In a new lawsuit, the Federal Trade Commission is suing the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) over allegations that the organization misrepresented the state of the science relating to “affirming care,” including failing to disclose side effects associated with medical transition. The suit, joined by Alaska, Iowa, Nebraska and Texas alleges that WPATH made deceptive claims about the “medical necessity” of transition to increase the likelihood that insurers would cover the procedures. Although WPATH has maintained that the suit is retaliatory and lacking in merit, the discovery process in Boe v. Marshall already revealed the lengths WPATH was willing to go to suppress evidence reviews that clashed with their advocacy goals. For more coverage, see Leor Sapir’s article in Unherd.
A federal judge has issued a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of a Bureau of Prisons policy requiring that trans-identified prisoners are tapered off hormonal interventions and treated with psychotherapy and psychotropic medication. The inmates, represented by the Transgender Law Center and the A.C.L.U. Foundation, argued that the Bureau of Prisons manufactured a medical rationale to carry out the Trump administration’s executive orders. However, the Bureau of Prisons determined that the evidence of hormone therapy’s effectiveness for treating adult gender dysphoria is weak. In a 31-page opinion, though, the presiding judge determined that the BOP’s policies would likely be arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedures Act.
The Department of Veterans Affairs has released a new memo bringing the agency into alignment with Trump’s executive orders on “gender identity” by prohibiting VA funds and resources from promoting “gender ideology.” The memo also calls for LGBTQ care coordinators to be reassigned as “care coordinators.” It is estimated that the VA employs at least one LGBTQ care coordinator at each of its 142 health care systems.
A federal judge has issued a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of Idaho’s H.B. 752, a law which prohibits individuals from using restrooms that don’t align with their sex at the risk of a 5-year prison penalty. The PI prevents Idaho from enforcing the law under specific circumstances. The suit in question was launched by six trans-identified individuals in April 2026, who argued that the law violates their constitutional rights to due process, equal protection, and privacy.
Writing in City Journal, Colin Wright draws on findings from a new study on the utilization of hormonal interventions in Oregon to argue that defenders of “affirming care” resist any interpretation that may undermine pediatric gender medicine. Although the Oregon study found that hormonal interventions were significantly more common than in previous estimates, defenders argue that the numbers are still vanishingly rare. “Whatever the data, they support the affirmative model. If the rates are low, that proves the panic is overblown. If the rates are high, that’s evidence that access is improving. If the rates rise, that means stigma is declining. If they don’t rise enough, that means barriers remain. Heads they win, tails you’re a bigot,” Wright explains. Wright goes on to elaborate on the problems with this thinking: “Any outcome, it seems, can be interpreted as proof that ‘gender-affirming care’ is successful. But this is not how evidence-based medicine is supposed to work. This is how an ideology protects itself from falsification.”
In the New York Sun, Ben Ryan reports that former patients of the Canadian Pediatric Society’s controversial new president, Dr. Natasha Johnson, remain aggrieved over their treatment. Notably, Dr. Johnson is an advocate for gender “affirming care” and established a youth clinic at McMaster University. Despite Dr. Johnson’s public statements about youth satisfaction with “affirming care,” three families expressed anger and regret about their experiences with the president-elect. Specifically, they argued that Johnson fast-tracked their kids towards medical transition despite a complete lack of psychological assessment. “She didn’t do her job of vetting me at all,” said Ms. Groleau of Dr. Johnson’s care. “She just sent me onto a pipeline of destruction.”
In City Journal, I wrote about the limitations of a Trevor Project mental health survey of trans-identified youth that asserts that “anti-LGBTQ” policies worsen mental health. I explain the limitations of self-report surveys for establishing causal claims, and how the researchers fail to consider alternative interpretations of their data. Specifically, the researchers fail to consider how respondents’ mental health status may have driven their perception of laws and policies, rather than the other way around. This is significant because many trans-identified young people have mental-health issues that predate a transgender identity. For this reason, I argue that these mental-health issues can lead to more negative interpretations of ambiguous events, which can culminate in self-reports of stigma and rejection.
Dr. Hillary Cass, the author of the UK’s comprehensive report on pediatric gender dysphoria, has come out in defense of the UK’s proposed Pathways clinical trial evaluating the effects of puberty blockers citing the need for more data to inform future decision making. The researchers will examine the impact of blockers on the physical, social, and emotional wellbeing of participants, including checks on bone density, brain function, and fertility. The trial has been on pause since February. Critics of the trial, however, argue that it is fundamentally unethical to subject youth to functionally experimental treatments with documented risks. These critics point out that minor patients cannot consent to treatment and that before subjecting another cohort to these interventions, the UK should complete its “data linkage” follow up study of youth who already transitioned at the UK’s Tavistock gender clinic.
Last Friday, a judge ruled that the UK’s Scottish Prison Service guidance allowing trans-identified prisoners to access facilities according to their “gender identity” was unlawful based on the Supreme Court’s definition of woman under equality law. The Scottish government is not appealing the ruling, which would require inmates to be housed according to their sex. “The focus now moves to implementing the law, as clarified by the court, maintaining a clear focus on the safety, well-being and rights of all those living and working within Scotland's prisons,” said First Minister John Swinney.
Joseph Figliolia
Policy Analyst
News
