In November, 2022, Jamie Reed quit her job at the The Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital [1] because she came to the conclusion that the way the Center treated its young patients was “morally and medically appalling.” Here are the opening paragraphs of her detailed story at The Free Press: “I Thought I Was Saving Trans Kids. Now I’m Blowing the Whistle.” [2]
I am a 42-year-old St. Louis native, a queer woman, and politically to the left of Bernie Sanders. My worldview has deeply shaped my career. I have spent my professional life providing counseling to vulnerable populations: children in foster care, sexual minorities, the poor.
For almost four years, I worked at The Washington University School of Medicine Division of Infectious Diseases with teens and young adults who were HIV positive. Many of them were trans or otherwise gender nonconforming, and I could relate: Through childhood and adolescence, I did a lot of gender questioning myself. I’m now married to a transman, and together we are raising my two biological children from a previous marriage and three foster children we hope to adopt.
All that led me to a job in 2018 as a case manager at The Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, which had been established a year earlier.
The center’s working assumption was that the earlier you treat kids with gender dysphoria, the more anguish you can prevent later on. This premise was shared by the center’s doctors and therapists. Given their expertise, I assumed that abundant evidence backed this consensus.
During the four years I worked at the clinic as a case manager—I was responsible for patient intake and oversight—around a thousand distressed young people came through our doors. The majority of them received hormone prescriptions that can have life-altering consequences—including sterility.
I left the clinic in November of last year because I could no longer participate in what was happening there. By the time I departed, I was certain that the way the American medical system is treating these patients is the opposite of the promise we make to “do no harm.”
Instead, we are permanently harming the vulnerable patients in our care.
Today I am speaking out. I am doing so knowing how toxic the public conversation is around this highly contentious issue—and the ways that my testimony might be misused. I am doing so knowing that I am putting myself at serious personal and professional risk.
Almost everyone in my life advised me to keep my head down. But I cannot in good conscience do so. Because what is happening to scores of children is far more important than my comfort. And what is happening to them is morally and medically appalling.
After reading Jamie’s article, I visited the website of the The Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital [1].
Sure enough, the center proudly promotes “gender affirming care,” in other words, let children diagnose themselves. This is something we would never do if a child demands that a surgeon remove a gall bladder or amputate her arm in the absence of a careful diagnosis. Here’s the exact language from the website:
Our Approach to Gender Affirming Care
Gender affirming care is the gold standard of pediatric gender care. Research shows that when transgender kids receive support that upholds their gender identity, they have better mental health. Not receiving that support puts their physical and mental health at risk.
Gender affirming care isn’t meant to influence people in any particular direction. We don’t “treat” anyone’s identity or tell anyone what they should or shouldn’t do.
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What is wrong with “gender affirming care”? Colin Wright offers this summary:
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[Added Feb 26, 2023]
From Billboard Chris:
Exclusive: Video obtained from a concerned parent reveals Dr. Holly Hoefgen — of the Washington University transgender clinic in St. Louis, which is currently under investigation — lying to an audience of parents about the practices followed when medically transitioning kids.
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