Strengthen HIPPA Laws for Trans Youth

I’m writing to thank you for Maryland’s leadership in protecting LGBTQ+ rights—and to urge you to go even further by strengthening the legal protection of transgender youths’ medical privacy under HIPAA and state law. Across the country, state and federal actors are demanding access to the private medical records of transgender minors. These efforts—often cloaked as investigations—are direct violations of medical privacy, an attack on families seeking essential care, and a dangerous abuse of power. Maryland has declared itself a sanctuary state for transgender individuals, and I applaud that. But declarations must be backed by enforceable legal protections. I ask that you work to: • Strengthen state laws to explicitly prohibit the sharing of transgender youths’ medical records with out-of-state officials or political actors without a court order. • Ensure Maryland healthcare providers are legally protected when they refuse to comply with such requests. • Create penalties for any entity within the state that unlawfully discloses or surrenders private health information related to gender-affirming care. HIPAA establishes a federal floor for privacy—but Maryland can and must go further to protect vulnerable youth and their families from out-of-state persecution. This isn’t just a trans rights issue—it’s a medical privacy issue. If officials can target one group’s records today, none of our health information is safe tomorrow. Please act now to protect trans kids, defend Maryland families, and uphold the principle that medical decisions belong to patients, families, and their doctors—not politicians.