Sea Sombar, 18, was one of a handful of people — and the only one from Allegheny County— who was invited to the governor’s mansion to tell their story about UPMC ending gender-affirming care.
Sea called the experience important, knowing it could be a part of a conversation that moved the governor forward in action.
The roundtable was held by Gov. Josh Shapiro in July, and it looked to hear directly from transgender youth in Pennsylvania and learn about the impact of losing access to gender affirming care.
“I remember him leaning in and being like, ‘They asked you to do what?’ And I was like, ‘They asked me taper off my medication,’ and he was like, ‘They did?’ And I was like, yeah, and he leaned back in his chair and I knew he was going to do something,” said Sea Sombar.
That something came just weeks later when Shapiro joined a lawsuit against President Donald Trump, the Department of Justice and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, alleging attempts to deny medically necessary health care to transgender individuals. The lawsuit claims the Trump administration has targeted transgender individuals and attempted to deny medically necessary health care through unlawful executive orders.
“I was just like, oh my God. He did that. He is standing up for us. He is going out of his way, and he’s doing work to make sure that we are heard, and that our issues are being addressed. They aren’t being swept under the rug. They are becoming a forefront of what he’s doing,” said Sombar.
Speaking only to Pittsburgh’s Action News 4, Sea explained the impact of the conversation with Shapiro about gender-affirming care.
“That was just life-saving,” Sombar said. “I felt the happiest I’ve ever been on estrogen, and it really changed my life. It felt like a new door was opened.
“I feel like, for trans kids, especially, there’s always this fight. And for a while there, I felt like I could just be.”
And how it felt hearing the news that care would end for those under 19 years old.
“It was this moment where, like, oh shoot, this just happened? A sort of anxiety of, like, what am I going to do next? It is really dehumanizing. It is putting us in a place where I’m feeling scared. I’m feeling anxious daily,” said Sombar.
Sea says they now have to wait until their 19th birthday to receive the full care necessary. Sea also explained how it’s not easy going somewhere else for care, citing a level of trust already built with doctors, on top of having UPMC as the largest and most accessible health care provider in our region.
