The Presbyterian Church (USA) has approved a measure expressing support for access to gender-related medical care for people experiencing gender dysphoria, including youth.
Delegates at the PCUSA’s 227th General Assembly voted 441-30 last week in favor of an overture titled GEN-02, also known as “On Access to Healthcare.”
The overture’s rationale describes so-called “gender-affirming care” as “medically necessary and evidence based for the well-being of many transgender, non-binary, and gender- expansive people who experience symptoms of gender dysphoria or distress that result from having one’s gender identity not match their sex assigned at birth.”
GEN-02 also criticizes state laws restricting chemical and surgical gender-transition procedures for minors, saying such bans prevent young people “from accessing medically necessary, safe health care backed by decades of research and supported by every major medical association representing over 1.3 million US doctors.”
The Rev. Olivia Lane, moderator of the General Assembly’s Gender and Sexuality Justice Committee, told delegates that the committee amended the overture by removing the phrase “including minors.” The original language stated that “the PC(USA) supports all individuals, including minors, to have access to all medically necessary, evidence-based gender-affirming healthcare.”
Lane said the change was made “not to exclude young people,” but in response to concerns raised by young adult advisory delegates serving on the committee.
“These delegates asked us to consider whether that phrase, however well-intentioned, might be weaponized to cause further harm to the very children it named,” Lane continued. “The committee heard that request and acted on it by providing comment with the clear and stated understanding that all individuals means exactly that. All, without exception, without qualification, and without age limit.”
The PCUSA is not the only liberal mainline Protestant denomination to oppose state restrictions on gender-transition procedures for minors with gender dysphoria.
In March, Bishop Julius C. Trimble, general secretary of the United Methodist Church’s General Board of Church and Society, published an article backing proposed federal legislation that would remove state-level bans on the controversial procedures.
The issue has remained deeply contested, as progressive religious and some medical groups have defended access to such procedures while critics, including federal health officials, have raised concerns about their risks and long-term effects on minors.
In May 2025, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released a report of more than 400 pages criticizing “gender-affirming care” for minors, describing it as “invasive” and “usually irreversible.”
“These interventions carry risk of significant harms including infertility/sterility, sexual dysfunction, impaired bone density accrual, adverse cognitive impacts, cardiovascular disease and metabolic disorders, psychiatric disorders, surgical complications, and regret,” stated the HHS report's introduction.
