Southern Queer Newsroom
FTC to Investigate "Deceptive Trade Practices" from Gender Affirming Care Providers
In the latest effort of the Trump administration to "protect the children," the Federal Trade Commission has opened public comment on "false or unsupported claims about 'gender affirming care'," marking a shift in the focus of the attacks on the trans community from the Republican president.
Within the request, the FTC openly dismisses the scientific evidence behind gender affirming care reducing suicidality as "false or unsubstantiated claims". The request also cites Skrmetti v. U.S., which allowed Tennessee's gender affirming care ban for minors to go into effect, specifically citing the "fierce scientific and policy debates" that the conservative culture war has specifically created and fed to lead to this crackdown.
In citing Skrmetti and a July 9 workshop attended by detransition activists and anti-trans organizations like Genspect and DoNoHarm, the FTC is using its position as a trusted regulatory body to launder pseudoscientific talking points and further push a marginalized population underground. Genspect has opposed bills banning conversion therapy – regarded by the United Nations as torture – and has pushed "rapid onset gender dysphoria," which claims gender dysphoria is socially contagious and is largely targeted towards people assigned female at birth. This understanding of gender dysphoria is not backed up by medical evidence.
Targeting gender affirming care providers is not new, and clinics like QueerMed in Altanta, Georgia have been targets of investigation by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Multiple large providers of gender affirming care like Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and Kaiser Permanente have restricted what they provide in recent months.
However, the shift towards using the FTC to investigate gender affirming care providers for "false advertisements" or "deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce" (the specific prohibitions laid out in Sections 12 and 5 of the FTC Act respectively) is noteworthy. Threatening new kinds of legal action against gender affirming care providers is meant to make an example out of a few providers, driving others to stop providing this care and suspend all professional avenues of accessing hormones and surgeries.
While the request for information talks specifically about gender affirming care for minors, it is clear to many that the administration is not going to stop there. Sports bans in Georgia and across the county have targeted not just minors but also collegiate athletes. The gender affirming care ban just passed in Puerto Rico covers all transgender individuals up to the age of 21. The ultimate goal, judging by previous statements from conservative media figures, is the eradication of transgenderism.
If you or anyone you know has had experience with accessing gender affirming care and would like to contact the FTC, the link to the page to comment publicly is here and you can comment anonymously if you desire. The FTC request gives a list of questions from pages 2-4, and includes instructions should you wish to comment confidentially on pages 4-5.