This is a photo collection curated by AP photo editors.
A parishioner cries during a mass for the late Pope Francis at St. Patrick's Cathedral, Tuesday, April 22, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Reverend Al Sharpton attends a mass for Pope Francis at St. Patrick's Cathedral, Tuesday, April 22, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Faithful pray during a service for the late Pope Francis at St. Alexander's Rome Catholic Cathedral in Kyiv Ukraine, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Cardinal Timothy Dolan greets New York City Mayor Eric Adams during a mass for Pope Francis at St. Patrick's Cathedral, Tuesday, April 22, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Devotees carry a cutout of the late Pope Francis during a procession ahead of a prayer in Dili, East Timor, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Lorenio L.Pereira)
Philippine Cardinal Jose Advincula, foreground, lights a candle in front of a portrait of the late Pope Francis at the Manila Cathedral in the country's capital Manila, Philippines Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
A woman prays during the morning Mass at the Christ the King Catholic Parish, in Accra, Ghana, Tuesday, Apr 22, 2025 (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)
People stand next to a photograph of Pope Francis placed at Saint Anthony Catholic Church in Istanbul, Turkey, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
Maria Jose Florenco da Silva receives communion during Mass in honor of the late Pope Francis, following the announcement of his death, in Rio de Janeiro, Monday, April 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)
People pay their respects in front of a portrait of late Pope Francis displayed inside Myeongdong Cathedral in Seoul Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (Anthony Wallace/Pool Photo via AP)
Devotees attend a Requiem Mass for Pope Francis at the Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Dili, East Timor, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Fatima da Costa Sony)
A portrait of the late Pope Francis is projected onto a water fountain at Magic Water Circuit in Lima, Peru, Monday, April 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)
A pilgrim kneels in prayer on the Scala Santa, holy stairs, of the Church of Church of Saints Michael and Magnus, in Rome near the Vatican, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Souvenirs with images of Pope Francis are displayed next to St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Tuesday April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Gregoria Caceres kneels in front of a portrait of the late Pope Francis at the Caacupe Parish, which he often visited and preached at, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Monday, April 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
Myanmar Christians attend a prayer for Pope Francis at St. Mary Cathedral Tuesday, April 22, 2025, in Yangon, Myanmar. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)
Christians attend a prayer services for late Pope Francis at the St. Anthony Church in Lahore, Pakistan, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)
A woman prays during the morning mass at the Sanctuaire d'adoration cathedral, following the announcement of Pope Francis's death in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo, Monday, April 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)
Norberto Rodriguez places a photo of the late Pope Francis on a column at the Cathedral in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
A portrait of the late Pope Francis stands in front of the altar during a requiem Mass at a church in Guwahati, India, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)
Norberto Rodriguez places flowers near a photo of the late Pope Francis outside the Cathedral in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
People attend a morning Mass at the Christ the King Catholic Parish in Accra, Ghana, Tuesday, Apr 22, 2025 (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)
Taiwanese people pay their respects in front of a portrait of Pope Francis in Taipei, Taiwan, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
Muslim clerics place candles in front of the portrait of Pope Francis at ceremony to pay tribute to Pope at the Sacred Heart Cathedral Church, in Lahore, Pakistan Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)
A portrait of Pope Francis is displayed in reverence at a church in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
People wait in line to enter Myeongdong Cathedral to pay tribute for the late Pope Francis in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Newspapers with the front page of the late Pope Francis are seen in London, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
FILE.- Women wait outside the Chaldean Cathedral of Saint Joseph, in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, March 6, 2021, where Pope Francis, depicted on a giant poster at their back, is concelebrating a mass. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini,File)
Philippine Cardinal Jose Advincula officiates a Mass for the late Pope Francis at the Manila Cathedral in Manila, Philippines Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
Catholics lights candles in front of a portrait of the late Pope Francis at the Manila Cathedral in Manila, Philippines Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
Pope Francis's body is laid out in state inside his private chapel at the Vatican, Monday, April 21, 2025. (Vatican Media via AP, HO)
Pope Francis's body is laid out in state inside his private chapel at the Vatican, Monday, April 21, 2025. From left, Dean Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, unidentified bishop, Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, Master of Ceremonies Archbishop Diego Giovanni Ravelli, Cardinal Camerlengo Kevin Joseph Farrell, and Master of Ceremonies Lubomir Welnitz. (Vatican Media via AP, HO)
Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, left, prays in front of the body of Pope Francis laid out in state inside his private chapel at the Vatican, Monday, April 21, 2025. (Vatican Media via AP, HO)
Tourists visit the St. Joseph's Cathedral in Hanoi, Vietnam, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Hau Dinh)
Philippine Cardinal Jose Advincula, right, leads others during a mass for the late Pope Francis at the Manila Cathedral in the country's capital, Philippines Tuesday April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
A family says a prayer in front of the portrait of the late Pope Francis at the Manila Cathedral in the country's capital Manila, Philippines Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
A man lights a candle in front of a portrait of the late Pope Francis at the Manila Cathedral in the country's capital, Philippines Tuesday April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
Catholics attend a mass for the late Pope Francis at the Manila Cathedral in the country's capital, Philippines Tuesday April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
A woman holds a portrait of the late Pope Francis at the Apostolic Nunciature in Jakarta, Indonesia, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana)
People wait in line for their turn to be allowed in to the Apostolic Nunciature to offer their condolences, in Jakarta, Indonesia, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)
People queue up as they wait for their turn to be allowed in to the Apostolic Nunciature to offer their condolences, in Jakarta, Indonesia, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)
Catholic nuns of the Missionaries of Charity, the order founded by Saint Teresa, touch a portrait of Pope Francis, as they pray on the saint's tomb in Kolkata, India, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Bikas Das)
A Catholic nun of the Missionaries of Charity, the order founded by Saint Teresa, prays as a portrait of Pope Francis, placed over the saint's tomb following his death, in Kolkata, India, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Bikas Das)
Nuns walk to Vatican City, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/)
Pilgrims arrive in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Cardinal Silvano Tomasi blesses a nun in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Cardinal Silvano Tomasi arrives in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Pope Francis's body is laid out in state inside his private chapel at the Vatican, Monday, April 21, 2025. (Vatican Media via AP, HO)
Pope Francis's body is laid out in state inside his private chapel at the Vatican, Monday, April 21, 2025. From left front row, Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, Dean Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, unidentified person, Master of Ceremonies Archbishop Diego Giovanni Ravelli, Cardinal Camerlengo Kevin Joseph Farrell, and Master of Ceremonies Lubomir Welnitz. (Vatican Media via AP, HO)
Pope Francis's body is laid out in state inside his private chapel at the Vatican, Monday, April 21, 2025. From left, Dean Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, unidentified bishop, Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, Master of Ceremonies Archbishop Diego Giovanni Ravelli, Cardinal Camerlengo Kevin Joseph Farrell, and Master of Ceremonies Lubomir Welnitz. (Vatican Media via AP, HO)
Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, left, prays in front of the body of Pope Francis laid out in state inside his private chapel at the Vatican, Monday, April 21, 2025. (Vatican Media via AP, HO)
Pilgrims from Croatia arrive at the Vatican, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
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Pope Francis's body is laid out in state inside his private chapel at the Vatican, Monday, April 21, 2025. From left, Dean Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, unidentified bishop, Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, Master of Ceremonies Archbishop Diego Giovanni Ravelli, Cardinal Camerlengo Kevin Joseph Farrell, and Master of Ceremonies Lubomir Welnitz. (Vatican Media via AP, HO)
Pope Francis's body is laid out in state inside his private chapel at the Vatican, Monday, April 21, 2025. From left front row, Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, Dean Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, unidentified person, Master of Ceremonies Archbishop Diego Giovanni Ravelli, Cardinal Camerlengo Kevin Joseph Farrell, and Master of Ceremonies Lubomir Welnitz. (Vatican Media via AP, HO)
Pope Francis's body is laid out in state inside his private chapel at the Vatican, Monday, April 21, 2025. From left, Dean Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, unidentified bishop, Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, Master of Ceremonies Archbishop Diego Giovanni Ravelli, Cardinal Camerlengo Kevin Joseph Farrell, and Master of Ceremonies Lubomir Welnitz. (Vatican Media via AP, HO)
A parishioner cries during a mass for the late Pope Francis at St. Patrick's Cathedral, Tuesday, April 22, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Reverend Al Sharpton attends a mass for Pope Francis at St. Patrick's Cathedral, Tuesday, April 22, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Faithful pray during a service for the late Pope Francis at St. Alexander's Rome Catholic Cathedral in Kyiv Ukraine, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Cardinal Timothy Dolan greets New York City Mayor Eric Adams during a mass for Pope Francis at St. Patrick's Cathedral, Tuesday, April 22, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Devotees carry a cutout of the late Pope Francis during a procession ahead of a prayer in Dili, East Timor, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Lorenio L.Pereira)
Philippine Cardinal Jose Advincula, foreground, lights a candle in front of a portrait of the late Pope Francis at the Manila Cathedral in the country's capital Manila, Philippines Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
A woman prays during the morning Mass at the Christ the King Catholic Parish, in Accra, Ghana, Tuesday, Apr 22, 2025 (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)
People stand next to a photograph of Pope Francis placed at Saint Anthony Catholic Church in Istanbul, Turkey, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
Maria Jose Florenco da Silva receives communion during Mass in honor of the late Pope Francis, following the announcement of his death, in Rio de Janeiro, Monday, April 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)
People pay their respects in front of a portrait of late Pope Francis displayed inside Myeongdong Cathedral in Seoul Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (Anthony Wallace/Pool Photo via AP)
Devotees attend a Requiem Mass for Pope Francis at the Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Dili, East Timor, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Fatima da Costa Sony)
A portrait of the late Pope Francis is projected onto a water fountain at Magic Water Circuit in Lima, Peru, Monday, April 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)
A pilgrim kneels in prayer on the Scala Santa, holy stairs, of the Church of Church of Saints Michael and Magnus, in Rome near the Vatican, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Souvenirs with images of Pope Francis are displayed next to St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Tuesday April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Gregoria Caceres kneels in front of a portrait of the late Pope Francis at the Caacupe Parish, which he often visited and preached at, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Monday, April 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
Myanmar Christians attend a prayer for Pope Francis at St. Mary Cathedral Tuesday, April 22, 2025, in Yangon, Myanmar. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)
Christians attend a prayer services for late Pope Francis at the St. Anthony Church in Lahore, Pakistan, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)
A woman prays during the morning mass at the Sanctuaire d'adoration cathedral, following the announcement of Pope Francis's death in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo, Monday, April 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)
Norberto Rodriguez places a photo of the late Pope Francis on a column at the Cathedral in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
A portrait of the late Pope Francis stands in front of the altar during a requiem Mass at a church in Guwahati, India, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)
Norberto Rodriguez places flowers near a photo of the late Pope Francis outside the Cathedral in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
People attend a morning Mass at the Christ the King Catholic Parish in Accra, Ghana, Tuesday, Apr 22, 2025 (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)
Taiwanese people pay their respects in front of a portrait of Pope Francis in Taipei, Taiwan, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
Muslim clerics place candles in front of the portrait of Pope Francis at ceremony to pay tribute to Pope at the Sacred Heart Cathedral Church, in Lahore, Pakistan Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)
A portrait of Pope Francis is displayed in reverence at a church in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
People wait in line to enter Myeongdong Cathedral to pay tribute for the late Pope Francis in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Newspapers with the front page of the late Pope Francis are seen in London, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
FILE.- Women wait outside the Chaldean Cathedral of Saint Joseph, in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, March 6, 2021, where Pope Francis, depicted on a giant poster at their back, is concelebrating a mass. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini,File)
Philippine Cardinal Jose Advincula officiates a Mass for the late Pope Francis at the Manila Cathedral in Manila, Philippines Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
Catholics lights candles in front of a portrait of the late Pope Francis at the Manila Cathedral in Manila, Philippines Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
Pope Francis's body is laid out in state inside his private chapel at the Vatican, Monday, April 21, 2025. (Vatican Media via AP, HO)
Pope Francis's body is laid out in state inside his private chapel at the Vatican, Monday, April 21, 2025. From left, Dean Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, unidentified bishop, Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, Master of Ceremonies Archbishop Diego Giovanni Ravelli, Cardinal Camerlengo Kevin Joseph Farrell, and Master of Ceremonies Lubomir Welnitz. (Vatican Media via AP, HO)
Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, left, prays in front of the body of Pope Francis laid out in state inside his private chapel at the Vatican, Monday, April 21, 2025. (Vatican Media via AP, HO)
Tourists visit the St. Joseph's Cathedral in Hanoi, Vietnam, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Hau Dinh)
Philippine Cardinal Jose Advincula, right, leads others during a mass for the late Pope Francis at the Manila Cathedral in the country's capital, Philippines Tuesday April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
A family says a prayer in front of the portrait of the late Pope Francis at the Manila Cathedral in the country's capital Manila, Philippines Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
A man lights a candle in front of a portrait of the late Pope Francis at the Manila Cathedral in the country's capital, Philippines Tuesday April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
Catholics attend a mass for the late Pope Francis at the Manila Cathedral in the country's capital, Philippines Tuesday April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
A woman holds a portrait of the late Pope Francis at the Apostolic Nunciature in Jakarta, Indonesia, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana)
People wait in line for their turn to be allowed in to the Apostolic Nunciature to offer their condolences, in Jakarta, Indonesia, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)
People queue up as they wait for their turn to be allowed in to the Apostolic Nunciature to offer their condolences, in Jakarta, Indonesia, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)
Catholic nuns of the Missionaries of Charity, the order founded by Saint Teresa, touch a portrait of Pope Francis, as they pray on the saint's tomb in Kolkata, India, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Bikas Das)
A Catholic nun of the Missionaries of Charity, the order founded by Saint Teresa, prays as a portrait of Pope Francis, placed over the saint's tomb following his death, in Kolkata, India, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Bikas Das)
Nuns walk to Vatican City, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/)
Pilgrims arrive in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Cardinal Silvano Tomasi blesses a nun in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Cardinal Silvano Tomasi arrives in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Pope Francis's body is laid out in state inside his private chapel at the Vatican, Monday, April 21, 2025. (Vatican Media via AP, HO)
Pope Francis's body is laid out in state inside his private chapel at the Vatican, Monday, April 21, 2025. From left front row, Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, Dean Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, unidentified person, Master of Ceremonies Archbishop Diego Giovanni Ravelli, Cardinal Camerlengo Kevin Joseph Farrell, and Master of Ceremonies Lubomir Welnitz. (Vatican Media via AP, HO)
Pope Francis's body is laid out in state inside his private chapel at the Vatican, Monday, April 21, 2025. From left, Dean Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, unidentified bishop, Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, Master of Ceremonies Archbishop Diego Giovanni Ravelli, Cardinal Camerlengo Kevin Joseph Farrell, and Master of Ceremonies Lubomir Welnitz. (Vatican Media via AP, HO)
Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, left, prays in front of the body of Pope Francis laid out in state inside his private chapel at the Vatican, Monday, April 21, 2025. (Vatican Media via AP, HO)
Pilgrims from Croatia arrive at the Vatican, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
President Donald Trump’s administration released a lengthy review of transgender health care on Thursday that advocates for a greater reliance on behavioral therapy rather than broad gender-affirming medical care for youths with gender dysphoria.
The 409-page Health and Human Services report questions standards for the treatment of transgender youth issued by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health and is likely to be used to bolster the government’s abrupt shift in how to care for a subset of the population that has become a political lightning rod. Medical experts sharply criticized it as inaccurate.
This new “best practices” report is in response to an executive order Trump issued days into his second term that says the federal government must not support gender transitions for anyone under age 19.
“Our duty is to protect our nation’s children — not expose them to unproven and irreversible medical interventions,” National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya said in a statement. “We must follow the gold standard of science, not activist agendas.”
The report also questions the ethics of medical interventions for transgender young people, suggesting that adolescents are too young to give consent to life-changing treatments that could result in future infertility.
It also cites and echoes a report in England last year that questioned medical approaches to gender dysphoria as England's health services stopped prescribing puberty blockers to such children outside of research settings.
Child and adolescent psychiatrist Dr. Scott Leibowitz, a co-author of the WPATH standards for youth, said the new report “legitimizes the harmful idea that providers should approach young people with the notion that alignment between sex and gender is preferred, instead of approaching the treatment frame in a neutral manner.”
The report contradicts American Medical Association guidance, which urges states not to ban gender-affirming care for minors, saying that “empirical evidence has demonstrated that trans and non-binary gender identities are normal variations of human identity and expression.”
It also was prepared without input from the American Academy of Pediatrics, according to its president, Dr. Susan Kressly.
“This report misrepresents the current medical consensus and fails to reflect the realities of pediatric care,” Kressly said. She said the AAP was not consulted “yet our policy and intentions behind our recommendations were cited throughout in inaccurate and misleading ways.”
HHS said its report does not address treatment for adults, is not clinical guidance and does not make any policy recommendations. However, it also says the review “is intended for policymakers, clinicians, therapists, medical organizations, and importantly, patients and their families,” and it declares that medical professionals involved in transgender care have failed their young patients.
Gender-affirming care for transgender youth under standards widely used in the U.S. includes supportive talk therapy and can — but does not always — involve puberty blockers or hormone treatment.
The Trump administration’s report says “many” U.S. adolescents who are transgender or are questioning their gender identity have received surgeries or medications. In fact, such treatments remain rare as a portion of the population. Fewer than 1 in 1,000 adolescents in the U.S. received gender-affirming medication — puberty blockers or hormones — according to a five-year study of those on commercial insurance released this year. About 1,200 patients underwent gender-affirming surgeries in one recent year, according to another study.
Many U.S. adolescents with gender dysphoria may decide not to proceed with medications or surgeries. Medical association recommendations say the best care includes developing a plan with medical experts and family members that includes psychotherapy for each young person.
“It’s very chilling to see the federal government injecting politics and ideology into medical science,” said Shannon Minter, the legal director at the National Center for Lesbian Rights. Minter said the report could create fear for families seeking care and for medical providers.
“It’s Orwellian. It is designed to confuse and disorient,” Minter added.
Jamie Bruesehoff, a New Jersey mom, said her 18-year-old daughter, who was assigned male at birth, identified with girls as soon as she could talk. She began using a female name and pronouns at eight and received puberty blockers at 11 before eventually beginning estrogen therapy.
“She is thriving by every definition of the word,” said Brusehoff, who wrote a book on parenting gender-diverse children. “All of that is because she had access to this support from her family and community and access to evidence-based gender-affirming health care when it was appropriate.”
Laura Hoge, a New Jersey therapist who treats young people with gender dysphoria said, “I've seen that pain lift when they receive the gender-affirming care they need. This report denies that truth. It trades their healing for politics.”
Dr. Jack Drescher, a New York psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who works on sexual orientation and gender identity issues, said the report is one-sided and “magnifies the risks of treatments while minimizing benefits of the treatments.”
A judge has blocked key parts of Trump’s order, which includes denying research and educational grants for medical schools, hospitals and other institutions that provide gender-affirming care to people 18 or younger. Several hospitals around the country ceased providing care. The White House said Monday that since Trump took office, HHS has eliminated 215 grants totaling $477 million for research or education on gender-affirming treatment.
Most Republican-controlled states have also adopted bans or restrictions on gender-affirming care. A U.S. Supreme Court ruling is pending after justices heard arguments in December in a case about whether states can enforce such laws.
The Jan. 28 executive order is among several administration policies aimed at denying the existence of transgender people. Trump also has ordered the government to identify people as either male or female rather than accept a concept of gender in which people fall along a spectrum, remove transgender service members from the military, and bar transgender women and girls from sports competitions that align with their gender. This month, HHS issued guidance to protect whistleblowers who report doctors or hospitals providing gender-affirming care. Judges are blocking enforcement of several of the policies.
This latest HHS report, which Trump called for while campaigning last year, represents a reversal in federal policy. The U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which is part of HHS, found that no research had determined that behavioral health interventions could change someone’s gender identity or sexual orientation. The 2023 update to the 2015 finding is no longer on the agency’s website.
While Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has repeatedly pledged to practice “radical transparency,” his department did not release any information about who authored the study. The administration says the new report will go through a peer-review process and will only say who contributed to the report after “in order to help maintain the integrity of this process.”
The report says that medical groups have relied on medical treatment rather than behavioral therapy for transgender youth partly because of a “mischaracterization of such approaches as ‘conversion therapy,’” which about half the states have banned for minors.
The American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry has said that evidence shows conversion therapies inflict harm on young people, including elevated rates of suicidal ideation.
FILE - Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks at the Rx and Illicit drug Summit, April 24, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV, File)
FILE - Children hold signs and transgender pride flags as supporters of transgender rights rally by the Supreme Court, Dec. 4, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
File - Supporters of transgender rights rally by the Supreme Court, Dec. 4, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
FILE - President Donald Trump holds up an executive order after signing it at an indoor Presidential Inauguration parade event in Washington, Jan. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)