A Brief History of Transgender Care in the United States of America

In the early 1600s, some Native American tribes had third gender (Two-Spirit) people whose social roles varied from tribe to tribe. They were often respected as healers, shamans, or warriors. They were also persecuted by European colonizers who imposed their binary gender norms on them

In 1931, the first transgender surgery was performed in Germany by Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld, a pioneer of sexology and LGBT rights. He operated on a transgender woman named Dora Richter, who became the first person to undergo a complete male-to-female transition

In 1949, Dr. Harry Benjamin, a San Francisco physician, began to use hormone therapy to treat transgender patients. He was interested in the fields of anti-aging and sexual identity, and believed that some people were born with a mismatch between their biological sex and their psychological gender. He later wrote a book called The Transsexual Phenomenon, which became a landmark in the field

In 1952, Christine Jorgensen became the first widely known transgender person in the United States. She was a former soldier who underwent sex reassignment surgery in Denmark and returned to the US as a woman. She received a lot of media attention and public curiosity, and became a spokesperson for transgender rights

In 1966, the first transgender surgery in the United States was performed by Dr. John Money, a psychologist and sexologist. He operated on a transgender woman named Agnes, who had a rare condition called androgen insensitivity syndrome, which made her body insensitive to male hormones. Money also coined the term “gender identity” to describe one’s sense of being male or female

In 1975, the first gender identity clinic in the United States was established at the University of Minnesota. It was led by Dr. Paul Walker, a psychiatrist and activist, who developed the first standards of care for transgender patients. The standards included criteria for diagnosis, therapy, hormone treatment, and surgery, and were later adopted by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health

In 2013, Kaiser Permanente launched the first integrated model of transgender care in the United States. It offered a comprehensive range of services for transgender patients, including primary care, mental health, endocrinology, surgery, and social work. It also had a multidisciplinary team of experts and a patient-centered approach

As of Febuary 13th, 2023, more than two dozen bills  seeking to restrict transgender health care access have been introduces across 11 states — Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Untah and Virginia.

Bills have been signed in to law to limit health care for transgender minors in Utah and most recently, South Dakota.

These bills would prohibit medical providers from prescribing puberty blockers, hormone therapy, or surgery to transgender minors, or from referring them to other providers who offer such services. Some bills would also criminalize providers or parents who support transgender youth, or allow them to be sued for malpractice or child abuse.

These bills are part of a larger wave of anti-transgender legislation that emerged in 2022, when more than 100 bills were introduced in 33 states, mostly by Republican lawmakers. Many of these bills targeted transgender athletes, bathroom access, and school curriculum, but some also focused on health care.

These bills are opposed by many medical and human rights organizations, such as the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Psychological Association, and Human Rights Watch. They argue that these bills are based on misinformation, prejudice, and fear, and that they violate the rights and well-being of transgender people, especially youth, who face higher risks of depression, suicide, and violence