During a Thursday hearing, Texas State Senator Donna Campbell asked psychologist Dr. Megan Mooney about her stance on puberty blockers for children experiencing gender confusion.
The questions happened during a hearing on Senate Bill 14 held by Texas Senate Committee on State Affairs. The bill aims to forbid doctors from administering transgender hormones, surgery, or puberty blockers to individuals below the age of 18. Campbell, who sponsored the bill, interrogated a witness who was testifying against it, according to the Daily Caller.
“Whenever a child comes in and says, ‘I’m a trans kid,’ do you believe them?” Campbell asked the psychologist, who simply responded, “Yes.”
Mooney has filed a lawsuit against Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott due to guidance he issued to the state’s child protection services that could result in criminal penalties for teachers and doctors who assist a child in undergoing sex change procedures.
According to The Guardian, Mooney, who has been working with patients who identify as transgender for 15 years, claims that adhering to the guidance would mean “violating her professional ethical standards and inflicting serious harm and trauma on her clients.”
“So what’s the basis for prescribing puberty blockers? Is being trans enough, or are there some trans kids that you might say no to?” Campbell asked.
“I’m not a prescribing physician, so I can’t speak to the — ” Mooney began before Campbell cut her off.
“But you are the one that is there to either sign a paper that says they’ve had therapy and it’s ok to put them on medications, right?” Campbell followed up, according to the DC.
“I am there to say that they meet criteria for clinical distress,” said Mooney.
Before starting puberty blockers, gender-questioning children should first “address any medical, psychological, or social issues that may hinder treatment,” as per the Mayo Clinic’s guidelines. The Gender Confirmation Center specifies that in order for a minor to receive puberty blockers, they must first “work with an endocrinologist or primary care doctor and a mental health professional.”
“So they see you, they get to you because you’re a known expert,” Campbell said. “So they’re referred to you, you see them, you believe them, you sign a form, they take it to their doc — they’ve had the counseling and they’re able now to get the medicine?”
“It is not that simplistic, no Senator,” Mooney claimed in response.
Campbell challenged Mooney’s assertion that all self-identified transgender children should receive cross-sex treatments. She referred to several European countries that have concluded there is inadequate evidence to prescribe transgender hormones, puberty blockers, and gender confirmation surgery to minors, the DC noted further.
“I’d like to see research, because the European countries have all, Sweden, [the] Dutch, UK, Finland, have all not found enough medical evidence, psychological evidence to support transgender therapy,” Campbell maintained.
“Now, I am kind of locking you up in a box,” she continued. “Because you’re telling me every time a child says ‘yes, I’m transgender,’ that’s a pathway they go down, but we know there are comorbidities related. Gender dysphoria doesn’t just come up isolated on its own.”
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