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,’” which about half the states have banned 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 ideation.
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.
“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.
Child and adolescent psychiatrist Dr. Scott Leibowitz, a co-author of the influential World Professional Association for Transgender Health 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 study. 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 of the treatments.”