On September 8, the streets of Downtown Pittsburgh became a procession of grief and defiance as over 100 trans organizers, healthcare workers, and community allies marched from Mellon Square to the steps of UPMC’s headquarters at the U.S. Steel Tower. Dressed in black, carrying cardboard coffins and gravestone-shaped protest signs, the demonstrators staged a funeral march and die-in to condemn UPMC’s recent decision to end gender-affirming care for patients under 19.
The protest, co-organized by ACT UP Pittsburgh, TransYOUniting, and Providers for Trans Justice, was a dramatic and urgent response to what activists are calling a life-threatening betrayal by one of the region’s most powerful healthcare institutions.
“UPMC has forcibly detransitioned 375 trans youth,” ACT UP Pittsburgh declared in a public statement ahead of the event. “They have told their staff to be prepared for an increase in trans suicide. UPMC’s greed is putting lives at risk.”
As marchers approached the towering symbol of medical power, they lay their bodies across the plaza in a coordinated die-in, 375 beats of a funeral drum reverberated through the steel and glass, each beat honoring a young person now denied life-saving care. Around them, signs read: “Respect Trans Health,” “We Won’t Accept a Death Sentence,” and “Here Lies HIPAA.” A banner held aloft screamed the truth in blood-red paint, “UPMC: Life Ending Medicine.”
Among the marchers was Kaiah Scott, a trans woman who grew up in Pittsburgh and spoke with raw urgency. “It is about us being told that we cannot have the health care we need to survive, to breathe, to live as who we are. When UPMC cut off care, it was not just a policy change. It was a message. It was them saying our lives are not worth protecting.”
The decision to end care for patients under 19 came in June, following pressure from a January Trump executive order that threatens to strip federal funding from institutions that continue offering gender-affirming services. Since then, UPMC has not only complied with the order, it has gone further, chillingly signaling internal staff to brace for an uptick in suicidality among trans youth, according to whistleblower accounts.
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That’s why organizers chose mourning as their protest tactic, to grieve the harm already done and the harm still to come.
“Make no mistake,” said Sam Wasserman, a community organizer, “if UPMC can throw away our trans community, they can do the same to you and me. It’s past time to listen to Providers 4 Trans Justice and restore care for every single patient. We will not stop fighting until everyone has the care they deserve.”
UPMC has also come under fire for its compliance with a sweeping federal subpoena from the Department of Justice, which demanded patient and provider records related to trans healthcare. Protesters held signs reading “Here Lies HIPAA” and “Don’t Comply with Fascism,” drawing clear lines between patient confidentiality, political intimidation, and institutional cowardice.
One sign simply read “No Rest, No Peace.”
“We know that trans and queer youth are already at a heightened risk for suicidality,” said Olivia Mincone, a registered nurse with UPMC’s own teen suicide prevention clinic. “Removing hormone replacement therapy isn’t just harmful, it’s dangerous.”
In August, more than 450 UPMC providers signed an open letter condemning the policy shift and demanding immediate restoration of care. “We will not violate our ethics or our oaths to do no harm,” the letter stated. “We will not be complicit in this atrocious attempt to eliminate transgender people from society.”
But UPMC leadership has remained silent. In August, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and 14 other state attorneys general filed a lawsuit accusing the Trump administration of mounting an unconstitutional pressure campaign against gender-affirming care for transgender youth.
UPMC has not responded to multiple requests for comment.
Photos by Maya Lovro.
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