By Amber Duke
The University of Kentucky’s hospital system hypothetically offered to provide transgender services to a child, which would constitute a violation of state law, according to an investigation by the Daily Caller.
A staff member for the UK HealthCare Department of Family and Community Medicine at Circle told the Caller on March 31 that they would schedule an appointment for hormone therapy for a hypothetical 15-year-old child.
“Um, yes, we do have trans … health at Circle,” the staff member said during a phone conversation.
“I also wanted to say that he’s also 15, I wasn’t sure if that changes anything,” a Caller reporter stated.
The staff member replied, “It does not.”
When asked specifically what services Circle provides, the staff member explained, “Hormone therapy — we don’t do the surgeries but we do have a facility that does surgery.”
Republicans in the Kentucky legislature passed a law in 2023 that would ban sex change surgeries, hormone therapy, and puberty blockers for patients under 18. Democratic Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear vetoed the legislation, but the legislature overrode his veto in March 2023. Beshear claimed the ban would “endanger the children of Kentucky.”
The University of Kentucky said in a statement to the Caller the next day, April 1, that they follow state law, as well as President Donald Trump’s executive order pulling federal funding from healthcare facilities that provide gender transition services to minors.
“The University complies with State Law and President Trump’s Executive Order on Gender Affirming Care,” Kristi Willett, the executive director of public relations for the University of Kentucky, told the Caller.
Trump signed an executive order Jan. 28 prohibiting federal funding from going to hospitals and healthcare facilities that offered sex changes to minors. The order was paused in late February after two federal judges issued preliminary injunctions in response to legal challenges against the president’s action. A Daily Caller investigation found that more than three dozen hospitals were still offering the services to minors. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Children’s Hospitals Continue Offering Sex Changes After Trump Moved To Defund Procedures)
EXCLUSIVE: More than three dozen children’s hospitals continue to provide sex changes for minors as @realDonaldTrump‘s executive order moving to defund “gender affirming care” is under a preliminary injunction
Some hospitals confirmed to @DailyCaller that they are still… pic.twitter.com/yNIK73MvGA
— Amber Duke (@ambermarieduke) March 19, 2025
Former Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron said in a statement that hospitals who “chemically and surgically mutilate” children “should be held accountable.”
“Protecting Kentucky kids is not up for debate. President Trump and Kentucky lawmakers took decisive actions to end this permanent, life-altering harm. Any medical professional who chemically and surgically mutilates vulnerable children in secret or under the guise of some rebranded effort should be held accountable,” Cameron told the Caller.
The Caller called UK HealthCare’s Circle clinic again on April 2, the day after receiving a statement from the university denying that they were violating state law. This time, the Caller was given a different story as to whether or not they are still providing “gender affirming care.”
“I just spoke with my manager and she said there is a new law where apparently they have to be over 18 for hormone therapy,” a staff member said. “They could still be scheduled in the clinic but they would not be able to do the hormone therapy.”
Republican Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman did not respond to a request for comment.
