Whitman-Walker Institute Decries Congressional Transgender Propaganda

Whitman-Walker Institute, which leverages research, policy, and education to advance health equity nationwide, says it’s standing by to further inform the chair of the U.S. House Education and the Workforce Committee and others about the strong and well-established body of evidence about medical care for transgender people.

Dr. Kellan Baker, Executive Director of Whitman-Walker Institute and an expert in transgender health, says transgender people — like all people — deserve access to necessary medical care that’s backed by decades of scientific and medical evidence. He noted that the recent committee hearing featured extensive and intentional distortions of this evidence base in an attempt to mislead the American public and further advance the medically unsound and discriminatory bans on this care that are currently on the books in more than 20 states.

“We’re grateful committee member Rep. Mark Takano of California very appropriately entered into the official record the Institute’s bibliography documenting the strong and well-established body of evidence, developed over decades, that demonstrates that individualized and age-appropriate medical care for transgender people, including transgender youth, improves mental health and overall well-being. These peer-reviewed research studies and systematic reviews have been published in major scientific journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of Adolescent Health, Pediatrics, and The Lancet,” says Baker.

Baker points out that the research shows the positive effects of this care include decreases in depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation, as well as improvements in quality of life and body satisfaction. He urges everyone to review the existing scientific research so there can be no further confusion.

The hearing also focused on the recent Affordable Care Act Section 1557 regulation, which was released in April by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Section 1557 prohibits discrimination in health insurance coverage and health care nationwide on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, and sex. The new regulation follows the U.S. Supreme Court in clarifying that prohibited sex discrimination includes discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation. These protections are critical for the health and well-being of LGBTQ people, who continue to be subjected to harassment, denial of care, and even assault when seeking vital healthcare services.

Whitman-Walker Institute is affiliated with Whitman-Walker Health, a clinic serving thousands of transgender patients, which was the lead plaintiff in a 2020 federal lawsuit brought to reverse the then-Trump administration’s weakening of Section 1557’s nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ+ people.