Delaware Leads the Resistance Against Trump’s Efforts to Protect Female Privacy in Public Spaces
Transgender initiatives designed to block legal scrutiny of mutilative procedures.
Among all the states suing to prevent the Trump administration from protecting the privacy of women in publicly funded venues, Delaware stands out from the pack.
That’s because Gov. Matt Meyer, a Democrat who assumed office in 2025, along with his allies in the state legislature, recently gained national recognition for implementing transgender policies with far-reaching ramifications. Last June, Meyer signed an executive order that prohibits state agencies from providing information including medical records, data, or billing information regarding "gender-affirming care"—the term activists coined to describe the plastic surgery performed to give the appearance of a gender switch.
Gov. Meyer's order also applies to out-of-state inquiries along with criminal and civil investigations. Meyer did not stop there as a few weeks later he signed HB 205 into law, designed to insulate those performing transgender mutilative procedures from out-of-state litigation.
In response to Meyer’s actions, an organization called LGBTQ Nation has officially recognized Delaware as “sanctuary” or “shield” state for transgender individuals and anyone else seeking mutilative exercises activists describe as “gender-affirming care.” Meyer’s executive order came a week after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in U.S. vs. Skrmetti, which upheld a Tennessee ban on certain transgender procedures for minors. The order includes language claiming Delaware has around 40,000 LGBTQ individuals who are 13 and older, which comes out to be about 4.5% of the state’s population. The order also claims Delaware has 6,300 transgender adults. The governor signed the order during a ceremony at CAMP Rehoboth, an LGBTQ community center.
Delaware Joins Trump Resistance
Delaware became the 12th state to join a lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) this past January. The leftist state attorneys general claim the Trump administration engages in discriminatory practices by working to withhold federal funding from institutions that are not in compliance with a presidential executive order from January 2025. In his order Trump declared his administration,
will defend women’s rights and protect freedom of conscience by using clear and accurate language and policies that recognize women are biologically female, and men are biologically male.
The order goes to say, “It is the policy of the United States to recognize two sexes, male and female. These sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality."
The key legal question in the suit revolves around the proper definition of Title IX, a 1972 federal civil rights law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in any education program or activity that receives federal funding. In the suit, Delaware and its fellow litigants claim they are in compliance with Title IX requirements and that Trump’s HHS is “grafting” Trump’s executive order onto Title IX in an unconstitutional manner.
“This is not the first time that the Trump Administration has sought to destroy Delaware’s health, education, and research sectors,” Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings said in a press release. “This time, they’ve taken the added measure of trying to attack transgender people in the process. Like the countless other illegal measures that this Administration has tried to force upon us, we’ll fight this one, too – and we’ll win.”
Trump’s order directs federal agencies to carefully evaluate “grant conditions” and “grantee preferences” to ensure that federal funds are not used to advance gender ideology.
But back in Delaware, Meyer continues to maintain majority support for his transgender agenda in the state legislature. In a Facebook post discussing her attendance at the Rehoboth event, Rep. Claire Snyder-Hall, a Democrat, expressed her support for Meyer’s executive order and for Rep. Deshanna Neal, a fellow Democrat also serving in the General Assembly with the distinction of being state’s first non-binary elected official.
Republicans Try to Fight Back
Republicans in the minority in the General Assembly opposed to Meyer’s policies have had difficulty gaining traction. In February 2025, Sen. Bryant Richardson, along with House and Senate Republicans, introduced Senate Bill 55, also known as the Save Adolescents From Experimentation (SAFE) Act. The bill would have prohibited minors from receiving gender transition surgeries while also preventing health insurance plans in Delaware from covering or providing any reimbursement for gender procedures performed on minors. However, the bill went down to defeat in the Senate Health and Social Services Committee last March.
Most recently, Delaware’s Senate Education Committee heard testimony in January on a fresh proposal from Richardson, who is sponsoring the Fairness in Girls’ Sports Act—SB 215. If passed, the legislation would require students to participate only on sports teams aligned with their biological sex. Richardson’s bill has not yet been voted on since not enough committee members were present at the time of the testimony.
Recent studies supply findings that boost Richardson’s legislative initiatives. In a 2023 study from Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law, researchers concluded that 81% of transgender adults in the U.S. contemplated suicide, while 42% attempted it. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published a report in November regarding the lasting physical and psychological damage caused by gender-affirming care. The report’s summary included harms, such as irreversibility, infertility, sexual dysfunction, impaired bone density accrual, adverse cognitive impacts, cardiovascular disease and metabolic disorders, psychiatric disorders, surgical complications, and regret for the outcomes of such care.
Meyer’s order does include some exceptions to accommodate final court orders. The governor can also provide written authorization to release information.
Delaware Ignores the Fading Fad
But Delaware appears to be running against the grain of nationwide trends. Both the American Medical Association (AMA) and the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) came out with recent statements calling for limits on “gender-related” surgeries especially where minors are concerned. Victims of transgender surgeries have also successfully pursued litigation against doctors over medical malpractice claims.
While the world retreats from gender madness, largely due to the Trump effect, Delaware has cynically chosen to double down in Resistance 2.0.
READ MORE ABOUT THE RADICAL TRANSGENDER MOVEMENT:
SHIFTING POLITICAL WINDS: Voter Opposition to Transgender Policies a Huge Political Winner for GOP
COMMENTARY: Trans Fad Fades as God Makes Gains With Gen Z
INVESTIGATION: Who Can Trust the Trevor Project’s Claims About Transgender Youth Suicide Calls?
Help us take back America—fund the fight today
Restoration News, a project of Restoration of America, is your trusted investigative news source for the America First movement. As a rapidly growing conservative news site, we focus on delivering accurate and insightful exposés on political news, immigration news, leftist lies, and other pressing issues affecting everyday Americans. Our uncompromising commitment to a hard-hitting, fact-based, America First, and faithful perspective ensures that you receive news that aligns with your values.
