Trump DOJ Forced To Defend Gender Doctor Against Detransitioner Lawsuit

Layton Ulery had eight documented personalities and was “practically and legally disabled” when she was prescribed sex-rejecting testosterone by Dr. Jason Rafferty at the Thundermist Health Center (HC) in Rhode Island, according to her November 2025 lawsuit. Rafferty, the lead author of the American Academy of Pediatrics gender transition policy, recognized Ulery’s deeply troubled mental state but still recommended she start testosterone, according to the lawsuit.

“To take me when I was in such a vulnerable state and essentially give me no hope whatsoever that it was ever possible for me to recover and to sentence me to a life of health issues and permanent physical damage … I just think it is so heinous,” Ulery told The Daily Wire. “I can’t believe that it was ever allowed to happen.”

Thundermist HC is part of the Federally Qualified Health Center program that funds nonprofit community health clinics providing essential healthcare services to vulnerable populations. The program is run by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), an agency within the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

HRSA-funded health centers and their employees are treated as public health employees and receive medical malpractice liability coverage from the federal government, in accordance with the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA). Under the FTCA, those harmed by federal employees can seek compensation from the federal government rather than the individual who committed the tort, according to HRSA‘s website.

“A covered entity or individual is immune and will not be financially liable for any claims arising from covered activities,” states the HRSA website. “Covered activities are acts or omissions in the performance of medical, surgical, dental, or related functions resulting in personal injury, including death, and occurring within the scope of employment.”

Legal documents show DOJ attorneys are representing Thundermist HC and its affiliates in Ulery’s malpractice lawsuit in accordance with the FTCA.

Ulery’s lawsuit was initially filed in October 2023 and bounced between state and federal courts for nearly two years before her federal claims were dismissed in September 2025. Ulery amended her complaint in November 2025, and the case was transferred back to federal court. DOJ attorneys recently moved to dismiss Ulery’s case with prejudice, while Ulery is asking that the parties be allowed to engage in mediation.

Josh Payne, PLLC, Ulery’s lawyer, told The Daily Wire he believes the DOJ’s actions in this case do not reflect the Trump administration’s commitment to stopping gender ideology.

“The Trump Administration is not practicing what it preaches in this particular circumstance,” Payne told The Daily Wire.

“We’re calling on Attorney General Pam Bondi to get a grip on this case and instruct her staff to negotiate with us and try to resolve this case without further burdening the court,” Payne told The Daily Wire. “This is not what federal tax dollars should be spent on to defend. It’s bad enough tax dollars were used to fund the mistreatment Layton experienced at the federally-funded clinic. The administration should be protecting vulnerable people like Layton, not fighting them.”

The DOJ told The Daily Wire it is “fundamentally opposed” to gender ideology and stated that Ulery filed her claims outside the statute of limitations.

“The Department is fundamentally opposed to woke gender ideology and is using every legal and law enforcement tool available to protect youth from being mutilated under the guise of ‘care.’ Any suggestion otherwise is patently false,” a DOJ spokesperson told The Daily Wire. “As the Department has stated through filings and to counsel, the U.S. has moved to dismiss Ms. Ulery’s case because her claims are procedurally barred by the statute of limitations and failure to exhaust.”

Ulery’s legal team argued the statute of limitations should be extended because the tort occurred when she could not realize she’d been harmed due to her incapacitated mental state, court documents show.

“Dr. Rafferty and others at Thundermist misled Layton into believing the testosterone would cure her mental health problems. She had no reason to think the testosterone could harm her. It was only when she heard stories of other detransitioners that she discovered testosterone can harm women like her,” Payne told The Daily Wire.

“All of the people that I was surrounded by were essentially people who were dissociated from reality, which was certainly not helpful in the circumstance that I was in,” Ulery told The Daily Wire. “No one even presented me with the idea that healing was possible.”

The lawsuit describes that Ulery escaped a cult from which she suffered 18 years of “physical, sexual, and psychological torment” and later sought the help of a therapist for her severe Dissociative Identity Disorder. Her therapist “began convincing Layton that she was a transgender man and in need of further medicalization” and referred her to Thundermist HC for sex-rejecting medical treatment, according to the lawsuit.

Thundermist HC removed a webpage devoted to “Trans Health Access” that was saved in the Internet Archive on April 14, 2025. The Daily Wire asked the clinic if it still provides so-called gender affirming medical interventions, but it did not respond to requests for comment.

The Daily Wire asked HRSA to clarify if HRSA-funded clinics could provide so-called gender affirming care, but did not receive clarification. A HRSA representative told The Daily Wire it “does not comment on pending litigation and defers any questions regarding Federal Tort Claims Act litigation to the Department of Justice.”

Ulery has reclaimed her female identity and no longer experiences dissociation; however, she still suffers from irreversible effects of testosterone treatments, including body disfigurement, ongoing estrogen deficiencies, and chronic inflammation of her vocal cords.

“Every single day I wake up with a sore throat. Not only is it sore but my vocal cords are chronically inflamed, and I lose my voice very easily,” Ulery told The Daily Wire. “I am just asking for the consideration of the settlement for there to be some level of accountability because I think it was beyond unacceptable.”