“Queer students seek alternatives after Texas A&M ends transgender health services” was originally published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs and engages Texans on public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
Juniper Danielson, a former Texas A&M student who received hormone replacement therapy through the university, recalled how easy the process was, especially after years on waiting lists for endocrinologists in her hometown of Houston.
Danielson and Mattia Klatt, a current student who also benefited from the service, said their on-campus transition-related care began with an information session in which a doctor explained potential risks, changes in their health and personal medical considerations. After they understood and agreed to those terms, they underwent blood tests to confirm their suitability for treatment. Informed consent was crucial, Klatt and Danielson said.
However, the university suspended these services on August 1, meaning that they are no longer able to receive gender transition care.
When asked why A&M University discontinued the medical care, a university spokesperson said the growing student population and the associated strain on A.P. Beutel Medical Center require officials to continually review the services they provide and how they use the center’s resources. The spokesperson noted that the university has increased its investments in mental health care in response to an increase in college students nationwide seeking mental health care.
Transgender and queer students are skeptical of this explanation, believe the university acted in response to pressure from conservative groups, and say the move shows the university is unwilling to support them equally.
“They don’t seem to be taking the same level of care to address the concerns of the queer community as they do with other communities,” Klatt said.
Students saw the move as part of an increasingly hostile political environment toward LGBTQ+ people in Texas, and it comes as state universities are under pressure from above to appease Republican leaders or risk incurring their wrath during next year’s legislative session.
For Danielson and Klatt, losing access to transition-related care on campus means students lose more than just prescriptions: no access to medical professionals on campus or on call; no easy access to blood tests; and no physical and mental changes that hormone replacement therapy brings.
“Losing your care means that every time you look in the mirror you have to look at yourself and see someone you’re not,” Danielson says. “After you’ve been able to just be yourself, it’s hard to go back to normal.”
Innovative services are being taken away
Hormone replacement therapy was a novel service for universities when A&M began offering it in 2012.
Six public Texas universities with wellness clinics confirmed to The Texas Tribune that they don’t offer transition-related care. Several others would not directly confirm or deny that. The University of Houston said it doesn’t offer such care, but that it does offer primary and psychiatric services and refers student patients to specialty services.
A&M University notified students that it would stop offering transition-related services on July 1, one month before the change went into effect. For Klatt, that was a short amount of time for students to find alternative health care options, especially those who may not be on campus over the summer.
Klatt said the care the university offered was inexpensive even without insurance. Now she has to scramble to find care elsewhere. She’s working with the virtual Planned Parenthood Federation for help. The Planned Parenthood Federation in Bryan, one of two cities with flagship facilities in the A&M system, closed more than a decade ago.
“It’s really hard,” Klatt said. “It’s stressful trying to find a new provider. And it’s disappointing.”
Tiffany Skaggs, senior director of health services at A&M University, said in an email that students who need to transition to a different medical option for hormone replacement therapy can call her department for assistance in obtaining alternative treatment.
But finding alternatives isn’t easy, said Kenna Ashen of the Queer Empowerment Council, an LGBTQ+ student organization at A&M University. Recent anti-transgender legislation in the state has forced transition-related care providers to close or relocate. Places where transgender students can get care are now limited and overcrowded, with waiting lists stretching out for months, Ashen said.
“Texas A&M is directly harming the mental and physical health of its students,” the Queer Empowerment Council said in a statement, condemning the university’s decision to withdraw the services. Petition About 675 people have signed a petition to reinstate transition-related care at A&M.
Sophia Amend, a doctoral student in materials science and engineering and president of the Queer Empowerment Council, questioned how the university made the decision to discontinue gender transition-related care at the health center, saying the number of students seeking care is on the rise.
“Nutrition services and physical therapy are not something that every student needs or wants,” Amend said, “but what if they were removed? They just happen to be the ones choosing this, and that would be terrible.”
External pressures
Ashen, who is transgender but does not take hormone replacement therapy, said she feels A&M’s transgender community is being targeted by the university’s recent actions and other state initiatives.
The Texas Legislature introduced a series of bills targeting LGBTQ+ people last year, many of which were rejected. Drag Show and Transition-related care for minors I passed.
Many of the proposals are targeted specifically at transgender people, with health experts saying political attacks against them are negatively impacting their mental health, where they are already vulnerable and have higher rates of suicide and self-harm. The data shows.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton He also focuses on queer issues. sued the Biden administration This summer, he argued over federal rules that would require states to provide funding and require health care providers to handle transition-related procedures under Medicaid. This month, a federal court in Texas ruled in favor of Paxton in a separate lawsuit against the Biden administration. The attorney general opposed the administration’s efforts to extend anti-discrimination laws. Protections for LGBTQ+ Students.
“The overall environment in the country right now is frightening, sad and disheartening,” Klatt said.
Public universities have also been targeted by lawmakers in recent years.
After passing 2021 Laws Lawmakers approved a bill that would require transgender students in K-12 to only participate on school sports teams that match the sex on their birth certificate. Similar laws University last year.
Another Law Required Public University The move led A&M to quietly close its Pride Center late last year and replace it with the Office of Student Life. The Queer Empowerment Council has taken over many of the Pride Center’s previous responsibilities, including hosting graduation ceremonies for queer students and helping them transition into college life.
Students said they were concerned about the influence that outside conservative media and alumni groups have on the university system’s leadership.
Before A&M stopped offering transition-related care, the conservative website Texas Scorecard ran an article inviting the Queer Empowerment Council to give a presentation on how to access hormone replacement therapy. Texas Scorecard is the media arm of MPower Texans, which said: Influencing Texas politicians.
Last month, at the University The student newspaper was published Two emails sent by alumni to the A&M System’s board of trustees, chancellors and university presidents spoke out against transition-related care. One was sent by Matt Poling, M.D., an assistant professor at the Texas A&M Health Science Center and president of the Ladder Institute with Texas Scorecard. Criticized Pauling wrote the letter to journalism professor Kathleen McElroy before the scandal broke last year over the university’s failed attempt to hire her. Pauling’s letter characterizes gender transition-related care as an “unproven medical intervention.”
The other letter was written by neuropsychologist Clifford Hopewell, also an A&M alumnus and past president of the Texas Psychological Association, who said hormone replacement therapy is “medical malpractice” and that offering transition-related care could leave universities open to lawsuits.
Neither Hopewell nor Poling responded to requests for comment.
Hani Talebi, current president of the Texas Psychological Association, said the association does not endorse Hopewell’s statement. She said the Texas Psychological Association stands in solidarity with the American Psychological Association, the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychiatric Association in supporting unimpeded access to transition-related care.
Hani pointed to a statement released in February by the American Psychological Association committing to comprehensive, evidence-based health care for transgender people, which emphasized the importance of providing access to transition-related care that is rooted in psychology and clinical science.
A University of Texas A&M spokesman said the Texas Scorecard article and the alumni letter did not influence the university’s decision to end transition-related services.
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This article was originally published on Texas Tribune in https://www.texastribune.org/2024/08/21/texas-am-trans-health-care/.
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