The Medical University of South Carolina initially said it wouldn’t be affected by a law banning use of state funds for treatment “furthering the gender transition” of children under 16. Months later, it cut off that care to all trans minors.

The Medical University of South Carolina initially said it wouldn’t be affected by a law banning use of state funds for treatment “furthering the gender transition” of children under 16. Months later, it cut off that care to all trans minors.

One Saturday morning in September 2022, Terrence Steyer, the dean of the College of Medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina, placed an urgent call to a student. Just a year prior, the medical student, Thomas Agostini, had won first place at a university-sponsored event for his graduate research on transgender pediatric patients. He also had been featured in a video on MUSC’s website highlighting resources that support the LGBTQ+ community.

Now, Agostini and his once-lauded study had set off a political firestorm. Conservative activists seized on one line in particular in the study’s summary — a parenthetical noting the youngest transgender patient to visit MUSC’s pediatric endocrinology clinic was 4 years old — and inaccurately claimed that children that young were prescribed hormones as part of a gender transition. Elon Musk amplified the false claim, tweeting, “Is it really true that four-year-olds are receiving hormone treatment?” That led federal and state lawmakers to frantically ask top MUSC leaders whether the public hospital was in fact helping young children medically transition. The hospital was not; its pediatric transgender patients did not receive hormone therapy before puberty, nor does it offer surgical options to minors.

  • darq
    5•11 months ago

    we should be approaching the whole issue in a way that helps people realize that they don’t have to change to be themselves.

    That is literally the first thing the majority of transgender people try. Usually for years if not decades, before they finally accept who they are and transition.

    • @nugmeister64
      0•11 months ago

      I guess my question is why doesn’t the medical field try harder to actually properly fix the suffering they’re experiencing instead of just helping them with the part of the process that keeps them buying hormones for the rest of their lives to fight their own body’s hormone production and sometimes involves painfully mutilating themselves?

      • @RubberElectrons
        1•11 months ago

        You’ve asked this same question repeatedly, with other people providing reasonable research links, anecdotal evidence, etc.

        It’s hard to avoid concluding that this is just some very civil trolling on your part. I appreciate that you’re trying to be civil, but perhaps think, do some more reading and reanalyze your conclusions vs the boring solution of digging in one’s heels and irritating people.

      • darq
        1•11 months ago

        Because they have tried everything else, it didn’t work. We’ve done all the things you are asking. We have tried every therapy you can imagine. It’s not effective.

        You are working on the assumption that there is some other treatment that works that we are just ignoring. What exactly do you think it is?

        The truth is that transition works, it alleviates distress, and it’s a very simple and safe treatment option.

        • @nugmeister64
          1•11 months ago

          I’m sorry if it came off that way,

          I’m well aware that there’s not much else available because the medical field clearly doesn’t care enough to give you a more effective treatment option. I remember hearing about a drug that eliminated the feeling of gender dysphoria, but now I can’t even find anything about it on the internet, and to be completely honest, it feels suspicious, because even the idea of innovating toward simply treating the core emotion of gender dysphoria is shunned, even though it’s the most rational and straightforward treatment anyone could have.

          The point is that a medication that could eliminate the root cause of dysphoria should and possibly did exist, but clearly something is strange with the world if even the idea of directly fixing someone’s mental anguish is seen as hateful and bigoted. You should not stand for those keeping you away from genuine relief and contentness, instead of this half baked excuse for a treatment that is destructive to your body, emotions, and fights your hormones.

          • darq
            1•11 months ago

            You should not stand for those keeping you away from genuine relief and contentness

            You are right. I will not stand for that. Which is exactly why I I ignore people like you. Because YOU are the one trying to keep trans people from the relief and contentment that transition is known to bring.

            The relevant facts of the matter are:

            • A treatment exists.
            • The treatment works.
            • The treatment is safe.

            The only reason you are arguing is because you personally don’t like the treatment.

            And your opinion on other people’s healthcare is irrelevant, and something you should keep to yourself.