Journalist Ben Ryan provides insight into an ongoing conflict between transgender activists and the Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine (SEGM) over a Continuing Medical Education course on transgender healthcare that was pulled by Washington State University after activist complaints. According to Ryan’s reporting, the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education opened an investigation into WSU’s CME after a single complaint filed by activists, and despite a forceful defense of the course content by several WSU deans. Ultimately, the ACCME found that the content violated its standards. However, comments from the anonymous ACCME investigators call into question their own expertise and understanding of the nuances of the evidence-base for pediatric gender medicine.
Detransitioner Camille Kiefel has reached a settlement in a malpractice suit alleging that two mental health providers rubber stamped her for a mastectomy after a single appointment. Kiefel sought $3.5 million in damages, and accused two doctors of malpractice, fraudulent misrepresentation, and the intentional infliction of emotional distress. Despite a litany of diagnoses including generalized anxiety disorder, major depressive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, ADHD and a personality disorder, Kiefel alleges that she was greenlit for a mastectomy after single telehealth appointments with a clinical social worker and licensed counselor. Kiefel’s story raises concerns about the limitations of the affirmative treatment model and its hostility towards psychological assessment and screening. According to Ben Ryan, Kiefel is among thirty other detranstioners who have sued their providers over the last four years.
Oxford sociologist Michael Biggs has a new paper looking at the ratio of transgender homicide victims to perpetrators in Britain from 2000-2025. As Biggs notes, media portrayals often depict trans-identified populations as uniquely susceptible to violence. Interestingly, Biggs’ main finding was that “more transgender people committed homicide than were victims of homicide in Britain in the 21st century.” Secondly, Biggs found that trans-identified males often conform with male patterns and rates of homicide rather than female rates. Biggs’ third finding was that despite these realities, the British media often publishes more articles depicting trans people as victims, rather than perpetrators, of violence. “We hope the victim/perpetrator ratio will provide a useful metric for empirical research, while also serving as a reminder of potential epistemic biases in social science” his paper concludes.
The Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights has opened an investigation into the all-women's college, Smith, for potential Title IX violations related to the school’s policy of admitting male students and allowing them to access women’s spaces. Title IX prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex for any program or activity receiving federal funds. “An all-women’s college loses all meaning if it is admitting biological males,” said Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey. “Allowing biological males into spaces designed for women raises serious concerns about privacy, fairness, and compliance under federal law. The Trump Administration will continue to uphold the law and fight to restore common sense.”
The Department of Justices’ Office of Public Affairs has filed a petition in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas to enforce a subpoena issued to Rhode Island Hospital demanding information related to pediatric medical transition procedures. The petition comes after limited cooperation on the part of Rhode Island Hospital. According to the new petition, the hospital has only turned over one six-page document out of fifteen records requested by the DOJ. “The Department of Justice expects and demands full compliance with validly issued subpoenas like the one at issue here,” said Brett A. Shumate, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division. “Non-compliance with lawful process is never an option.”
The DOJ’s Civil Rights Division has opened investigations into thirty-six Illinois public school districts to determine if any course content for pre-k-12 covers sexual orientation and “gender identity,” and if so, if parents were notified about their ability to opt-their children out. The investigation will also investigate the schools’ Title IX policies. “The investigations will examine whether these Illinois School Districts, which are recipients of hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer funding, are adhering to Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and the Supreme Court’s extensive precedents on parental rights as recently reiterated in Mirabelli v. Bonta and Mahmoud v. Taylor” the press release reads.
In the wake of the Supreme Court’s 8-1 ruling in Chiles v. Salazar, which determined that Colorado’s “conversion” therapy ban on “gender-identity” and sexual orientation is unconstitutional, a new Colorado bill aims to work around the ruling by creating a private right of action for anyone harmed by “conversion” practices. The language of the bill also creates a nearly endless statute of limitations. “The mechanism may be insulated from the constitutional problem the Supreme Court identified in Chiles because the government is not restricting speech—instead, private citizens are seeking civil remedies for harm they suffered, the same way a patient can sue a doctor for malpractice” trans-activist Erin Reed explains.
Despite initially rejecting the findings of the UK’s Cass report, the British Medical Association has reversed course after conducting its own review of the report. The chair of the BMA’s Board of Science, David Strain, called the Cass report’s methodology “robust” and said the BMA no longer opposed the report’s thirty-two clinical recommendations. “A strength of this work has been the ability of clinicians with differing perspectives to engage constructively to ensure the concerns of the profession and those with lived experience were explored,” said Strain. “While interpretations and policy preferences in the group, as in the profession indeed in wider society, have diverged, there has been consistent respect for the underlying data and for the ethical complexity of the decisions involved.”
Joseph Figliolia
Policy Analyst
News
