A leading suicide prevention group blasted the Department of Health and Human Services after it released a report that disputes widely accepted gender affirmation treatment for trans children.
The Trevor Project accused HSS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Trump administration of attempting to rebrand conversion therapy, which tries to change someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity, with more friendly sounding “exploratory therapy” as it moves to halt gender-affirming treatment for children.
The HHS review came after President Donald Trump signed an executive order in January to end federal support for medical procedures involving puberty blockers, sex hormones and surgical intervention in those under 19.
The administration has also canceled research about the transgender community. Gender dysphoria is where a person feels their biological sex doesn’t match their identity.
According to HHS, the review “fills the gap in the medical literature” but the department did not say who authored it. The news release stated only that that its contributors include “medical doctors, medical ethicists, and a methodologist.” It also said it was subject to “peer review” but did not provide any details on the process.
“Names of the contributors to the review are not initially being made public, in order to help maintain the integrity of this process,” HHS said in a news release.
An HHS spokesperson told the Daily Beast the report is “not a clinical practice guideline” and insisted it does not issue legislative or policy recommendations.
But the Trevor Project slammed the review on Thursday and pointed out it goes against the recommendations of every major medical association.
The American Medical Association, American Psychiatric Association, American Psychological Association, American Academy of Pediatrics and others have advocated gender-affirming care and maintain that it can provide lifesaving treatment.
“It is deeply troubling to see the country’s top authority on health publish a collection of recommendations that seemingly have no basis in following established health care best practices, science, or input from providers who actually administer the type of health care in question,” said The Trevor Project’s Casey Pick in a statement.
The review includes a section that highlights the use of “psychotherapeutic interventions” for kids with gender dysphoria while disputing that such practices are conversation therapy, but Pick rejected it.
“This report not only rejects health care best practices for transgender people — it goes a step further by recommending conversion therapy, though under a new, rebranded name, ‘exploratory therapy,’” she said. “Despite the report’s claims, this is, in fact, the same harmful practice of conversion therapy, just using friendlier language.”
Pick said claiming transgender status can be changed is contrary to science, the guidance of reputable U.S. medical associations and “places unnecessary blame on parents, families, and communities that surround and support transgender people.”
It comes as a growing number of states have passed laws to restrict the care children and adolescence can get.
A total of 27 states have enacted laws or policies limiting youth access to gender-affirming care while 40 percent of transgender youth live in states that have limited access, KFF tracking found.
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