Trans children deserve gender affirming care

Sign This Petition

First Name
Last Name
Email *
Zip/Postal Code *

United States

Please identify yourself Healthcare professional Non-healthcare professional Patient / Family receiving gender-affirming care in Texas Patient / Family receiving gender-affirming care outside of Texas
Comments
- You may receive email updates from Dona Murphey, the creator of this petition.
- Edit Subscription Preferences Close Preferences
- - Opt in to email updates from Dona Murphey

Trans children deserve gender affirming care

Texas Children's Hospital

Gender-affirming care is critical, life-saving health care for young transgender people. Decisions about gender-affirming care are made with serious thought and much discussion between families and their clinical teams. After the Texas Governor and Attorney General (both seeking re-election this cycle) gave the diabolical directive to investigate medical treatment of gender dysphoria as child abuse, authorities began removing suicide resources for LGBTQ children from state agency websites last week, making their motives abundantly clear. This is a page out of the same playbook Texas lawmakers have used to devastate reproductive health services here. It is anti-health and pro-political theater at the cost of young lives.

Yesterday, Texas Children's Hospital, the largest pediatric hospital in the country, submitted to this dangerous, politically motivated action by the state by indefinitely pausing gender-affirming services.

Petition by

Dona Murphey

Pearland, Texas

To: Texas Children's Hospital
From: [Your Name]

We know that pediatricians at Texas Children's Hospital are well aware that gender-affirming care improves the mental health and overall well-being of transgender children. The American Academy of Pediatrics issued a statement last week that its 600,000 physician members oppose the Governor's efforts to interfere in the patient-physician relationship and criminalize these services.

According to the Trevor Project’s 2019 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health, 54 percent of transgender and non-binary youth had reported seriously considering suicide in the previous year, with 29 percent having made an attempt. Data from DHHS and the CDC from 2017 indicate that this is 3-4X the rates for teens at large. Taking away the care trans children need stands only to worsen these tragic statistics.

All children in our state should be able to receive the medical care they need to be happy and healthy. Furthermore, doctors and other licensed professionals who work with children should be able to do their job, which is to make decisions with them and their families, without government interference.

There are many instances in history in which physicians have been used as tools to carry out grotesquely immoral agendas. Were the clinical personnel providing gender affirming care at Texas Children's Hospital or the patients and families receiving that care involved in making this decision ostensibly in service to protecting them from litigation? Surely not. Let's not do this.