Legal Protections for Gender-Affirming Care in Connecticut

Over the past several years the U.S. government and many state governments have undertaken a sustained series of actions aimed at restricting the legal rights and protections of transgender and non-binary populations. Access to healthcare has been a particular target, heightening anxiety for those who seek and provide gender-affirming care and even prompting some gender-affirming care clinics to close as they face threats of adverse legal and financial consequences.

Connecticut stands in stark contrast to these restrictive and punitive efforts. Rather, the Connecticut legislature has been proactive on this front, making Connecticut one of the most protective states when it comes to gender-affirming care. Transgender and non-binary individuals seeking gender-affirming care, parents and guardians of those seeking such care, and gender-affirming care providers should know that they are protected in several significant ways.

What Are Connecticut’s “Shield Laws”?

Connecticut has created legal safeguards for patients and providers of gender-affirming care, as well as those who “assist” with such care, through a series of “shield laws.” Together, these laws protect people in Connecticut against out-of-state investigations, lawsuits, and other legal actions for seeking or providing gender-affirming care that is legal in Connecticut. The laws protect licensing for providers of gender-affirming care, prohibit discrimination in healthcare settings, and ensure access to medically necessary treatment that may include gender-affirming care.

How Does Connecticut Protect Medical Providers of Gender-Affirming Care?

Connecticut provides robust protections for health care providers who offer gender-affirming care:

• General Statutes § 54-162 prohibits the Governor from extraditing to another state individuals charged in that state with a crime relating to gender-affirming care. This means that if a state that is hostile to gender-affirming care were to issue an arrest warrant or extradition request for a Connecticut provider who delivered gender-affirming care, the Governor of Connecticut would be legally barred from complying with that request.
• General Statutes § 54-82i(b) prohibits Connecticut courts from ordering individuals to appear and testify in criminal proceedings in another state if the alleged crime involved “provision or receipt of or assistance with” gender-affirming care.
• General Statutes §§ 19a-17e, 19a-677, 20-579a and 38a-835 together prohibit Connecticut licensing agencies, employers, and liability insurers from taking adverse action against a provider based on the provision of gender-affirming care in Connecticut or based on another state’s disciplinary proceedings relating to the provision of gender-affirming care.
• General Statutes § 54-155b prohibits public agencies from cooperating with out-of-state efforts to impose civil or criminal liability upon any person or entity for having sought, received or provided gender-affirming care.

How Does Connecticut Protect Patients Seeking Gender-Affirming Care?

Individuals seeking gender-affirming care in Connecticut benefit from broad legal protections. Broadly speaking, Connecticut’s anti-discrimination laws expressly cover “gender identity and expression.” In 2025, Connecticut extended these protections to health care settings, including to the provision of emergency medical care. Health insurers in Connecticut cannot impose blanket exclusions for gender transition services, and they are required to cover medically necessary treatment. Connecticut Medicaid (HUSKY) also covers gender-affirming care for both adults and children.

• Under General Statutes § 52-146x, Connecticut law also protects the disclosure of patient communication or information relating to gender-affirming care without written consent.

What About Parents and Guardians?

Many of the protections above cover parents and guardians of minors seeking or receiving gender-affirming care. Laws prohibiting extradition, compelling someone to testify in out-of-state proceedings and prohibiting public agencies from cooperating with out-of-state proceedings expressly extend their protections to those who “assist” with gender-affirming care, which would include parents or guardians who facilitate gender-affirming care for minors.

In addition to the protections mentioned above, by General Statutes § 52-571n, Connecticut also allows providers, patients and parents or guardians to recover money damages from anyone who has obtained a judgment against them based on the “provision, receipt, assistance in receipt or provision, material support for” gender-affirming care. Damages under this statute can include compensation for costs, including attorney’s fees, incurred in defending the action that led to the adverse judgment and in bringing an action under § 52-571n. This statute serves as a remedy for those harmed by out-of-state legal actions, as well as a deterrent against the filing of such out-of-state actions.

Questions?

If you’d like to learn more about how Connecticut law protects gender-affirming care, reach out to one of our Family Law or Health Care attorneys at Pullman & Comley, LLC.

—Beck S. Fineman

Attorney Beck S. Fineman is a partner in the Family Law practice at Pullman & Comley, LLC. He can be reached at bfineman@pullcom.com.