It was never just about bathrooms. It was never just about sports. From the State Department suspending its policy allowing transgender, intersex and nonbinary people to update the sex field of their passports to President Donald Trump’s order stripping Medicaid and Medicare from hospitals that provide transgender healthcare, those in power are making it clear that they don’t just want to take away transgender rights; they want to erase transgender people from the picture entirely. Want proof? Look no further than the Ivy League.

Earlier this month, Brown University signed a binding agreement requiring the school to adopt the federal government’s binary definition of “male” and “female.” In return, the Trump administration released $50 million in frozen research funding earmarked for Brown.

Closer to home, Yale New Haven Hospital recently discontinued hormone-based gender-affirming care for patients under 19. While the hospital shares a name and an affiliation with Yale University, they are distinct corporations with separate sources of funding.

Not only are decisions like these legally and politically misguided — they will impact the day-to-day lives of transgender students like myself. Unless we act with courage and conviction, attacks on transgender students at Brown could become the reality at Yale, too.

The hospital cited federal executive orders, administrative actions and recent Supreme Court cases related to gender-affirming care for youth in a statement to the News. However, while the Supreme Court’s ruling in United States v. Skrmetti may make it legal for states to ban gender-affirming care for minors, it does not change that allowing access to gender-affirming care is the moral and medically responsible thing to do. Plus, Connecticut has enacted no such restrictions.

Medical research demonstrating the efficacy of gender-affirming care for youth warrants an opinion piece of its own. In brief, multiple medical organizations, such as the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, endorse gender-affirming care — which typically includes hormone replacement therapy, puberty blockers and counseling — for transgender and non-binary youth. These interventions are widely acknowledged to result in more positive mental health outcomes, improved functioning and life satisfaction while significantly reducing depression and suicidality.

It took me more than two agonizing years to get a consultation and confirmed date for my top surgery through Yale Student Health. My heart breaks for the incoming first years who won’t even be able to start the transition process, in an environment where it’s most likely the first time they’re safe to live as their true selves. Indeed, a number of transgender Yalies receive coverage from Yale Health and are referred to specialists at Yale New Haven Hospital.

Of course, the Yale environment isn’t perfect when it comes to transgender inclusion. My own ability to receive necessary medical care — and ultimately the wholeness of my identity — was contingent on my ability to tell the story of my suffering in the most eloquent way. I often found myself getting misgendered or asked to rehash traumatic experiences related to my dysphoria in the process.

Likewise, when Yale-adjacent organizations like the Buckley Institute host debates on whether “the law should only recognize biological sex” or platform speakers such as Michael Knowles ’12, a conservative pundit who called for the “eradication of “transgenderism,”  it’s hard to focus on transgender joy when other students treat your humanity as an intellectual challenge rather than an unwavering truth. Like fellow transgender Yalies and allies, I wasn’t sure whether I felt more disgusted or disappointed by the normalization of dangerous eliminationist rhetoric around transgender people on Yale’s campus.

It’s said that transgender people are “canaries in a coal mine;” what the Trump administration is willing to do to dehumanize transgender people, it will do to other marginalized groups. Just in the last week, a cisgender 18-year old girl in Minnesota was subjected to sexual harassment as a waitress forced the girl to prove she was a woman to use the women’s restroom. Back in March, a tall cis woman was fired from her job at Walmart after a customer accused her of being transgender. Enforcing gender norms and punishing those who fail to abide by these arbitrary, often misogynistic and racist rules, dehumanizes cis people as well as transgender people.

In a statement, the White House celebrated Yale New Haven Hospital’s subservience. While the hospital and Yale University are distinct corporations, the former’s concession to the Trump administration’s draconian demands sets a dangerous precedent for our community. I urge Yale to fund gender-affirming care education and research at the School of Medicine and to unwaveringly support gender-inclusive spaces on campus.

Yale must recognize the truth: gender-affirming care saves lives, while transphobia harms all within and outside the community. It’s time for Yale to act on truth — and keep the light shining through its unwavering protection of transgender youth.

ELIZABETH SHVARTS is a junior in Pauli Murray college studying Political Science and Education Studies. Elizabeth is co-chair of Trans @ Yale and can be reached at liz.shvarts@yale.edu.