According to recently disclosed court records, the Biden administration allegedly tried to pressure a global consortium of experts to eliminate the minimum age requirement for “gender-affirming care.” The US Department of Health and Human Services’ assistant secretary for health, Rachel Levine, reportedly grew “very concerned” about the age limit since it would “affect access to health care for trans youth.” Emails obtained during a legal battle in Alabama contesting the state’s prohibition on providing gender-affirming care to kids disclosed this information.
Notably, Levine is the first Senate-confirmed transgender official in the Biden administration.
“Assistant Secretary for Health Dr. Rachel Levine strongly pressured WPATH [World Professional Association for Transgender Health] leadership to rush the development and issuance of SOC-8 [Standards of Care, Version 8], in order to assist with Administration political strategy,” according to the email from a World Professional Association for Transgender Health member.
Levine’s chief of staff, Sarah Boateng, had stated in emails that she was “very concerned that having ages (mainly for surgery) will affect access to health care for trans youth and maybe adults too.”
She and the Biden administration were reportedly concerned that including age restrictions in the treaty would exacerbate the dire situation in the United States. The email said, ‘She requested that we take them down.
WPATH “capitulated and removed the text in violation of its own process despite the preference of its own committee members to retain the age limits,” according to an email disclosed by Dr. James Cantor as part of a legal action contesting an Alabama statute that forbids specific treatments and procedures related to gender transition.
In September 2022, the body published its eighth edition of standards of care, which did not include a minimum age requirement for transgender treatments.
