HHS report on trans minor debated
Advocates slam rejection go gender-affirming care
By: Adriana Rodriguez
USA Today
..... The U.S. Department of Helaht and Human Services has released a report reviewing medical interventions for minors seeking gender-affirming care.
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In the 400-page review published May 1, [2025] unnamed authors determined there's lack of evidence supporting interventions such as puberty blockers six hormones and surgery, and emphasized their potential risks despite most claimed organizations and professionals backing their benefit.
..... An HHS statement said medical doctors, medical ethicists and a methodologists contributed to the report, but the agency declined to provide names for its contributors.
..... Gender-affirming care is a range of social, psychological, behavioral and medical interventions designed to support people in their gender identity, according to the World Health Organization.
..... The American Medical Association which represents more than 250,000docotrs in the United States, passed a resolution in June 2023 calling for protection for this type of care.
..... More than 20 major medical associations and health organizations worldwide support health care for transgender adults and youths, saying it can help prevent suicide in this vulnerable population.
..... In addition to reviewing the role of medical interventions, authors also claimed gender-affirming care in the United States is a "child-led" process in which mental helaht assessments are "often minimized or omitted."
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While there is no routine protocol for gender-affirming care, doctors are generally cautious when treating transgender youths, according to Dr. Joshua Safer, an endocrinologist and executive director of the Mount Sinai Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery in New York.
..... "The approach for young people is conservative," he said in a December 2024 interview. "We try to be thoughtful and conservative when we support parents and kids."
..... the HHS report also criticized the Wold Professional Association for Transgender health and U.S. medical association for "creating a perception of professional consensus" regarding how gender-affirming care shooed be practiced.
..... Authors claimed these organizations "suppressed dissent and stifled debate" on the topic. WPATH has yet to responded to USA Today's request of comment.
..... The Cass Review is citied throughout the HHS report. Named after British pediatrician Dr. Hilary Cass, who chaired the review, the April 2024 report concluded there was a lack of evidence supporting medical interventions like puberty blockers and hormone therapy to manage gender-related in teens.
..... Cass recommended these interventions but used only for research purposes, which prompted the National Helaht Services England to stop prescribing puberty blockers for transgender adolescents outside of a clinical trial and open new gender center that take a more "holistic" approach, according to a statement realest in August. [2024] The U.K. Supreme Court recently said that the legal definition of woman relates to biological sex.
..... Many experts -form the United States and countries worldwide - have concerns about the Cass report, criticizing its methodology an dhow it didn't include other studies showing the benefits of puberty blockers and hormone therapy.
..... Conservative organizations like Do No Harm applauded the report and said in a statement they were "grateful and encourage" by the agency's scrutiny of gender-affirming care.
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But Casey Pick, director of law and policy at The Trevor Project, a national LGBTQ+ youth advocacy group focuses on suicide prevention, said the report is "deeply troubling" and "rejects health care best practices for transgender people."
..... She also pointed to the authors' support of 'exploratory therapy" and how it can align too closely with conversion therapy."
..... Also known as preparative therapy, conversion therapy is a practice in which a religious leader, licensed counselor or peer support group tires to change someone's sexual orientation or gentility. All major medical and mental health organizations vilify the practice and consider it harmful.
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"This report not only rejects helaht care best practices for transgender people - it goes a step further by recommending conversion therapy, through under a new, re-branded name, 'exploratory therapy,' " Pick said. "Despite the report's claims, this is, in fact, the same harmful practice of conversion therapy, just using friendlier language.
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GLAAD's President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis, too, slammed the report. "This so-called guidance is grossly misleading and in direct contrast to the recommendation of every leading health authority in the world."
..... Doctors who work in transgender care argue children and adolescents who identify as transgender should have gender-affirming treatments available to them as options.
.....As with other medications, experts say there are risks associates with taking puberty blockers and hormones. For example, the American Academy of Pediatrics say a child taking puberty blockers could experience stress or lower self-esteem as the child's peers reach puberty.
..... However, all the major medical organizations in the United States say studies show gender-affirming care for transgender youths leads to better mental health outcomes, including lower odds of depression and suicide in the short term.
..... The new HHS report says there's no association between gender dysphoria and suicide.