Latest news with #WorldProfessionalAssociationforTransgenderHealth
NDTV
02-05-2025
- Health
- NDTV
US Healthy Agency Urges Therapy, Not Transition Treatment For Transgenders
Washington: President Donald Trump's administration released a lengthy review of transgender health care on Thursday that advocates for a greater reliance on behavioral therapy rather than broad gender-affirming medical care for youths with gender dysphoria. The 409-page Health and Human Services report questions standards for the treatment of transgender youth issued by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health and is likely to be used to bolster the government's abrupt shift in how to care for a subset of the population that has become a political lightning rod. Major medical groups and those who treat transgender young people sharply criticized the new report as inaccurate. This "best practices" report is in response to an executive order Trump issued days into his second term that says the federal government must not support gender transitions for anyone under age 19. "Our duty is to protect our nation's children - not expose them to unproven and irreversible medical interventions," National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya said in a statement. "We must follow the gold standard of science, not activist agendas." The report questions the ethics of medical interventions for transgender young people, suggesting that adolescents are too young to give consent to life-changing treatments that could result in future infertility. It also cites and echoes a report in England that reinforced a decision by its public health services to stop prescribing puberty blockers outside of research settings. The report's focus on therapy alone troubles advocates The report accuses transgender care specialists of disregarding psychotherapy that might challenge preconceptions, partly because of a "mischaracterization of such approaches as 'conversion therapy,'" a discredited practice that seeks to change patients' sexual orientation or gender identification. About half the states have banned conversion therapy for minors. The American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry has said evidence shows conversion therapies inflict harm on young people, including elevated rates of suicidal thoughts. HHS said its report does not address treatment for adults, is not clinical guidance and does not make any policy recommendations. However, it also says the review "is intended for policymakers, clinicians, therapists, medical organizations, and importantly, patients and their families," and it declares that medical professionals involved in transgender care have failed their young patients. The report could create fear for families seeking care and for medical providers, said Shannon Minter, the legal director at the National Center for Lesbian Rights. "It's very chilling to see the federal government injecting politics and ideology into medical science," Minter said. "It's Orwellian. It is designed to confuse and disorient," Minter added. Child and adolescent psychiatrist Dr. Scott Leibowitz, a co-author of the influential WPATH standards for youth, said the new report "legitimizes the harmful idea that providers should approach young people with the notion that alignment between sex and gender is preferred, instead of approaching the treatment frame in a neutral manner." Major medical groups did not contribute; the administration won't say who did While Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has repeatedly pledged to practice "radical transparency," his department did not release any information about who authored the document. The administration says the new report will go through a peer-review process and will only say who contributed to the report after "in order to help maintain the integrity of this process." The report contradicts American Medical Association guidance, which urges states not to ban gender-affirming care for minors, saying that "empirical evidence has demonstrated that trans and non-binary gender identities are normal variations of human identity and expression." It also was prepared without input from the American Academy of Pediatrics, according to its president, Dr. Susan Kressly. "This report misrepresents the current medical consensus and fails to reflect the realities of pediatric care," Kressly said. She said the AAP was not consulted "yet our policy and intentions behind our recommendations were cited throughout in inaccurate and misleading ways." Dr. Jack Drescher, a New York psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who works on sexual orientation and gender identity issues, said the report is one-sided and "magnifies the risks of treatments while minimizing benefits." Talk therapy is already a prominent part of treatments The Trump administration's report says "many" US adolescents who are transgender or are questioning their gender identity have received surgeries or medications. In fact, such treatments remain rare as a portion of the population. Fewer than 1 in 1,000 adolescents in the US received gender-affirming medication - puberty blockers or hormones - according to a five-year study of those on commercial insurance released this year. About 1,200 patients underwent gender-affirming surgeries in one recent year, according to another study. Gender-affirming care for transgender youth under standards widely used in the US includes developing a plan with medical experts and family members that includes supportive talk therapy and can - but does not always - involve puberty blockers or hormone treatment. Many US adolescents with gender dysphoria may decide not to proceed with medications or surgeries. Jamie Bruesehoff, a New Jersey mom, said her 18-year-old daughter, who was assigned male at birth, identified with girls as soon as she could talk. She began using a female name and pronouns at 8 and received puberty blockers at 11 before eventually beginning estrogen therapy. "She is thriving by every definition of the word," said Bruesehoff, who wrote a book on parenting gender-diverse children. "All of that is because she had access to this support from her family and community and access to evidence-based gender-affirming health care when it was appropriate." Politics looms over doctor's offices A judge has blocked key parts of Trump's order, which includes denying research and educational grants for medical schools, hospitals and other institutions that provide gender-affirming care to people 18 or younger. Several hospitals around the country ceased providing care. The White House said Monday that since Trump took office, HHS has eliminated 215 grants totaling $477 million for research or education on gender-affirming treatment. Most Republican-controlled states have also adopted bans or restrictions on gender-affirming care. A US Supreme Court ruling is pending after justices heard arguments in December in a case about whether states can enforce such laws. The Jan. 28 executive order is among several administration policies aimed at denying the existence of transgender people. Trump also has ordered the government to identify people as either male or female rather than accept a concept of gender in which people fall along a spectrum, remove transgender service members from the military, and bar transgender women and girls from sports competitions that align with their gender. This month, HHS issued guidance to protect whistleblowers who report doctors or hospitals providing gender-affirming care. Judges are blocking enforcement of several of the policies. This latest HHS report, which Trump called for while campaigning last year, represents a reversal in federal policy. The US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which is part of HHS, found that no research had determined that behavioral health interventions could change someone's gender identity or sexual orientation. The 2023 update to the 2015 finding is no longer on the agency's website.
Yomiuri Shimbun
02-05-2025
- Health
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Trump's Health Agency Urges Therapy for Transgender Youth, Not Broader Gender-Affirming Health Care
AP file photo President Donald Trump holds up an executive order after signing it at an indoor Presidential Inauguration parade event in Washington, Jan. 20, 2025. President Donald Trump's administration released a lengthy review of transgender health care on Thursday that advocates for a greater reliance on behavioral therapy rather than broad gender-affirming medical care for youths with gender dysphoria. The 409-page Health and Human Services report questions standards for the treatment of transgender youth issued by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health and is likely to be used to bolster the government's abrupt shift in how to care for a subset of the population that has become a political lightning rod. Major medical groups and those who treat transgender young people sharply criticized the new report as inaccurate. This 'best practices' report is in response to an executive order Trump issued days into his second term that says the federal government must not support gender transitions for anyone under age 19. 'Our duty is to protect our nation's children — not expose them to unproven and irreversible medical interventions,' National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya said in a statement. 'We must follow the gold standard of science, not activist agendas.' The report questions the ethics of medical interventions for transgender young people, suggesting that adolescents are too young to give consent to life-changing treatments that could result in future infertility. It also cites and echoes a report in England that reinforced a decision by its public health services to stop prescribing puberty blockers outside of research settings. The report's focus on therapy alone troubles advocates The report accuses transgender care specialists of disregarding psychotherapy that might challenge preconceptions, partly because of a 'mischaracterization of such approaches as 'conversion therapy,'' a discredited practice that seeks to change patients' sexual orientation or gender identification. About half the states have banned conversion therapy for minors. The American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry has said evidence shows conversion therapies inflict harm on young people, including elevated rates of suicidal thoughts. HHS said its report does not address treatment for adults, is not clinical guidance and does not make any policy recommendations. However, it also says the review 'is intended for policymakers, clinicians, therapists, medical organizations, and importantly, patients and their families,' and it declares that medical professionals involved in transgender care have failed their young patients. The report could create fear for families seeking care and for medical providers, said Shannon Minter, the legal director at the National Center for Lesbian Rights. 'It's very chilling to see the federal government injecting politics and ideology into medical science,' Minter said. 'It's Orwellian. It is designed to confuse and disorient,' Minter added. Child and adolescent psychiatrist Dr. Scott Leibowitz, a co-author of the influential WPATH standards for youth, said the new report 'legitimizes the harmful idea that providers should approach young people with the notion that alignment between sex and gender is preferred, instead of approaching the treatment frame in a neutral manner.' Major medical groups did not contribute; the administration won't say who did While Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has repeatedly pledged to practice 'radical transparency,' his department did not release any information about who authored the document. The administration says the new report will go through a peer-review process and will only say who contributed to the report after 'in order to help maintain the integrity of this process.' The report contradicts American Medical Association guidance, which urges states not to ban gender-affirming care for minors, saying that 'empirical evidence has demonstrated that trans and non-binary gender identities are normal variations of human identity and expression.' It also was prepared without input from the American Academy of Pediatrics, according to its president, Dr. Susan Kressly. 'This report misrepresents the current medical consensus and fails to reflect the realities of pediatric care,' Kressly said. She said the AAP was not consulted 'yet our policy and intentions behind our recommendations were cited throughout in inaccurate and misleading ways.' Dr. Jack Drescher, a New York psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who works on sexual orientation and gender identity issues, said the report is one-sided and 'magnifies the risks of treatments while minimizing benefits.' Talk therapy is already a prominent part of treatments The Trump administration's report says 'many' U.S. adolescents who are transgender or are questioning their gender identity have received surgeries or medications. In fact, such treatments remain rare as a portion of the population. Fewer than 1 in 1,000 adolescents in the U.S. received gender-affirming medication — puberty blockers or hormones — according to a five-year study of those on commercial insurance released this year. About 1,200 patients underwent gender-affirming surgeries in one recent year, according to another study. Gender-affirming care for transgender youth under standards widely used in the U.S. includes developing a plan with medical experts and family members that includes supportive talk therapy and can — but does not always — involve puberty blockers or hormone treatment. Many U.S. adolescents with gender dysphoria may decide not to proceed with medications or surgeries. Jamie Bruesehoff, a New Jersey mom, said her 18-year-old daughter, who was assigned male at birth, identified with girls as soon as she could talk. She began using a female name and pronouns at 8 and received puberty blockers at 11 before eventually beginning estrogen therapy. 'She is thriving by every definition of the word,' said Bruesehoff, who wrote a book on parenting gender-diverse children. 'All of that is because she had access to this support from her family and community and access to evidence-based gender-affirming health care when it was appropriate.' Politics looms over doctor's offices A judge has blocked key parts of Trump's order, which includes denying research and educational grants for medical schools, hospitals and other institutions that provide gender-affirming care to people 18 or younger. Several hospitals around the country ceased providing care. The White House said Monday that since Trump took office, HHS has eliminated 215 grants totaling $477 million for research or education on gender-affirming treatment. Most Republican-controlled states have also adopted bans or restrictions on gender-affirming care. A U.S. Supreme Court ruling is pending after justices heard arguments in December in a case about whether states can enforce such laws. The Jan. 28 executive order is among several administration policies aimed at denying the existence of transgender people. Trump also has ordered the government to identify people as either male or female rather than accept a concept of gender in which people fall along a spectrum, remove transgender service members from the military, and bar transgender women and girls from sports competitions that align with their gender. This month, HHS issued guidance to protect whistleblowers who report doctors or hospitals providing gender-affirming care. Judges are blocking enforcement of several of the policies. This latest HHS report, which Trump called for while campaigning last year, represents a reversal in federal policy. The U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which is part of HHS, found that no research had determined that behavioral health interventions could change someone's gender identity or sexual orientation. The 2023 update to the 2015 finding is no longer on the agency's website.
The Hill
01-05-2025
- Health
- The Hill
Trump's HHS casts doubt on evidence supporting gender-affirming care for youth
The Trump administration questioned the evidence supporting gender-affirming health care for youth in a lengthy review published Thursday by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that could further upend the nation's transgender care landscape. The roughly 400-page, unsigned review states there is a 'lack of robust evidence' supporting interventions such as puberty blockers, hormone therapy and the rare surgeries to treat gender dysphoria in minors. It advocates for a greater reliance on psychotherapy to treat the condition, which is characterized by severe psychological distress that stems from a mismatch between a person's gender identity and sex at birth. The document contradicts guidance from major medical organizations including the World Professional Association for Transgender Health and the American Medical Association, which opposes statewide bans on gender-affirming care for youth. Neither group immediately returned a request for comment on the report. 'Our duty is to protect our nation's children — not expose them to unproven and irreversible medical interventions,' National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya said in a news release accompanying Thursday's report. The review's release comes at the direction of an executive order President Trump issued days into his second term to end federal support for gender-affirming care for minors, which his administration has said includes children and adolescents up to 19 years old. Two federal courts blocked parts of the order that sought to withhold funding from hospitals providing transition-related services to youth. The names of the new review's contributors would not initially be made public, HHS said Thursday, 'in order to help maintain the integrity of this process.' A department spokesperson did not immediately return a request for additional comment on the decision to withhold the authors' names. In a fact sheet released earlier this week, the White House said HHS had coordinated with 'a team of eight distinguished scholars' to publish the review. HHS said Thursday that contributors include medical doctors, ethicists and a methodologist and represent 'a wide range of political viewpoints.' The report was subject to peer review before publication, the department said, and a post-release peer review, set to begin in the coming days, will involve 'stakeholders with different perspectives.' Transgender rights advocates decried the review as one-sided and politically motivated. Some pointed to Trump's campaign promise to ban gender-affirming care for youth, which he has equated to child abuse. The Trump administration has also broadly denied the existence of trans people. Sinead Murano Kinney, a health policy analyst at Advocates for Trans Equality, a Washington-based nonprofit, called the review 'a willful distortion' of medical evidence 'intended to stoke fear about a field of safe and effective medicine that has existed for decades.' She said the report is meant to 'justify dangerous practices which amount to conversion therapy,' a discredited practice that aims to change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity to align with heterosexual or cisgender norms. 'Today's report seeks to erase decades of research and learning, replacing it with propaganda,' said Shannon Minter, legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights. 'The claims in today's report would rip health care away from kids and take decision-making out of the hands of parents. It promotes the same kind of conversion therapy long used to shame LGBTQ+ people into hating themselves for being unable to change something they can't change.' Minter, himself transgender, has litigated cases on conversion therapy across the country for more than 30 years. He testified in support of access to gender-affirming care at a 2023 congressional hearing chaired by now-Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on the alleged 'dangers and due process violations' of such care for minors. 'Like being gay or lesbian, being transgender is not a choice — it's rooted in biology and genetics,' Minter said Thursday. 'No amount of talk or pressure will change that.' Others applauded Thursday's review. Stanley Goldfarb, chairman of the organization Do No Harm, which advocates against gender-affirming care for youth, said it 'rightfully exposes a number of serious risks in the medical transition of young people,' which he called 'misguided.' 'Do No Harm, its fellows, researchers, and members have been warning about the experimental and irreversible sex change interventions on children, and we are grateful and encouraged HHS is bringing needed scrutiny to the gender industry,' said Goldfarb, a retired kidney specialist and former associate dean at the University of Pennsylvania's medical school. Goldfarb and Do No Harm, which he founded in 2022, have been influential in arguing that transition-related treatments are medically harmful to minors, supplying model legislation banning such care to state lawmakers and lobbying conservative leaders in Congress. Half the nation since 2021 has adopted laws that ban or heavily restrict access to gender-affirming health care for transgender youths — and adults, in some cases. Trump has called for federal legislation to that effect, telling Congress during his joint address in March to pass a bill 'permanently banning and criminalizing sex changes on children and forever ending the lie that any child is trapped in the wrong body.' In its fact sheet released Monday, the White House said HHS had eliminated approximately 200 grants totaling $477 million in research or education on gender-affirming treatment since Trump took office in January.
01-05-2025
- Health
Trump's health agency urges therapy for transgender youth, not broader gender-affirming health care
President Donald Trump's administration released a lengthy review of transgender health care on Thursday that advocates for a greater reliance on behavioral therapy rather than broad gender-affirming medical care for youths with gender dysmorphia. The Health and Human Services report questions standards for the treatment of transgender youth issued by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health and is likely to be used to bolster the government's abrupt shift in how to care for a subset of the population that has become a political lightning rod. This new 'best practices' report is in response to an executive order Trump issued days into his second term that says the federal government must not support gender transitions for anyone under age 19. 'Our duty is to protect our nation's children — not expose them to unproven and irreversible medical interventions,' National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya said in a statement. 'We must follow the gold standard of science, not activist agendas.' HHS said its report, however, is not clinical guidance and does not make any policy recommendations. The report is also limited to children and does not address treatment for adults. Gender-affirming care for transgender youth under standards widely used in the U.S. includes supportive talk therapy and can — but does not always — involve puberty blockers or hormone treatment. Gender-affirming surgeries for transgender minors are rare. A judge has blocked key parts of Trump's order, which includes denying research and educational grants for medical schools, hospitals and other institutions that provide gender-affirming care to people 18 or younger. Several hospitals around the country ceased providing care. The White House said Monday that since Trump took office, HHS has eliminated 215 grants totaling $477 million for research or education on gender-affirming treatment. Most Republican-controlled states have also adopted bans or restrictions on gender-affirming care. A U.S. Supreme Court ruling is pending after justices heard arguments in December in a case about whether states can enforce such laws. The Jan. 28 executive order is among several administration policies aimed at denying the existence of transgender people. Trump also has ordered the government to identify people as either male or female rather than accept a concept of gender in which people fall along a spectrum, remove transgender service members from the military, and bar transgender women and girls from sports competitions that align with their gender. This month, HHS issued guidance to protect whistleblowers who report doctors or hospitals providing gender-affirming care. Judges are blocking enforcement of several of the policies. This latest HHS report, which Trump called for while campaigning last year, represents a reversal in federal policy. The U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which is part of HHS, found that no research had determined that behavioral health interventions could change someone's gender identity or sexual orientation. The 2023 update to the 2015 finding is no longer on the agency's website. The administration says this new report will go through a peer-review process. In the meantime, it's not saying who contributed to it, 'in order to help maintain the integrity of this process.' The report says that medical groups have relied on medical treatment rather than behavioral therapy for transgender youth partly because of a 'mischaracterization of such approaches as 'conversion therapy,'' which about half the states have banned for minors. The American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry has said that evidence shows conversion therapies inflict harm on young people, including elevated rates of suicidal ideation. And the American Medical Association has urged states not to ban gender-affirming care for minors, saying that 'empirical evidence has demonstrated that trans and non-binary gender identities are normal variations of human identity and expression.'
Chicago Tribune
01-05-2025
- Health
- Chicago Tribune
President Donald Trump's health agency urges therapy for transgender youth, not broader gender-affirming health care
President Donald Trump's administration released a lengthy review of transgender health care on Thursday that advocates for a greater reliance on behavioral therapy rather than broad gender-affirming medical care for youths with gender dysphoria. The Health and Human Services report questions standards for the treatment of transgender youth issued by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health and is likely to be used to bolster the government's abrupt shift in how to care for a subset of the population that has become a political lightning rod. This new 'best practices' report is in response to an executive order Trump issued days into his second term that says the federal government must not support gender transitions for anyone under age 19. 'Our duty is to protect our nation's children — not expose them to unproven and irreversible medical interventions,' National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya said in a statement. 'We must follow the gold standard of science, not activist agendas.' The report sharply contradicts guidance from the American Medical Association, which has urged states not to ban gender-affirming care for minors, saying that 'empirical evidence has demonstrated that trans and non-binary gender identities are normal variations of human identity and expression.' HHS said its report, however, is not clinical guidance and does not make any policy recommendations. The report is also limited to children and does not address treatment for adults. Gender-affirming care for transgender youth under standards widely used in the U.S. includes supportive talk therapy and can — but does not always — involve puberty blockers or hormone treatment. Gender-affirming surgeries for transgender minors are rare. 'It's very chilling to see the federal government injecting politics and ideology into medical science,' said Shannon Minter, the legal director at the National Center for Lesbian Rights. Minter said the report could create fear for families seeking care and for medical providers. 'It's Orwellian. It is designed to confuse and disorient,' Minter added. A judge has blocked key parts of Trump's order, which includes denying research and educational grants for medical schools, hospitals and other institutions that provide gender-affirming care to people 18 or younger. Several hospitals around the country ceased providing care. The White House said Monday that since Trump took office, HHS has eliminated 215 grants totaling $477 million for research or education on gender-affirming treatment. Most Republican-controlled states have also adopted bans or restrictions on gender-affirming care. A U.S. Supreme Court ruling is pending after justices heard arguments in December in a case about whether states can enforce such laws. The Jan. 28 executive order is among several administration policies aimed at denying the existence of transgender people. Trump also has ordered the government to identify people as either male or female rather than accept a concept of gender in which people fall along a spectrum, remove transgender service members from the military, and bar transgender women and girls from sports competitions that align with their gender. This month, HHS issued guidance to protect whistleblowers who report doctors or hospitals providing gender-affirming care. Judges are blocking enforcement of several of the policies. This latest HHS report, which Trump called for while campaigning last year, represents a reversal in federal policy. The U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which is part of HHS, found that no research had determined that behavioral health interventions could change someone's gender identity or sexual orientation. The 2023 update to the 2015 finding is no longer on the agency's website. The administration says this new report will go through a peer-review process. In the meantime, it's not saying who contributed to it, 'in order to help maintain the integrity of this process.' The report says that medical groups have relied on medical treatment rather than behavioral therapy for transgender youth partly because of a 'mischaracterization of such approaches as 'conversion therapy,'' which about half the states have banned for minors. The American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry has said that evidence shows conversion therapies inflict harm on young people, including elevated rates of suicidal ideation. And the American Medical Association has urged states not to ban gender-affirming care for minors, saying that 'empirical evidence has demonstrated that trans and non-binary gender identities are normal variations of human identity and expression.'
