Fringe Conservative Hate Group Key to Texas Affirming Care Ban
The American College of Pediatricians, a fringe group of 700 conservative doctors, is playing a central role in pushing the junk science being used to jam a ban on gender-affirming care through the Texas legislature.
by Evan Urquhart
A point of order introduced by Democratic legislators today successfully delayed a vote on a Texas ban on gender-affirming care for minors with gender dysphoria, sending it back to committee and preventing the ban from becoming law for at least a few more days. According to a parent who was present at the capital for the legislative session but prefers not to be named, the specific objection raised was that the American College of Pediatricians, a fringe group that pushes junk science to promote conservative social issues, was missidentified in the version of the bill that was introduced.
The above text of the bill repeats common anti-trans talking points. It also attributes an outright falsehood (that there are no high quality, long-term studies demonstrating the efficacy and safety of gender-affirming care) to a group referred to as the “American College of Pediatrics.” The group in question actually the American College of Pediatricians, which was the error that allowed the vote to be postponed.
ACPedes centrality to pushing the Texas ban on gender-affirming care has not been widely noticed by the mainstream press. Reporting by Wired today detailed a massive leak of ACPedes documents, a leak which more fully exposed the paucity of the organization’s membership and expertise. Consisting of a mere 700 members, most of them over 50, and few if any recognized as experts in any medical field, the group’s official-sounding name has allowed them to seed junk-science on abortion, adoption by LGBTQ+ families, and of course transgender healthcare. They are listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
One illustrative anecdote from Wired’s reporting on the leak is that the group considered creating a web page to showcase members’ publications in medical journals, but gave up the idea because ACPedes members didn’t have enough publications between them for it not to be a joke.
screenshot from Wired
ACPedes centrality to pushing the Texas ban on gender-affirming care ought to disqualify the effort completely, although unfortunately the Republican dominated Texas legislature has not shown much interest in being guided by the science thus far. The American Medical Association flatly opposes bans on gender-affirming care for youth. The Texas Medical Association, though officially neutral, testified against revoking doctors’ licenses for violating the ban, and advocated for a clause to allow youth who ha already begun treatment to continue recieving the care they need.