A recently released trove of documents from the American College of Pediatricians (ACPEDs) reveals how a Republican donor used veiled threats implying legal action against a Dallas-area children’s hospital as part of a massive pressure campaign to force the hospital to turn away transgender patients.
In November 2021, the GENder Education and Care, Interdisciplinary Support (GENECIS) program at Children’s Medical Center Dallas dissolved after a vitriolic campaign that included attacks by Governor Greg Abbott and, in one incident, protesters showing up at the office of a board member. Although the clinic followed the best practices of experts in medical care for transgender kids, opponents claimed without basis that the clinic was engaged in “genital mutilation” of young people.
Behind the scenes, Republican megadonor and hotel magnate Monty Bennett exerted pressure on the clinic while also pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into the war chests of anti-trans lawmakers (See “Monty Bennett’s Transphobic Money”). Leaders at ACPEDs, which has been designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, apparently saw Bennett’s tactics—using veiled threats and right-wing talking points about trans healthcare to badger the administrators of the children’s hospital—as a playbook they could reproduce in their nationwide fight against gender-affirming care. And the files in the massive release of private data from the hate group reflect how right-wing politicians, extremist groups like ACPEDs, and their wealthy supporters often work closely together, sharing rhetoric and tactics with each other.
