The anti-trans panic has infiltrated, of all places, the United States Federal Trade Commission.
Last week, the FTC hosted “The Dangers of ‘Gender-Affirming Care’ for Minors,” a workshop dedicated to “exploring unfair or deceptive trade practices” in relation to trans healthcare.
The workshop featured a slew of speakers pushing fear and misinformation about safe medical care for trans youth, from detransitioners and their families, to a representative of the Heritage Foundation, and the chair of a Moms for Liberty chapter.
The FTC’s focus is to protect American consumers and promote healthy competition in the marketplace. So why is it all of a sudden focused on gender-affirming care?
According to former FTC executive director Eileen Harrington, the agency’s consumer protection mission does not include legal oversight when it comes to private decisions made between patients, families and doctors.
And before the workshop, nearly 150 FTC employees signed an anonymous statement of concern. They wrote it would “chart new territory for the Commission by prying into confidential doctor-patient consultations” and that the central topic of the workshop is “not the FTC’s lane.”
We break down the reactions from current and former employees about the consumer protection agency making a hard pivot to fuel anti-trans sentiment.
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