In response to the Supreme Court decision on the Braidwood case today, June 27, a national coalition released the following statement from leaders at Lambda Legal, PrEP4All, the Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation, the Center for HIV Law and Policy, and Equality Federation:
This Pride Month, we have been inundated by threats to the LGBTQ community—from book bans to attacks on gender-affirming care. But one case before the Supreme Court has stood out in its potential to inflict devastating harm far beyond our community. Kennedy v. Braidwood has been not just an attack on HIV prevention or LGBTQ people—it has been a coordinated effort to dismantle access to no-cost preventive healthcare for more than 150 million Americans.
However, today the Court has made the right decision to reject this assault, upholding essential protections for preventive services and affirming that prevention and early detection of diseases save lives, improve health outcomes, and reduce long-term health outcomes. We applaud this outcome and express our gratitude to all stakeholders and advocates who raised the visibility of a case that evolved from an attack on LGBTQ+ healthcare into a threat to the well-being of Americans from all walks of life.
This case began with plaintiffs objecting to PrEP, claiming it “promotes homosexuality” and offends their religious beliefs. But this is no isolated grievance—it’s part of the same right-wing, religious extremist agenda targeting LGBTQ+ youth, banning gender-affirming care, and slashing HIV prevention funding. This case had the potential to upend decades of public health progress and make critical, evidence-based services unaffordable and inaccessible to millions.
Cancer screenings. Heart disease prevention. STI testing. Mental health care. These services hung in the balance—all because some want to control who is deemed “worthy” of health and safety.
Let’s be clear: this was never about religious liberty. It has been about using LGBTQ+ people as a scapegoat to push a broader agenda that punishes the vulnerable. And the truth is, most of the people harmed by this decision wouldn’t have been queer. They would be working-class families, Black and brown communities, rural Americans, and anyone who relies on preventive care to stay healthy and alive.
Thanks to the ruling, providers will be able to continue offering preventive care services as before, confident that insurers must continue covering evidence-based preventive services without cost-sharing. However, all stakeholders must remain vigilant. We urge all health professionals, advocates, and concerned Americans to closely monitor actions taken by the Department of Health and Human services (HHS) under this administration. Any attempt to undermine the protections upheld by this ruling or interfere with, politicize, or dismantle the work of scientific and medical experts must be met with swift and coordinated opposition.
History reminds us that silence is deadly. We hear echoes of the AIDS crisis in the Braidwood case—of those who looked away while our community died, and those who weaponized faith to justify inaction. Though we have successfully blocked this attack, more must be done to ensure that history does not repeat itself.
We call on Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to follow science and not ideology in upholding the ruling in this case and all of the essential work overseen by HHS. The task forces, expert panels, and research institutions within HHS, like the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, ACIP, CDC, NIH, and HRSA—exist to serve the public, not political agendas. Their recommendations must be based on rigorous evidence, not partisan interference.
By affirming the constitutionality of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force only through heightened oversight by the Secretary, the ruling provides the Secretary with tools to exert significant control over what have historically been independent, science-driven health recommendations. If misused and unchecked, this authority risks transforming objective medical guidance into a politicized tool susceptible to partisan interference, potentially undermining public trust in preventive care. The Secretary’s expanded grip on the USPSTF could open the door to abuses, enabling administrations to sideline medical experts, shape recommendations to match political agendas, and jeopardize evidence-based healthcare for millions of Americans. The people most vulnerable to this impact, who have already been in the crosshairs of this administration’s attacks on health care such as transgender Americans, will inevitably feel the brunt of any politicization of USPSTF’s membership and recommendations.
Advocates must remain prepared to call on members of Congress to demand accountability on the enforcement of the preventive service protections, asking them to convene public oversight hearings and require Secretary Kennedy to justify any interference with the independence of scientific and public health bodies.
So long as attacks on queer health care continue our fight continues—in courtrooms, in statehouses, in clinics, and in the streets. Because a win for LGBTQ+ people is a win for everyone. When we protect the most vulnerable, we strengthen the whole.
This Pride Month, we celebrate this victory as we honor the legacy of those who fought back at Stonewall, who took to the streets with ACT UP, and who demanded dignity at the height of crisis. We carry that legacy forward now. Join us. Raise your voice. Defend preventive care. Fight back.