By Sarah Weaver
The World Professional Association of Transgender Health (WPATH) is facing a potential bloodbath, advocates say, after an Alabama judge subpoenaed a treasure trove of documents from the organization as part of an ongoing lawsuit over the state’s laws on transgender treatments.
WPATH is a leading advocate of child sex changes, recently pushing to remove any minimum age requirement to undergo sex change surgeries or cross-sex hormone therapy. Amy Tishelman, the author of the “Child” chapter in the 8th edition of WPATH’s guidelines, said she changed the guidelines so doctors wouldn’t “be sued because they weren’t following exactly what we said.”
U.S. hospitals such as Johns Hopkins, Stanford and Brigham and Women’s use WPATH’s guidelines to guide their own practice of treating transgender-identifying children.
A federal judge in Alabama requested WPATH supply documents pertaining to its guidelines for child sex changes in March. Plaintiffs suing the state of Alabama over its restrictions of child sex changes repeatedly referred to WPATH’s guidelines in their argumentation. (RELATED: Plastic Surgeon Promotes ‘Eunuch’ Gender Identity, Citing WPATH Guidelines)
During a similar lawsuit in Florida, a district court in March ordered WPATH, the Endocrine Society and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) to comply with a subpoena of all documents related to their guidance for transgender-identified kids. An amicus brief filed April 7 on behalf of the attorneys general (AGs) for 17 states highlighted the stark contrast between transgender guidance — especially for minors — in Europe with that of the medical establishment in the U.S. The brief also claimed the medical organizations in question are activist in nature.
AGs for 17 states blasted medical orgs like @wpath for putting “politics over science” in their trans guidance in an amicus brief.
“Moreover, there is particular reason to be suspicious of the interest groups in this case.”@Dylan_Housman @DailyCaller https://t.co/9ve78eIA6N
— Sarah Weaver (@SarahHopeWeaver) April 11, 2023
“I think there’s a good chance that the whole thing will come crashing down when the data are out there,” Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, board chair of the medical group Do No Harm, told The Daily Caller, “and that they really know that there’s no good scientific basis for this out there and they’re just going ahead and implementing an ideology rather than rigorously defined medical treatment.”
“The bottom line is the truth is now coming out, the writing’s on the wall,” January LittleJohn, a parental advocate, told The Daily Caller. “And the truth is coming out at that all of the times where they were relying on this garbage evidence, this very low quality evidence, they were doing these interventions on children with nothing to back it up. And then you have the American Academy of Pediatrics, the AMA, The Endocrine Society all blindly following these guidelines. And now they’re being held accountable.”
WPATH set standards of care for those with a “eunuch” gender identity in 2022, recommending castration as a treatment option. Recommended treatments options included hormone suppression, orchiectomy (removal of the testicles) to stop production of testosterone, orchiectomy with or without penectomy to alter the body to match their self-image and orchiectomy followed by hormone replacement with testosterone or estrogen. In creating these guidelines, WPATH used information from the Eunuch Archive in setting these standards of care, which the medical organization itself described as “filled with fantasy,” containing stories of child castration, pedophilia and sexual torture.
WPATH has also been accused of censoring viewpoints from doctors who believe that children are being rushed into sex changes. In Alabama, the judge asked for information related to how the WPATH treated differing medical opinions on child sex changes. (RELATED: DeSantis Admin Issues Statement On Trans Teacher Accused Of Threatening Middle School)
Dr. Stephen B. Levine, a psychologist known for his work on human sexuality and chair of WPATH’s standards of care committee from 1997-98, filed expert opinion in the ongoing lawsuit between WPATH and Florida in April.
A federal judge has ordered The World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) to provide internal docs on its guidance on trans-identifying children.
What’s going to be revealed in the docs? 👀
Story via @CoreyWriting and @DailyCallerhttps://t.co/2iNdSEJjZP
— Sarah Weaver (@SarahHopeWeaver) March 31, 2023
“WPATH claims to speak for the medical profession; however, it does not welcome skepticism and therefore, deviates from the philosophical core of medical science,” he said. “There are pediatricians, psychiatrists, endocrinologists, and surgeons who object strongly, on professional grounds, to transitioning children and providing affirmation in a transgender identity as the first treatment option.”
“So the question is, are they allowing people that are rigorous investigators to do this?” Goldfarb told The Daily Caller. “Or are they simply taking people who have set up gender clinics, and they said, yeah, you’re an expert because you’re on our side. And that’s what needs to be clarified.”
