The ruling affects hospitals nationwide, putting on hold the administration’s plan to withhold research grants from those that offer gender transition treatments to young people.
The judge considered the matter in a Seattle courtroom a day after a judge in Baltimore temporarily halted the administration’s plan in a separate lawsuit.
Six transgender individuals, all younger than 19, sued the administration over executive orders targeting hospitals that offer transition treatments to young people.
Using words like “maiming” and “junk science,” the directives try to portray trans people as lacking honesty and integrity, and thus unworthy of legal rights.
The suit challenges an executive action that required trans women to be housed in prisons for men, and ends transition-related medical treatment for prisoners.