A dozen cities and counties submitted an amicus brief to defend public health partnerships serving LGBTQIA and HIV-affected communities
SAN FRANCISCO, CA (October 14, 2025) — San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu announced today that San Francisco led a coalition of 11 cities and counties from across the United States in filing an amicus brief urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to uphold a lower court decision blocking provisions of President Trump’s anti-trans and anti-DEI executive orders from taking effect.
“In San Francisco, we recognize, support, and celebrate our transgender communities,” said San Francisco City Attorney Chiu. “These executive orders would devastate the delivery of essential health services, from HIV prevention to gender-affirming care. Local governments rely on trusted nonprofit partners to deliver these services. Our coalition is standing together to ensure residents continue to receive essential services from organizations who have deep roots in the communities they serve.”
“These executive orders not only completely ignore the history and lived experiences of transgender people, they fly in the face of scientific research, expertise, and fundamentally interfere with our ability to serve our most vulnerable community members,” said Honey Mahogany, Director of the Office of Transgender Initiatives. “San Francisco has long been at the forefront of the fight for human rights and continues to be known across the globe as a refuge for the LGBTQ community. I am proud that we are continuing in this tradition and standing up for our values at this critical time.”
Background
On February 20, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation (SFAF) and several other non-profits serving the LGBTQIA community, represented by Lambda Legal, filed a lawsuit challenging three of President Trump’s unconstitutional Executive Orders. Specifically, Plaintiffs challenged two of Trump’s anti-DEI Executive Orders, and challenged Trump’s “gender ideology” Executive Order, which unlawfully discriminates against transgender people.
The Plaintiffs argued that the Executive Orders pose an existential threat to transgender people and the organizations that respect their existence, shield them from harm, provide them with services, and engage in core protected speech to advocate for them. The Executive Orders would disrupt health care and services to a large group of Americans, including LGBTQIA, gender diverse, and HIV-affected communities.
On June 9, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California issued a preliminary injunction order halting enforcement of challenged portions of the Executive Orders, and the Federal Government is now appealing that decision to the Ninth Circuit.
The San Francisco-led amicus brief urges the Ninth Circuit to uphold the District Court’s decision and argues that the Executive Orders threaten critical health care partnerships between local governments and nonprofit providers.
If the Executive Orders are allowed to take effect, localities could lose trusted partners that work with vulnerable and hard-to-reach communities. Some patients previously served by these non-profits may seek services through local health departments, which will further burden local jurisdictions at a time of significant budget deficits. Other patients may be unable to access services altogether, which will negatively impact individual and public health throughout the country.
San Francisco contracts annually with numerous nonprofits, including San Francisco AIDS Foundation (SFAF) and the San Francisco Community Health Center (SFCHC). SFAF uses funding to provide behavioral health care, sexual health care, HIV prevention and care, including offering PrEP and PEP medications, support for older adults living with HIV, and other community engagement initiatives. SFAF provides over 70,000 people with free HIV and STI testing and serves approximately 27,000 patients annually throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. SFCHC provides gender-affirming care, mental health support, HIV treatment and prevention, primary medical care, behavioral care, and dental health care.
In San Francisco, partnerships with nonprofits have been central to the City’s success in reducing new HIV diagnoses by 71 percent since 2006. These significant gains could not have been achieved without nonprofit partnerships.
The local jurisdictions that joined San Francisco in the amicus brief include Alameda County, California; Alexandria, Virginia; Allegheny County, Pennsylvania; Baltimore, Maryland; Chicago, Illinois; Columbus, Ohio; King County, Washington; New York, New York; Portland, Oregon; San Diego, California; and County of Santa Clara, California.
The case is San Francisco AIDS Foundation, et al. v. Donald J. Trump, et al., U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Case No. 25-4988. A copy of the amicus brief can be found here.
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