This morning, the Alaska State Medical Board voted to move forward with drafting new regulations targeting gender-affirming care for trans youth.
In just 72 hours, more than 700 licensed medical providers across Alaska signed an open letter in response — a powerful show of solidarity for families, patients, and evidence-based medicine.
Below, we share the full text of the response letter, written by Chandra Poe, Identity’s board co-chair and a mother of two gender-expansive children.
In light of today’s actions by the Alaska State Medical Board, Identity thanks the 700 licensed medical providers in the state of Alaska who stood with families today. Thank you for standing up for not only the integrity of your profession but also the right to privacy and autonomy, the rights of parents to make informed decisions about evidence-based, life-saving care for their children.
As co-chair of Identity’s board and mother of two gender expansive children, I also wanted to speak directly to families supporting their transgender, non-binary and gender fluid young people. We see you, and you are not alone.
Today’s rhetoric and actions join the flood of hatred our families have been navigating on the national stage and in Alaska for years, and it is hard to stay strong in the face of these unrelenting attacks on the ones we love. To the parents and caregivers supporting their trans youth - thank you for your strength and resilience. Thank you for wanting the best for your kids, and for working toward allowing them to grow up safe, healthy, and supported. We see you, we support you, and we will not back down in our defense of your rights to raise families with access to clinically proven, evidence-based care. We know this care is vital for allowing our children to thrive, grow, and live their most authentic lives. We are not backing away. We are here in support and love.
Our medical providers are a critical piece in the support network we rely on as parents to give us the ability to fully see, support, and celebrate our children in all of their beautiful diversity of identity and expression. These actions set a dangerous precedent for politically motivated persecution of professionals acting within nationally accepted standards of care.
Transgender people, and all LGBTQIA2S+ people, have always been here and will always be here. They have always been and continue to be worthy of equal access to healthcare and wellness. Politicized hatred and discrimination, as we witnessed today, is unfortunately not new in our state.The targeted and relentless persecution of vulnerable children, however, is still shocking to me as a parent.
Identity will continue to stand in solidarity with our LGBTQIA2S+ families and community. Thank you to all who see that healthcare decisions should be made by families and their own providers, not impeded by politically motivated, personal philosophy of a few individuals in positions of power. Thank you to those who acknowledge that accredited national and international medical associations support evidence-based clinical care for trans people. Thank you to parents and family members supporting all of their young people.
In solidarity,
Chandra Poe, on behalf of Identity
About Identity, Inc.
Identity, Inc. is Alaska’s LGBTQIA2S+ health organization, intentionally built by and for our community. From primary care and behavioral health to gender-affirming services, every part of our model is designed to return safety, agency, and credibility to people whose needs have too often been denied or erased. We center those most often left behind, providing care that is not conditional but coherent — grounded in evidence, guided by compassion, and inseparable from dignity and belonging.
🧡 Stay with us.
Follow Identity, share this letter with your networks, and be ready to take action when the time comes.
