Regulatory policies block transgender and gender diverse individuals from accessing care The Endocrine Society and the Pediatric Endocrine Society oppose legislative efforts to block transgender and gender diverse individuals from accessing gender-affirming medical and surgical care, the two medical societies said in a joint policy perspective published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. In the past three years, legislators in 17 states have proposed more than two dozen bills barring medical and surgical treatments for transgender and gender diverse youth and adults. Many of these bills reflect widespread misinformation about the nature of evidence-based gender-affirming medical care. "For young children experiencing feelings that their gender does not match the one assigned at birth, known as gender dysphoria, an initial intervention is likely to be a new haircut or clothing," said the manuscript's first author and Co-Chair of the Pediatric Endocrine Society's Transgender Special Interest Group Advocacy Subcommittee, Abby Walch, M.D., of the University of California San Francisco and Benioff Children's Hospitals in San Francisco, Calif. "The first course of action is to support the child in living as their affirmed gender identity and to provide mental health support as needed."