A transgender rights activist who received “gender-affirming” care at Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s transgender clinic is pushing back against the controversy surrounding the clinic and claimed that the “real danger” for children is when they are prohibited from receiving this type of care.
To recap, Townhall covered this week how conservative commentator Matt Walsh revealed that the transgender clinic at Vanderbilt University Medical Center is performing “gender-affirming” treatments and surgeries on healthy minors. The clinic was opened in 2018 after Dr. Shayne Taylor, one of the clinic’s physicians, said that trans health care is a “big money maker.” “Gender-affirming” care includes hormone therapy treatments, puberty blockers and sex reassignment surgery.
As a result, lawmakers in Tennessee on the state and federal level called for an investigation into VUMC and are threatening to create legislation outlawing these procedures and treatments for minors.
Following my report on Vanderbilt, Senator @MarshaBlackburn has sent a letter to the FDA demanding an investigation into puberty blockers and their effects on children. We’re seeing action now on the federal and state level.
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) September 22, 2022
MAJOR UPDATE: I have met with Tennessee Rep William Lamberth and Sen Jack Johnson. We are working on a bill to shut down Vanderbilt’s child gender transition program and ban the practice in the state. Tennesseans do not want this barbarism in our state. We will put a stop to it.
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) September 21, 2022
News Channel 5 Nashville reported that several Republican lawmakers in Tennessee are working directly with Walsh on new legislation. However, some members of the transgender community claim that restricting this type of care for children “would do more harm than good.”
Dahron Johnson, who received this type of care from VUMC, said that the “real danger” for children is “when that type of [gender-affirming] care is taken away.”
“That just rusks the best possible health outcomes for those patients, whatever their age.”
Johnson reportedly received gender-affirming treatment at VUMC.
“Places like Vanderbilt are few and far between,” Johnson added, claiming that “there is a really underserved population of folks that find it difficult to find the care they need.”
“There are age-appropriate limits on what type of treatments are even discussed or offered,” Johnson continued.
Chloe Cole, an ex-transgender teenager, spoke out this week against this type of health care for children. As Townhall covered, Cole she was transgender at age 12 and medically transitioned from ages 13 to 17, taking puberty blockers and testosterone. She underwent a double mastectomy at 15.
In her remarks this week, Cole, now 18, said that there has been a 4,000 percent increase in children being referred to “so-called gender clinics” across the country.
“I was one of these children,” Cole said. “My story is a cautionary tale.”
“People across the entire political spectrum who believe that this practice is morally wrong have been told that they are fascists or bigots for even questioning this atrocity. Others have been convinced by self-proclaimed ‘gender specialists’ that this is the only treatment that will not end in your child committing suicide. I believe Americans deserve to know the truth about this radical and perverse ideology marketed as necessary and life-saving health care," she added.
Every American needs to hear Chloe Cole’s story.
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene???? (@RepMTG) September 20, 2022
What a courageous young woman! pic.twitter.com/FoBuSsREb2
Earlier this year, Cole said in remarks in Florida that she “unknowingly physically [cut] off my true self from my body, irreversibly and painfully” by undergoing gender-affirming surgery.
“I really didn’t understand all of the ramifications of any of the medical decisions that I was making,” Cole said, adding that “I don’t know if I’ll be able to fully carry a child and I might be at increased risk for certain cancers, namely, cervical cancer,” and will be unable to breastfeed her future children.
“That realization actually was one of the biggest things that led to me realizing that this was not the path I should have taken,” she added.
"If you are considering transitioning, please wait until you are a fully developed adult," Cole said. "Transitioning can damage your body and mind in ways that we may not fully understand."