Mask off, mask on: Kathleen Goonan, advisor to SEGM and Genspect, taught Moms for Liberty to “play a dual game” and pretend to support parents who accept their trans kids. Then she pretended to support these parents on a podcast with Genspect’s founder.

Posted on October 23, 2023 by Zinnia Jones

Since 2022, former healthcare executive Kathleen “Kate” Goonan has worked with the anti-trans groups Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine (SEGM) and Genspect to advance restrictions on gender-affirming care for trans youth. At SEGM, Goonan attended an April 25, 2022 meeting with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where the group argued against “hormonal and surgical interventions that have not been proven to be effective” and described gender-affirming care as “a euphemism for a highly invasive treatment protocol for minors” (in “Remarks HHS meeting_2022”). Goonan later appeared as a panel moderator at SEGM’s October 9-12 “International Perspectives Conference” in New York, an alternative conference that originated when the group’s proposed panels at the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) were all rejected.

Within Genspect, “Dr. Kate” has played a central role in their “Parent Advocacy Programme” since 2022, offering to “liaise with professionals” for unaccepting parents of trans youth for “a small fee”. According to Genspect, this advocacy consists of contacting the child’s “teachers and school counsellors to therapists, paediatricians, mental health workers and other clinicians” to “put forward a different point of view about how best to support gender-questioning youth”. One testimonial from parents in the UK describes their family’s circumstances:

Our daughter’s school allowed her to socially transition without parental consent or knowledge. We have had incredible support from Genspect and that’s how Kate was introduced to us to be our advocate.

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Posted in Catholic Church, Conversion practices, Gender Exploratory Therapy Association, Genspect, Heritage Foundation, Influence groups, Misinformation, Moms for Liberty, Politics, Rapid onset gender dysphoria, Right wing, Schools, SEGM, Trans youth, Transphobia and prejudice | Leave a comment

SEGM conference flier revealed: Invited speakers and schedule for October 9-12 New York City conference of the anti-trans Society for Evidence-Based Medicine

Posted on October 1, 2023 by Zinnia Jones

The anti-trans advocacy group Society for Evidence-based Gender Medicine (SEGM), a prominent hub of career expert witnesses and commentators against gender-affirming medical care, will meet in New York City on October 9-12, 2023 for a conference featuring several leaders in the “evidence-based medicine” (EBM) movement, according to a flier obtained by Gender Analysis. The contents of the document are consistent with an October 10 “International Perspectives Conference” advertised on Eventbrite by SEGM. Continue reading →

Posted in Conversion practices, EBM, Florida, Gender Exploratory Therapy Association, Genspect, Heritage Foundation, Influence groups, Methodology, Misinformation, News, Rapid onset gender dysphoria, Right wing, SEGM, Trans youth, Transphobia and prejudice | Leave a comment

Florida AHCA’s anti-trans expert G. Kevin Donovan stated in deposition that he’s never been a member of the American College of Pediatricians hate group; the group’s financial records indicate he paid membership dues for several years

Posted on August 30, 2023 by Zinnia Jones

In 2022, Florida hired a Catholic bioethicist to argue against gender-affirming care

Dr. Gerard Kevin Donovan (G. Kevin Donovan), a pediatric gastroenterologist and Catholic bioethicist, contributed one of five anti-trans expert reports (Attachment G) to Florida AHCA’s June 2, 2022 determination revoking Medicaid coverage of gender-affirming treatment. In the ensuing lawsuit against the exclusion (Dekker v. Weida), he went on to provide expert declarations for Florida in support of the rule (ECF no. 49 attachment 9; February 15, 2023 expert declaration). The court ultimately declared the ban invalid and found that Florida adopted this rule “for political reasons” (ECF no. 246), and evidence introduced during the trial showed that AHCA’s reports only served to support a predetermined outcome of the rulemaking process: “Care Effectively Banned” (ECF no. 182-36). Continue reading →

Posted in American College of Pediatricians, Catholic Church, Dekker v. Weida, Ethics, Faith and religion, Florida, Law, Transphobia and prejudice | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

What we’ve all been waiting for: Third amended complaint and motion for preliminary injunction filed against Florida SB 254 adult trans care restrictions, including the ban on nurse practitioner prescribers and the mandated in-person consent forms

Posted on August 1, 2023 by Zinnia Jones

Key takeaways:

  • SB 254 created arbitrary and capricious roadblocks to nearly every trans adult in Florida seeking to continue their prescribed gender-affirming hormone therapy, with new restrictions and bans on the care we can receive from physicians, nurse practitioners, and telehealth providers. The only purpose of this law was to disrupt our ongoing care.
  • Because most trans adults in Florida receive their hormone therapy prescriptions from nurse practitioners or over telehealth, thousands of trans people have had their existing relationship with their provider severed by a legislative act, leaving a much smaller number of physicians available to handle this large number of patients. On July 21, the plaintiffs in Doe v. Ladapo added new legal challenges to these adult care restrictions.
  • You can help support Florida’s trans community and gender-affirming care providers by donating to SPEKTRUM Health, an NP-led nonprofit gender clinic fighting to restore access to hormone therapy for 2,500 patients, and donating to Southern Legal Counsel, an LGBTQ+ legal nonprofit leading the charge against SB 254’s adult care restrictions.

Since May 17, Florida SB 254 (Chapter No. 2023-90) has severely disrupted the established gender-affirming care prescriptions of thousands of transgender adults in Florida. While SB 254 codifies the Boards of Medicine and Osteopathy’s administrative bans on gender-affirming medical treatment for youth, several of its provisions go much further, obstructing all trans adults from continuing to access their ongoing medically necessary treatment and putting this care entirely out of reach for most people. An estimated 16,200 trans youth and 94,900 trans adults in Florida are affected by these bans – the second-largest population of trans people in the United States. The case Doe et al. v. Ladapo et al., initially filed in March on behalf of transgender minor plaintiffs and their parents, now includes an amended complaint (accepted July 27) with additional challenges to the sections of SB 254 restricting care for adults (ECF No. 114-1). Continue reading →

Posted in Dekker v. Weida, Doe v. Ladapo, Endocrinology, Ethics, Florida, Health care, Law, News, Politics, Psychology and psychiatry, SB 254, Surgery, Transgender medicine, Transphobia and prejudice | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The far-right law firm Alliance Defending Freedom offered a Florida anti-trans hate group $15,000 to “refute” the WPATH Standards of Care “for use in litigation”

Posted on May 17, 2023 by Zinnia Jones

A wider lens on the American College of Pediatricians.

Recent subpoenas by Republican state governments against trans-supportive professional and medical organizations

  • In 2022 and 2023, professional organizations endorsing gender-affirming care received extensive subpoenas from the states of Alabama and Florida during cases on the states’ legislation and policy limiting access to transition treatment for trans youth and adults. These subpoenas and other requests for production of documents have demanded several years of the groups’ internal discussions and deliberations on their support for gender-affirming treatment, as well as other material relating to their trans-supportive position statements.
  • The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), Endocrine Society (ES), and World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) received subpoenas beginning in August 2022 in Boe v. Marshall (previously Eknes-Tucker v. Ivey, the suit against Alabama’s total ban on gender-affirming medical care for trans youth). In November 2022, Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) subpoenaed these three groups and more than a dozen other trans-supportive professional organizations who had submitted amicus briefs in the case against the state’s Medicaid coverage exclusion for transition care (Dekker v. Weida challenging Rule 59G-1.050(7)). This April, State Rep. Randy Fine of the Florida House Health and Human Services Committee was authorized to issue subpoenas against the Florida Chapter of the AAP (FCAAP), promptly resulting in a lawsuit (FCAAP v. Fine, doc 10-1; April 23, 2022 Renner letter to Fine).
  • Alabama attorney general Steve Marshall explained his justification for the subpoenas in a filing with Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) senior counsel Roger Brooks: “How did those groups come to their conclusions? Do the positions represent the considered view of membership, or only of carefully ‘stacked’ committees? What process did they use to determine who would have input, and who would not? Did the groups conduct systematic examinations of the scientific literature, or did they cherry-pick studies? In short: Is there evidence indicating that the alleged ‘consensus’ is not actually based on best scientific practices but, at least in part, on ideology, self-interest, organizational politicking, or other considerations?” (Boe v. Marshall, doc 219, Jan 17, 2023)
  • When the AAP, ES, WPATH and others challenged the AHCA’s subpoenas, Secretary Jason Weida argued: “Openness and transparency are hallmarks of the scientific method. Casting themselves in the underlying case as the standard bearers of the prevailing scientific view regarding gender dysphoria treatment—and used as such by Plaintiffs—the non-parties now seek to shield their perspective from any scrutiny. The non-parties refuse to answer whether their perspective is the result of careful study and debate among their memberships or the result of a handful of people dictating a result, as a past president of the American Academy of Pediatrics suggested.” (In re subpoenas served on AAP et al., doc 11, Jan 20, 2023) That past president is Joseph Zanga, founder of the American College of Pediatricians.

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Posted in American College of Pediatricians, Catholic Church, Dekker v. Weida, Faith and religion, Florida, Health care, Hoaxes, Law, Politics, Regret and detransition, Rhetoric, Transphobia and prejudice | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment