The Trump administration has unveiled a sweeping set of proposed federal actions that critics say amount to a de facto nationwide ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth, triggering immediate backlash from medical organizations, civil rights groups, and Democratic state officials.
In a highly contentious vote on December 17, 2025, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would impose federal felony penalties on healthcare providers who offer gender-affirming medical care to transgender minors, marking the first time a national trans youth healthcare ban has cleared a chamber of Congress.
A new Justice Department memo from Attorney General Pam Bondi instructs the FBI to create a “cash reward system” to incentivize providing information against domestic terrorists. However, it also makes it clear that the targets of such domestic terrorist investigations will be “Antifa-aligned extremists,” including those promoting “radical gender ideology.”
Civil rights attorney Iris Halpern describes the surge in bans as a “manufactured crisis” orchestrated by conservative groups like Moms for Liberty, which pressure local authorities to censor materials. Nationally, hundreds of challenges have been recorded, mostly against books about race, sexual health, and gender identity. At the same time, librarians such as Suzette Baker and Erin Spivey are collaborating with the ACLU and lawmakers, helping pass protections like California’s Freedom to Read Act and framing libraries as crucial democratic spaces where everyone deserves access to information.
