‘Sad thing for us’: Pelosi says she wants to protect sex changes for trans kids
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Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that sex changes for transgender children is something she’s working for “at the national level.”
Earlier in the day, Pelosi toured the San Francisco VA Medical Center to review health-system upgrades, research initiatives and—according to a press release from her staff—the threat that House Republicans might slash core veterans’ services.
While speaking with reporters, she was asked how her office was responding to pauses to “gender-affirming care” in California.
“That is something I’m working for at the national level, and we are hoping we can have gender-affirming care for our trans kids,” Pelosi said. “It’s a sad thing for us… I don’t know what effect we can have nationally with what we have going on in the White House and in Congress.”
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Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi told a reporter on Aug. 7, 2025, that she was working at the national level to get sex changes for transgender children. (John Lamparski/Getty Images)
She called the situation “really sad, adding that a transgender-pride flag—five horizontal stripes of light blue, pink and white—hangs outside her office. Pelosi also said several colleagues display the same flag.
She acknowledged that many Republicans on Capitol Hill oppose medical transition for transgender youth.
Still, she is not alone in her stance on sex changes for kids.
CHILDREN’S NATIONAL HOSPITAL IN DC TO END GENDER TRANSITION MEDICAL INTERVENTIONS
FILE – Protesters for and against sex changes for transgender minors demonstrate outside the Supreme Court on Dec. 4, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)
Earlier this month, over a dozen officials from Democratic-led states filed a lawsuit to stop the Trump administration from blocking access to sex change procedures and treatments for people under the age of 19.
The complaint, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, argues that the Trump administration wants to impose a nationwide ban on sex change procedures by threatening providers with “baseless criminal charges” and investigations.
The lawsuit names President Donald Trump, Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Justice Department as defendants. It challenges Trump’s Jan. 28 executive order barring government support for sex change operations and treatments and two memos by Bondi and Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate.
Pelosi’s office told Fox News Digital the Democrat was referring to this lawsuit when she spoke about supporting sex changes for children.
TRUMP’S JUSTICE DEPARTMENT TARGETS DOCTORS, CLINICS WHO PROVIDE SEX CHANGE PROCEDURES TO MINORS
A protester waves a transgender pride flag outside of the U.S. Supreme Court Building on June 18, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Bondi’s memo directs the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate and prosecute those who offer sex-change treatments to minors. Shumate’s memo directs prosecutors to prioritize investigations against doctors, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies that perform such procedures.
In July, Kaiser Permanente announced that it would pause sex change surgeries for patients under 19 beginning Aug. 29 in response to the Trump administration’s efforts on the matter. The same month, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles shuttered its Center for Trans Youth Health and Development, one of the nation’s largest clinics for transgender young people.
The Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., also announced that it will no longer provide gender transition-related medical interventions.
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Many states have laws restricting or banning sex change surgeries for children. The states named in the lawsuit – California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Washington D.C., and Wisconsin. – allow such procedures.
Fox News Digital’s Louis Casiano contributed to this report.