Emails Reveal How a Hospital Bowed to Political Pressure to Stop Treating Trans Teens
Emails Reveal How a Hospital Bowed to Political Pressure to Stop Treating Trans Teens
The Medical University of South Carolina initially said it wouldn’t be affected by a law banning use of state funds for treatment “furthering the gender transition” of children under 16. Months later, it cut off that care to all trans minors.
The Medical University of South Carolina initially said it wouldn’t be affected by a law banning use of state funds for treatment “furthering the gender transition” of children under 16. Months later, it cut off that care to all trans minors.
One Saturday morning in September 2022, Terrence Steyer, the dean of the College of Medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina, placed an urgent call to a student. Just a year prior, the medical student, Thomas Agostini, had won first place at a university-sponsored event for his graduate research on transgender pediatric patients. He also had been featured in a video on MUSC’s website highlighting resources that support the LGBTQ+ community.
Now, Agostini and his once-lauded study had set off a political firestorm. Conservative activists seized on one line in particular in the study’s summary — a parenthetical noting the youngest transgender patient to visit MUSC’s pediatric endocrinology clinic was 4 years old — and inaccurately claimed that children that young were prescribed hormones as part of a gender transition. Elon Musk amplified the false claim, tweeting, “Is it really true that four-year-olds are receiving hormone treatment?” That led federal and state lawmakers to frantically ask top MUSC leaders whether the public hospital was in fact helping young children medically transition. The hospital was not; its pediatric transgender patients did not receive hormone therapy before puberty, nor does it offer surgical options to minors.
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Dear people who tell LGBT+ people that we shouldn't care what some right-wing nutters think:
This is why we have to care. What they think does affect us, unfortunately.
Someone here the other day had the gall to tell me that Trump didn't do anything to oppress LGBT+ people.
They were strangely silent after I showed them this: https://www.hrc.org/news/the-list-of-trumps-unprecedented-steps-for-the-lgbtq-community
Gaslight <--
Obstruct
Project
Makes a shit ton more sense than Grand Old Party.
I was going to participate in a navy program that would put me through med school. Then Trump decided to ban folks like me from the military.
As an older trans person, things were better for us before he was in office. It’s exhausting hearing one’s existence debated every fucking day, by folks who have zero idea what they’re talking about. It wasn’t illegal for me to piss at work in 2015, it is now.
I’m an adult trans man who has been on testosterone for more than a decade now, and it’s a fight to stay on my medication. I almost want to live in this fantasy world where doctors just hand out hormones and blockers like candy. But most doctors are terrified - all it takes is your hospital ending up on LibsOfTiktok or something and it’s time for the bomb threats. My medical provider is one of the few that hasn’t left my state, and if he leaves I’m fucked.
Man, I'm sorry to hear that. Absolutely fucked that our medical care and career prospects and even just taking a shit can be destroyed because some Evangelical assholes somewhere feel weird in their pants about us or are so piss scared of their kids learning that they have to indoctrinate them
Sorry, that's so wack. I hope your situation remains stable.
These are stupid people.
There's an absolute moron down the road here from me who, despite it being 2023, has a large sign on his business (a small factory) that says "Trump 2020: For All Workers."
Dude spent four years turning federal worker protections into a regular horror show. Every couple of weeks, some basic worker protection or another came under attack. I saw it for myself.
My dude, Trump tried to bring back asbestos.
Sounds like the business owner probably knows Trumps is bad for workers, but good for business.
Until he becomes a business owner who Trump owes money to, and then it's all LeopardsAteMyFace.
It's always "just ignore it, words can't hurt you" until people listen to those words and vote/take action.
No, words matter very much, actually. In fact, I would say words, and language, is the very basis of our civilization. Without language, there would have been nothing.