An Open Letter To Corewell Health’s Board of Directors and Executive Leadership
Tuesday, February 11, 2025
Executive Leadership and Board of Directors at Corewell Health
100 Michigan Street NE
Grand Rapids, MI 49503
To Corewell Health’s Board of Directors and Executive Leadership,
We, the undersigned, write this open letter today, to express our unequivocal and wholehearted opposition to Corewell Health’s recent actions to restrict access to lifesaving, essential, evidence-based gender-affirming care for young people and their families across our great state.
Actions taken by the Executive branch through Executive Orders have sought to bring the full weight of the United States government down against thousands of transgender and gender-nonconforming young Americans and their families. These unilateral actions have yet to withstand the scrutiny of our judicial branch. It is critical that these untested actions not be anticipatorily complied with, and that elected officials, institutions, and the leaders of those institutions here in Michigan, thoughtfully analyze their response. The pain and suffering our constituencies, transgender young people and their families, will endure as a result of acquiescence, must be at the forefront of deliberations.
The just decision to us is plainly obvious and bolstered by Michigan Attorney General, Dana Nessel’s, recently issued guidance:
“I write to remind you that the availability of federal funding has no bearing on Michiganders’ right to seek and receive healthcare services without discrimination. Moreover, access to federal funds does not relieve Michigan healthcare facilities and providers of the obligation to comply with Michigan laws, including those that prohibit discrimination against individuals based on their membership in a protected class, such as religion, race, color, national origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or marital status. See, e.g., MCL § § 37.2102, 2202, 2302. Refusing healthcare services to a class of individuals based on their perceived status, such as withholding the availability of services from transgender individuals based on their gender identity or their diagnosis of gender dysphoria, while offering such services to cisgender individuals, may constitute discrimination under Michigan law.”
We respectfully urge you to reconsider your course of action and to evaluate the ethical principle of “do no harm” in the context of sustaining vital treatment for the young people in your care. It is not hyperbole to posit that if health care for transgender people can be denied across the country without due process, without legislative action, and without the scrutiny of the courts, tomorrow, we could see similarly contrived assaults on the bodily autonomy of women and girls, access lifesaving treatments for HIV, or any other matter at the intersection of health care and individual rights.
We urge you to stand by these young people and their families, to respect individual freedom, and to honor our democratic traditions. The health, safety, and lives of transgender young people are at risk.
In conclusion, we urgently ask that you, the leaders of Corewell Health, quickly reverse your decision and reinstate full access to gender-affirming treatment for existing and new patients in your care.
Sincerely,
The Undersigned
Equality Michigan
482Forward
ACLU of Michigan
Affirmations LGBTQ+ Community Center
APIA Vote-MI
Benzie Area Pride Network
Cares of Southwest Michigan
Corktown Health
Detroit Disability Power
Detroit Area Youth Uniting Michigan (DAYUM)
Ferndale Pride
Gender Identity Network Alliance (GNA)
Grand Rapids Pride Center
Grand Rapids Trans Foundation
Great Lakes Bay Pride
HIV/AIDS Alliance of Michigan (HAAM)
LGBT Detroit
Ludington Area Pride
Michigan Education Justice Coalition (MEJC)
Michigan League for Public Policy
Michigan Org. on Adolescent Sexual Health (MOASH)
Michigan United
Michigan Voices
MiGen
NAACP Michigan State Conference
National Association of Social Workers – Michigan Chapter
One Love Global
OutCenter Southwest Michigan
OutFront Kalamazoo
PFLAG Clinton Township
PFLAG Detroit
PFLAG Plymouth-Canton
Pride at Work Michigan
The PROACTIVE Project, Inc.
Progress Michigan
Red Wine & Blue
Rising Voices
River City Psychological Services
Ruth Ellis Center
Stand with Trans
Transgender Michigan
Transgender Unity Coalition
Up North Pride
Voting Access for All