NCDP Chairman Wayne Goodwin, LGBTQ Democrats of North Carolina Auxiliary President Ginger Walker and NCDP Transgender Caucus Chair Janice Covington issued the following statement in response to the Trump administration’s elimination of the Obama administration’s 2016 changes to health care guidelines in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that expanded sex-based protections to include gender identity:

“The Trump administration’s decision to rollback these protections will not only permit denial of transition care, but it will also allow hospitals and physicians to refuse to treat transgender people seeking non-transition related care.

“Having fought back against the Republicans’ outrageous bathroom bill, North Carolinians see this cruel, illogical decision for exactly what it is: an effort to make it easier for hospitals and doctors to discriminate against transgender and gender non-conforming people.

“We condemn this decision and will continue to fight back against all forms of discrimination against our LGBTQ+ community, including and especially at the ballot box this November.”