DOJ Subpoenas Clinics Over Transgender Procedures on Children

Last Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a short press release announcing it had issued subpoenas to doctors and medical facilities involved in performing sex-change procedures on minors.

The statement said,

WASHINGTON — Today, the Department of Justice announced that it has sent more than 20 subpoenas to doctors and clinics involved in performing transgender medical procedures on children.

The Department’s investigations include healthcare fraud, false statements, and more.

“Medical professionals and organizations that mutilated children in the service of a warped ideology will be held accountable by this Department of Justice.” — Attorney General Pamela Bondi

Last Wednesday, the Federal Trade Commission also hosted a workshop highlighting the dangers of so-called “gender-affirming care” for children.

Both federal agencies appear to be concerned about the deception that often surrounds sex-change procedures — especially when these procedures are performed on children.

Sex-change procedures, puberty blockers, and cross-sex hormones can leave children permanently scarred, sterilized, and at risk of serious health conditions.

Last fall, medical experts at the organization Do No Harm released a report showing that from 2019 to 2023, dozens of children in Arkansas underwent sex-change surgeries or were prescribed puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones.

Doctors do not know the long-term effects that puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones might have on people. However, files leaked from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) organization show medical professionals have been fully aware that these procedures can lead to lasting regret and complications — some of which may even be life-threatening.

Since 2021, a major hospital in Sweden has announced that it would no longer give puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to kids, the U.K. has adopted policies to protect children from puberty blockers, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has added a warning label to puberty blockers after discovering they caused brain swelling in some biological girls.

In a comprehensive study published last year, Finnish researchers found transgender surgeries did not appear to resolve the underlying emotional and mental issues that youth with gender dysphoria faced.

And gender clinics have been shown to rush children and families through the transition process without adequate informed-consent and mental health screenings.

In 2021, Arkansas passed the Save Adolescents From Experimentation (SAFE) Act prohibiting doctors from performing sex-change surgeries on children or giving them puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones.

Unfortunately, a federal judge blocked the state from enforcing the law. However, in June the U.S. Supreme Court issued a 6-3 decision upholding a Tennessee law similar to Arkansas’ SAFE Act, and Attorney General Tim Griffin’s team has argued the ruling underscores that the SAFE Act is constitutional as well.

It’s good to see our state and federal policymakers taking a stand on this issue, and we look forward to a day when children are protected from these dangerous procedures.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

Lessons from the Rise and Faltering of Transgenderism: Guest Column

Many “inevitable” social movements turned out not to be so inevitable. The most notable recent example is transgenderism. In the latest development of this fast-moving story, earlier this month the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a Tennessee law that prohibited so-called “transgender care” for minors, including hormone therapy and sex-reassignment procedures.  

Predictably, the American Psychological Association threw a fit about the ruling, scolding the court for disregarding “decades of psychological research and clinical consensus,” and jeopardizing “the health and wellbeing of transgender youth.” Aside from further eroding their public credibility, the APA statement ignores the obvious fact that any consensus around transgender “care” and identity is collapsing. It’s not 2016 anymore. First, there was the Cass Report, which questioned key claims of transgender medicalization. Then there was the closing of Britain’s only gender clinic. Also in recent days, L.A. Children’s Hospital announced it would close its center for transgender youth, one of the largest and oldest clinics of its kind and a hub for “gender reassignment” surgeries on children for years. 

Public opinion has shifted as well. Earlier this year, Pew Research reported that about two-thirds of adults now support policies requiring trans athletes to compete on teams that match their biology. Most adults also support outlawing gender identity curriculum in elementary schools. Compared to just three years ago, more Americans now support laws that require people to use the bathroom corresponding to their sex and favor banning transgender surgery on minors. And just last week, the University of Pennsylvania signed an agreement with the Office of Civil Rights of the Department of Education about men competing in women’s sports. Penn will now strip Lia (born William) Thomas of his swimming wins against women, reinstate the integrity of women’s athletic teams and spaces, and apologize to the women whose rightful athletic “records, titles, or similar recognitions” were stolen by a male athlete.  

Now somewhat on the other side of this cultural confusion, there are two crucial lessons to be learned about how culture changes, and how to fight future battles. First is how unpredictable and fragile supposedly “inevitable” cultural progress is. A few short years ago, corporations, government, higher education, entertainment, science, and medical establishments were being aligned in support of the idea that boys can become girls, and vice versa. But then a few courageous athletes, artists, filmmakers, de-transitioners, and a handful of public figures like J.K Rowling and Jordan Peterson spoke out. Unfortunately, many Christians and high-profile pastors were unwilling to do the same.  

And yet, remarkably, it was enough to start the resistance. The momentum of the trans movement has now slowed and faltered. Though Irreversible Damage was inflicted on too many individuals, especially children, the mutilation of bodies and poisoning of minds turned out to be not inevitable, culturally. This should embolden us all to be willing to break the “spiral of silence” sooner and to stand courageously against false ideas in the future. After all, the worst ideas flourish when people are convinced that resistance is futile. 

The second lesson to learn is how quickly social contagions spread. How an observably absurd and unscientific idea like transgenderism took over the West should humble us all and highlight the danger of losing a high and shared view of the human person. Until we can agree broadly on what it means to be human, what sex is for, what male and female mean, what marriage is, and why there are givens to our embodied nature, we remain susceptible to other absurd and dangerous notions.  

And so, we should ask, even as this particularly bad idea is in retreat, what “inevitable” bad idea might take its place? How can we as Christians be better prepared and willing to respond? 

As neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, a likely (but tentative) guess is that we will encounter new and dangerous forms of transhumanism. Just as transgenderism began with the belief that the body is merely a vehicle for the “authentic self,” so will visions of biological enhancement, AI relationships, new forms of “designer baby” eugenics, and attempts at immortality. And anyone who believes that there are created givens to the human person and moral boundaries that limit the expression of our “true selves” will be castigated and accused of hate, bigotry, and anti-science. Christians who understand that humans are made in the image of God must speak early and often, and especially clearly, no matter the cost. 

Thank God that trans ideology, though far from defeated, is faltering. However, short of a cultural revolution in which our createdness is embraced and the myth of self-creation rejected, the West will continue to be vulnerable to the next bad idea that claims to be inevitable.

Copyright 2025 by the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. Reprinted from BreakPoint.org with permission.

UPenn Will Finally Revoke Transgender Swimmer’s Medals, Apologize to Female Athletes

The Washington Stand reports the University of Pennsylvania plans to revoke transgender swimmer “Lia” Thomas’ medals and apologize to female athletes forced to compete against Thomas.

In 2022, Thomas — a biological male who claims to be female — made headlines for shattering women’s swimming records and winning the women’s 500-yard freestyle at the NCAA Division I championship.

The NCAA even went so far as to nominate Thomas for its 2022 Woman of the Year Award.

However, in 2024 a group of female athletes filed a lawsuit arguing the NCAA violated their federal rights under Title IX by letting Thomas compete as a woman.

Earlier this year, President Trump signed an executive order protecting fairness in women’s sports under Title IX. As a result, the U.S. Department of Education says UPenn has agreed to restore female athletes’ swimming records, issue apologies to female swimmers, and take steps to make sure biological males don’t compete in women’s athletics.

All of this reminds us once again that ignoring basic biological realities about male athletes and female athletes robs women of opportunities to receive recognition for their achievements.

Letting men compete in women’s sports reverses 50 years of advancements for women and effectively erases women’s athletics.

It hampers their abilities to compete for athletic scholarships, and it hurts their professional opportunities as adults. In some sports, it can even be dangerous.

In 2021 Arkansas passed Act 461 by Sen. Missy Irvin (R — Mountain View) and Rep. Sonia Barker (R — Smackover) preventing male student athletes from competing against girls in women’s athletics at school. This good law protects fairness in women’s sports in Arkansas.

At the time, some people questioned if it was really necessary to pass Act 461, but four years later, it’s clear Arkansas lawmakers made the right call. Since then, some 29 states have passed similar measures protecting fairness in women’s sports.

It’s also worth mentioning that pollsters at Gallup have found most Americans agree that athletes should compete according to their biological sex — not their gender identity.

We deeply appreciate our elected leaders and policymakers who work hard to protect fairness in women’s sports both in Arkansas and across the country.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.