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Gender Equality
Neve Brissenden

'Stand with us': thousands to rally behind trans youth

Supporters of gender-affirming care for children will hold rallies after some services were banned. (Flavio Brancaleone/AAP PHOTOS)

Thousands of gender-diverse children, their family members, friends and allies are expected to take to the streets after puberty blockers and gender-affirming care were banned in some parts of the country.

The rallies come a week after the Queensland government  paused any new patients under 18 accessing gender-affirming care including puberty blockers and hormone therapies while a probe into the services is carried out.

Rallies will be held in all capital cities and a series of regional centres, with attendees expected to call for a reinstatement of care in Queensland.

Trans Justice Project Director Jackie Turner said the rallies would also call for youth health care to be protected in other states and territories.

“We are taking to the streets all over the continent to call on the Queensland government to reinstate care for trans youth, and make gender-affirming care accessible and affordable for everyone who needs it," Ms Turner told AAP.

She said 491 young people and their families have had their healthcare paused, many who have been on waiting lists for months and years.

"We know that this decision has turned a lot of families' worlds upside down ... parents were relying on being able to access this healthcare," she said.

"They're furious that the care is being blocked for essentially political reasons."

A Trans rights march in Sydney in January, 2025
The transgender community believes gender-affirming care is under political attack in Australia.

The Queensland ban came after reports that gender-affirming hormones had been given to minors as young as 12 years of age without authorised care in the state's far north.

Ms Turner said parents are afraid that if the Queensland decision goes unchallenged it could be replicated in other states.

"We really need to take a stand against this now, against these kinds of attacks now, so that they don't spread," she said.

Two days after the Queensland decision, the federal government announced that Australia's peak medical body would review the health care provided to transgender and gender-diverse children.

The review led by the National Health and Medical Research Council will examine aspects of children's gender-affirming care including the use of puberty blockers, Health Minister Mark Butler announced.

Mr Butler said he has asked new LNP health minister Tim Nicholls to abide by national standards.

"I've indicated to Minister Nicholls that I don't think it would be appropriate for Queensland to continue with their stated intention to undertake an evidence review in this area of care," he said.

"These issues should be nationally consistent."

The issue has come under global scrutiny with the UK's controversial Cass review ultimately leading to the National Health Service restricting the use of puberty blockers in children.

In the United States, President Donald Trump has also vowed to end federal funding for gender-affirming care for children.

Ms Turner urged young people to stand with friends and allies over the weekend.

"I'd like them to see allies who are coming out and supporting them," she said.

"I'd like them to have an experience of the power of standing together as a community and fighting for a better world."

Rallies will be held in Cairns, Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra, Perth, Adelaide, Wollongong, Newcastle, Broome, Geelong, Ballarat, Wagga Wagga, Shepparton, Busselton, Armidale, Merimbula, Lismore.

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