Health Official Advocates for Counseling in Gender Dysphoria Treatment for Minors

Efforts to treat gender dysphoria in minors should focus on mental health support and compassionate care, according to Adm. Brian Christine, Assistant Secretary of Health at the Department of Health and Human Services. Christine, a urologist, supports the newly announced rule by the Trump administration to cease federal funding for puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and surgeries related to gender dysphoria in minors through Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

Gender dysphoria, while a legitimate condition, affects a small percentage of minors. Christine notes an increase in diagnoses, suggesting a social contagion effect rather than a purely epidemiological one. He emphasizes that most minors with this diagnosis tend to overcome it with competent counseling.

“What you don’t want to do is carry out treatments… we refer to them as sex-rejecting procedures, where you’re using castrating chemicals or cross-sex hormones or mutilating surgeries to permanently change their bodies,” claimed Christine.

The rule stops Medicaid and CHIP from funding gender transition treatments for minors but does not ban them outright. Dr. Mehmet Oz, CMS Administrator, stated the measure helps protect children and saves taxpayer money.

President Donald Trump criticized gender transition treatments for minors, considering them “barbaric.” He stated that such practices cause irreversible harm.

Christine differentiates between “corrective care” and “gender-affirming care.” He argues that surgeries and hormones do not affirm minors but rather harm them. The new rule, effective October 13, allows for a six-month period to phase out hormone treatment for children already on therapy.

Christine highlights the historical rarity of gender dysphoria in girls compared to boys. He describes the increase in young girls receiving this diagnosis as influenced by ideology rather than clinical history.