A Minnesota Children’s hospital pediatrician equated transgender care access for kids to diabetes, cancer, and asthma care and is receiving backlash for her comments.
Dr. Angela Goepferd, who says her pronouns are “she/they,” said in a Human Rights Campaign video that pediatricians don’t “expect to be attacked” for the care that they provide. Goepferd is a pediatrician and the director for the Children’s Minnesota Gender Health program.
Pediatricians who treat transgender children talk to parents about how they can “support” their child’s “gender expression” and what “questions they should or shouldn’t be asking” of their child, Goepferd said.
“If my child had diabetes or cancer or asthma, I deserve to be able to go to an asthma specialist to find out what things we can do to make it better, what things might make it worse. And if you have a child who is transgender, you deserve that same thing,” she continued.
She said transgender care for children is “just a real basic fundamental level” of health care for kids who need it.
Gays against Groomers, an organization that fights against the “sexualization, indoctrination, and medicalization” of children, commented on Goepferd’s statement, calling her an “absolute psychopath.”
The organization said this in a tweet: “The difference is that if you don’t treat a child’s diabetes, they will die.”
Children's Minnesota Gender Clinic Director says treating kids with gender dysphoria is no different than treating those with diabetes. Umm.. the DIFFERENCE is, is that if you don't treat a child's diabetes, they will die. What an absolute psychopath.https://t.co/S6TTGf1zfr
— Gays Against Groomers (@againstgrmrs) June 2, 2023
In a statement to Alpha News, Children’s Minnesota said, “Every child should have access to medical specialists, no matter their questions. Every issue a family faces is their most important issue. We treat them as such.”
Goepferd gave a TED Talk in 2020 titled “The revolutionary truth about kids and gender identity,” in which she explained how she once told a four-year-old she was both a “mommy” and a “daddy,” and how he readily accepted her statement.
“Kids at two are actually very good at putting things into categories … It shouldn’t surprise you, then, that some transgender kids are also claiming their identities as young as three and four years old,” Goepferd said in that talk.
Last month, Children’s Minnesota awarded Rep. Leigh Finke, author of Minnesota’s new “trans refuge law,” with its annual “Children’s Health Hero award.”
Rose Williams
Rose Williams is an assistant editor for Alpha News.
