advice.

“[The media] might be the primary, if not the only, basis on which they form their opinions, make political decisions and develop the prejudices that will affect everyone in their community,” TJ Billard, executive director of the Center for Applied Transgender Studies, told the Center for Journalism Ethics.

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James Salanga is the co-director of The Objective and the podcast producer for The Sick Times.

Gabe Schneider edited this story.