UPDATE: Corewell Health to resume offering gender-affirming care following concerns from MI groups

Updated 2/12/25 at 9:57 a.m.

Following Corewell Health’s decision to resume offering gender affirming care for new patients, the LGBTQ+ advocacy group Equality Michigan is sharing its gratitude, after calling on the health system to reverse its decision less than a day earlier. 

“We see this decision as one that’s family-centered, equality-centered, and science-centered. The pain and confusion endured by families and young people who had appointments cancelled was tragic and avoidable. The best time to make the right decision was yesterday, but the next best time to make the right decision was today. So, we extend a thank you to the Corewell leadership team for righting the ship,” Equality Michigan Executive Director Erin Knott said in a statement Wednesday.

Corewell Health was the first health system in Michigan to begin limiting gender affirming care for patients according to a report from the Detroit Free Press, with the health system stating it would not begin any new hormone therapy regimens for minor patients, and that it does not provide gender affirming surgery to minors. It did not bar individuals receiving hormone therapy from continuing their treatments. 

Equality Michigan alongside 40 other organizations published an open letter Tuesday calling on the executive leadership and board of directors at Corewell Health to reverse their decision to limit gender affirming care following an executive order aimed at ending such care for minors. 

On Jan. 28  President Donald Trump signed an executive order promising to pull federal funding from medical institutions providing gender-affirming care to individuals under 19 years old, one in a string of several executive orders targeting transgender individuals. 

The order has been challenged by the ACLU, Lambda Legal, and the ACLU of Maryland, with PFLAG National and GLMA joining the case. A hearing in the case is scheduled for Thursday. 

Equality Michigan, alongside a collective of health care and civil rights organizations — including the HIV/AIDS Alliance of Michigan, the Michigan League for Public Policy, the NAACP Michigan State Conference, the Michigan Chapter of the National Association of Social Worker and the ACLU of Michigan — pointed to a recent guidance issued by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel where she noted “Refusing healthcare services to a class of individuals based on their perceived status, such as withholding the availability of services from transgender individuals based on their gender identity or their diagnosis of gender dysphoria, while offering such services to cisgender individuals, may constitute discrimination under Michigan law.”

In a statement released alongside the letter, Knott said the best way to protect the health and wellbeing of transgender people is to “ensure that they can continue to access essential, age-appropriate medical care from licensed clinicians practicing according to the well-established standards of care.” 

Knott further emphasized that banning gender affirming care places transgender individuals at increased risk of harms including depression, self-harm, and suicidal thoughts or behavior, urging institutions to avoid complying with Trump’s executive orders.

A study from the University of Washington School of Public Health found transgender individuals between the ages of 13 and 20 with access to puberty blockers and gender-affirming hormone therapy were 60% less likely to have moderate to severe depression and showed a 73% lower risk of self-harm or suicidal thoughts over a 12-month period when compared to youth who did not receive these medications.

In the open letter, Equality Michigan and its partners emphasized that Trump’s executive orders have yet to face legal scrutiny. 

It urged Corewell’s executive leadership and board of directors to reconsider the decision to stop accepting new patients for gender affirming care and to “evaluate the ethical principle of ‘do no harm’ in the context of sustaining vital treatment for the young people in your care.”  

“It is not hyperbole to posit that if health care for transgender people can be denied across the country without due process, without legislative action, and without the scrutiny of the courts, tomorrow, we could see similarly contrived assaults on the bodily autonomy of women and girls, access lifesaving treatments for HIV, or any other matter at the intersection of health care and individual rights,” the letter reads. 

Corewell Health has yet to respond to a request for comment by Michigan Advance as of the time of publication.

Ferndale Pride, described as the “the largest free-to-the-public LGBTQAI+ festival in Michigan” and a signatory of the letter, announced it would be dropping Corewell Health as a sponsor in the wake of its decision to limit gender affirming care, the Detroit Free Press reports. 

In its statement Wednesday, Equality Michigan said the fate of the two groups’ relationship remains unclear, but that it welcomes and supports any effort from Corewell Health to reestablish their standing as a “long-running” supporter of the festival.

This story was updated with information about Corewell Health reversing their initial decision.