Quentin Van Meter

Last updated
Quentin Van Meter
NationalityAmerican
Alma mater Medical College of Virginia
Occupation(s)Physician, professor, president of conservative pediatric group, anti-LGBTQ activist
Known forConversion therapy advocate
SpouseKathy Van Meter
Children4

Quentin L. Van Meter (born September 13, 1947) is a pediatric endocrinologist and president of the American College of Pediatricians, a socially conservative advocacy group which is known for opposing gay marriage, gender reassignment surgery, and abortion. [1] [2] [3] He has advocated and referred his clients to conversion therapy and is known for rejecting the medical consensus on the efficacy and safety of transgender health care. [4] [5] [6]

History and advocacy

Van Meter cancelled his 37-year membership of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) in protest of its inclusive stance regarding LGBT people. Van Meter has stated the American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds) was formed when the AAP established a position that gay couples could raise children without adverse effects on their well-being. [1] Van Meter has treated 15 patients diagnosed with gender dysphoria, and stated he referred them to conversion therapy. [5]

In March 2016, Van Meter, as vice president of ACPeds signed a position statement called "Gender Ideology Harms Children" that claimed transgender youth don't exist and transgender people are mentally ill. The Southern Poverty Law Center described it as "anti-trans rhetoric" and has noted that ACPeds has deliberately misrepresented legitimate research in its attacks on LGBT people, to the point that at least one social scientist demanded that the group stop." [1]

In October 2016, North Carolina attempted to pass HB2, which revoked local LGBT nondiscrimination ordinances in the state and forbids transgender people using the bathroom aligning with their gender. The federal government made a motion to halt enforcement of the bill. In August, the state filed a brief defending the bill and provided a court with a statement from Van Meter alleging "gender identity discordance" is "a delusional state". [7]

In November 2017, Van Meter spoke at an anti-LGBT conference organized by the Texas chapter of MassResistance. He gave a presentation titled "Teens for Truth Conference: Countering the LGBT Agenda" hosted at the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Texas. [8] [5]

In 2018, Van Meter, now President of ACPEDs was scheduled to speak at the University of Western Australia (UWA) as a stop on a national tour sponsored by the Australian Family Association. Students protested the conference, with a petition to cancel gaining 6000 signatories. The conference was cancelled, with the university stating it was because they had not filed risk assessment paperwork in time. The UWA Student Guild President found it bittersweet that it was cancelled due to administrative reasons and not because it was "hate speech." The UWA released a statement which said "The views which have been expressed by the speakers in the past, particularly with respect to transgender people, are at odds with the university's values of respect for human dignity and diversity," but that cancelling the event would "create an undesirable precedent for the exclusion of objectionable views." [2] [4]

In November 2018, Van Meter gave a speech titled “The Travesty of the Current State of Transgender Medicine” for the conversion therapy advocacy group the International Federation for Therapeutic and Counseling Choice. [9]

In November 2019 in Georgia, Meter supported an Atlanta bill by Ginny Ehrhart which would make it a felony to provide hormone treatments or gender affirmation surgery on minors. The SPLC stated "Not only does it contradict the overwhelming medical consensus on treating gender dysphoria by professional medical organizations such as the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association, among many others, but it also puts children at risk of irreparable harm." [9] [6] [10]

In February 2020, Van Meter was presented as an expert witness in the case of a Texas divorce case where the couple's child was undergoing gender-affirming care which one parent wanted to end and the other wanted to continue. The judge ruled that Van Meter was "discredited as an expert" and could not offer expert testimony on "the legal question of whether an adolescent transgender child should be administered puberty blockers and whether affirmation of an incongruent gender in a child is harmful or not." [10]

In March 2020 Van Meter testified to the Pennsylvania House Health Committee alongside Stephen B. Levine, opposing informed consent for transgender minors. In September, Van Meter testified to the Pennsylvania House Health Committee again, calling statistics showing transgender youth are more likely to be suicidal skewed samples. [10]

In 2020, Van Meter served as an expert defending the state from a lawsuit represented by the ACLU and Lambda Legal demanding trans people be allowed to change their gender on their birth certificate, since it forced them to out themselves to others and risk danger. The Department of Health refused to comment on why he was chosen as an expert. When the plaintiffs' lawyers asked him to explain why he was chosen, he said he didn't know and traced his reputation back to the "Teens for Truth Conference: Countering the LGBT Agenda". [5] [10]

In February 2021, Van Meter was invited to lead a conference on conversion therapy in Singapore called "Transgenderism: Science vs Ideology" hosted by Focus on the Family Singapore and the founders of the Yellow Ribbon Project and Dads for Life. [11] [12] That month he also testified for HB29 in Utah which would prohibit clinicians, doctors, and surgeons from providing gender affirming surgeries or providing hormone therapy to transgender minors. [13]

In April 2021 Meter supported the Arkansas "Save Adolescents from Experimentation act", which probitited doctors providing transgender healthcare to minors or referring them to services that could offer it. The bill also bars insurance from covering minors transition related healthcare and says they're not required to cover it for adults. The American Academy of Pediatrics opposed the bill. [14] [15]

In March 2022, Meter testified in favor of an Idaho Bill which would criminalize doctors providing gender affirming healthcare to minors. [16] [17]

In October 2022, Van Meter served as an expert for Florida in a bill that prevents Medicaid from covering transgender healthcare for low-income adults and minors. In his assessment, he stated the rise in transgender children seeking care was due to "online recruiting and grooming of vulnerable children and adolescents by a generously funded political movement aimed at dissolving the reality and birthright of biologic sex." Medical organizations state the increase is due to better understanding and acknowledgement of gender dysphoria. The authors of the state report failed to disclose whether they were paid for research. [3] [18] [19]

Related Research Articles

Stephen Barrett Levine is an American psychiatrist known for advocating the fringe view that gender dysphoria and being transgender are often caused by psychological issues that should be treated psycho-analytically as opposed to with gender-affirming care. He co-founded Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine's Gender Identity Clinic in 1974, served as the chair of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) drafting committee for the 5th edition of their Standards of Care (SOC-5) published 1998, and served on the American Psychiatric Association (APA) DSM-IV (1994) Subcommittee on Gender Identity Disorders.

In the United States, the rights of transgender people vary considerably by jurisdiction. In recent decades, there has been an expansion of federal, state, and local laws and rulings to protect transgender Americans; however, many rights remain unprotected, and some rights are being eroded. Since 2020, there has been a national movement by conservative/right-wing politicians and organizations to target transgender rights. There has been a steady increase in the number of anti-transgender bills introduced each year, especially in Republican-led states.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transgender youth</span> Children and adolescents who are transgender

Transgender youth are children or adolescents who do not identify with the sex they were assigned at birth. Because transgender youth are usually dependent on their parents for care, shelter, financial support, and other needs, they face different challenges compared to adults. According to the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, the American Psychological Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics, appropriate care for transgender youth may include supportive mental health care, social transition, and/or puberty blockers, which delay puberty and the development of secondary sex characteristics to allow children more time to explore their gender identity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBTQ rights in Florida</span>

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBTQ) people in the U.S. state of Florida have federal protections, but many face legal difficulties on the state level that are not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Same-sex sexual activity became legal in the state after the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Lawrence v. Texas on June 26, 2003, although the state legislature has not repealed its sodomy law. Same-sex marriage has been legal in the state since January 6, 2015. Discrimination on account of sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, housing and public accommodations is outlawed following the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County. In addition, several cities and counties, comprising about 55 percent of Florida's population, have enacted anti-discrimination ordinances. These include Jacksonville, Miami, Tampa, Orlando, St. Petersburg, Tallahassee and West Palm Beach, among others. Conversion therapy is also banned in a number of cities in the state, mainly in the Miami metropolitan area, but has been struck down by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. In September 2023, Lake Worth Beach, Florida became an official "LGBT sanctuary city" to protect and defend LGBT rights.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American College of Pediatricians</span> Conservative advocacy group

The American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds) is a socially conservative advocacy group of pediatricians and other healthcare professionals in the United States, founded in 2002. The group advocates in favor of abstinence-only sex education and conversion therapy, and advocates against vaccine mandates, abortion rights and rights for LGBT people. As of 2022, its membership has been reported at about 700 physicians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT rights in New York</span>

The U.S. state of New York has generally been seen as socially liberal in regard to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBTQ) rights. LGBT travel guide Queer in the World states, "The fabulosity of Gay New York is unrivaled on Earth, and queer culture seeps into every corner of its five boroughs". The advocacy movement for LGBT rights in the state has been dated as far back as 1969 during the Stonewall riots in New York City. Same-sex sexual activity between consenting adults has been legal since the New York v. Onofre case in 1980. Same-sex marriage has been legal statewide since 2011, with some cities recognizing domestic partnerships between same-sex couples since 1998. Discrimination protections in credit, housing, employment, education, and public accommodation have explicitly included sexual orientation since 2003 and gender identity or expression since 2019. Transgender people in the state legally do not have to undergo sex reassignment surgery to change their sex or gender on official documents since 2014. In addition, both conversion therapy on minors and the gay and trans panic defense have been banned since 2019. Since 2021, commercial surrogacy has been legally available within New York State.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBTQ rights in Missouri</span>

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people in the U.S. state of Missouri may experience some legal challenges that non-LGBTQ residents do not. Same-sex sexual activity is legal in Missouri, in accordance with 2003's Lawrence v. Texas decision. In 2006, Missouri codified the legality of same-sex sexual activity into its statutory law.

Puberty blockers are medicines used to postpone puberty in children. The most commonly used puberty blockers are gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists, which suppress the natural production of sex hormones, such as androgens and estrogens. Puberty blockers are used to delay puberty in children with precocious puberty. They are also used to delay the development of unwanted secondary sex characteristics in transgender children, so as to allow transgender youth more time to explore their gender identity. The same drugs are also used in fertility medicine and to treat some hormone-sensitive cancers in adults.

Transgender health care includes the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of physical and mental health conditions for transgender individuals. A major component of transgender health care is gender-affirming care, the medical aspect of gender transition. Questions implicated in transgender health care include gender variance, sex reassignment therapy, health risks, and access to healthcare for trans people in different countries around the world. Gender affirming health care can include psychological, medical, physical, and social behavioral care. The purpose of gender affirming care is to help a transgender individual conform to their desired gender identity.

Detransition is the cessation or reversal of a transgender identification or of gender transition, temporarily or permanently, through social, legal, and/or medical means. The term is distinct from the concept of 'regret', and the decision may be based on a shift in gender identity, or other reasons, such as health concerns, social or economic pressure, discrimination, stigma, political beliefs, or religious beliefs.

Rapid-onset gender dysphoria (ROGD) is a controversial, scientifically unsupported hypothesis which claims that some adolescents identify as transgender and experience gender dysphoria due to peer influence and social contagion. ROGD is not recognized as a valid mental health diagnosis by any major professional association, which discourage its use due to a lack of reputable scientific evidence for the concept, major methodological issues in existing research, and its stigmatization of gender-affirming care for transgender youth.

Jack L. Turban is an American psychiatrist, writer, and commentator who researches the mental health of transgender youth. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, CNN, Scientific American, and Vox. He is an assistant professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at The University of California San Francisco and affiliate faculty in health policy at The Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arkansas House Bill 1570 (2021)</span> 2021 Arkansas state law

Arkansas House Bill 1570, also known as the Save Adolescents From Experimentation (SAFE) Act or Act 626, is a 2021 law in the state of Arkansas that bans gender-affirming medical procedures for transgender people under 18, including puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and sex reassignment surgery. The law also bans the use of public funds for and prohibits insurance from covering gender transition procedures, while doctors who provide treatment in violation of the ban can be sued for damages or professionally sanctioned. The measure makes Arkansas the first U.S. state to make gender-affirming medical care illegal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transgender Trend</span> British pressure group

Transgender Trend is an anti-trans British pressure group, which describes itself as a group of parents, professionals and academics who are concerned about the number of children diagnosed with gender dysphoria. It was founded in 2015 by Stephanie Davies-Arai.

Stella O'Malley is an Irish psychotherapist and author, with three books on parenting and mental health. She is a regular contributor to Irish national newspapers, podcasts, and TV. She made a documentary about gender dysphoria in children for Channel 4, and is the founder of Genspect, a self-described gender critical organisation opposed to gender affirming care.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Genspect</span> Organization opposing transgender rights

Genspect is an international group founded in June 2021 by psychotherapist Stella O'Malley that has been described as gender-critical. Genspect opposes gender-affirming care, as well as social and medical transition for transgender people. Genspect opposes allowing transgender people under 25 years old to transition, and opposes laws that would ban conversion therapy on the basis of gender identity. Genspect also endorses the unproven concept of rapid-onset gender dysphoria (ROGD), which proposes a subclass of gender dysphoria caused by peer influence and social contagion. ROGD has been rejected by major medical organisations due to its lack of evidence and likelihood to cause harm by stigmatizing gender-affirming care.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine</span> Group opposing gender-affirming care

The Society For Evidence-Based Gender Medicine (SEGM) is a non-profit organization that is known for its opposition to gender-affirming care for transgender youth and for engaging in political lobbying. The group routinely cites the unproven concept of rapid-onset gender dysphoria and mistakenly claimed that conversion therapy techniques are only practiced on the basis of sexual orientation rather than gender identity. SEGM is often cited in anti-transgender legislation and court cases, sometimes filing court briefs. It is not recognized as a scientific organization by the international medical community.

The International Federation for Therapeutic and Counseling Choice (IFTCC) is a London-based organization that internationally lobbies governments and religious organizations to oppose bans on conversion therapy, the pseudoscientific practice of attempting to change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity, which has condemned by medical organizations and human rights groups as "unethical, unscientific and ineffective and, in some instances, tantamount to torture."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chloe Cole</span> American activist (born 2004)

Chloe Cole is an American activist who opposes gender-affirming care for minors and supports bans on such care following her own detransition. She has appeared with conservative politicians and in the media, supporting and advocating for such bans. Cole says that she began transitioning at 12, having undergone treatment which included puberty blockers, testosterone, and a double mastectomy at age 15. She began detransitioning at 17 after experiencing hallucinations during an LSD trip, and converted to Christianity.

Miriam Grossman is an American psychiatrist and activist associated with anti-LGBT and conservative advocacy organizations. She is an opponent of gender affirming medical care for transgender people, and opposes sex education in schools, which she describes as a "marxist approach to human development".

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Anti-LGBT Hate Group Releases Anti-Trans Position Statement". Southern Poverty Law Center. April 7, 2016. Retrieved 2022-10-14.
  2. 1 2 "US professor, who says being transgender is a 'delusion', to speak at WA university". The Guardian. 2018-08-15. Retrieved 2022-10-14.
  3. 1 2 Perez, Reina (September 13, 2022). "Lawsuit Suggests Zealotry Disguised as Medicine Led to Denial of Medicaid Coverage for Trans Treatments". Miami New Times. Retrieved 2022-10-14.
  4. 1 2 Carmody, James (2018-08-17). "University of WA pulls plug on talk by controversial transgender sceptic". ABC News. Retrieved 2022-10-14.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Zuckerman, Jake (2020-02-05). "Conversion therapy is a discredited practice. Ohio hired its advocate as an expert witness". Ohio Capital Journal. Retrieved 2022-10-14.
  6. 1 2 "American College of Pediatricians". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved 2022-10-14. Van Meter, who is popular on the anti-LGBTQ circuit, touts the discredited practice of conversion therapy in addition to anti-trans pseudoscience.
  7. ↑ Stern, Mark Joseph (2016-08-19). "North Carolina Tells Court Trans People Aren't Really Trans, Just "Delusional"". Slate. Retrieved 2022-10-14.
  8. ↑ "Anti-LGBT Roundup 11.22.2017". Southern Poverty Law Center. November 22, 2017. Retrieved 2022-10-14.
  9. 1 2 Saunders, Patrick (2019-11-01). "Atlanta doctor who backs anti-trans bill leads hate group". Project Q. Retrieved 2022-10-14.
  10. 1 2 3 4 Caruso, Stephen (2020-09-15). "A Texas judge ruled this doctor was not an expert. A Pennsylvania Republican invited him to testify on trans health care". Pennsylvania Capital Star. Retrieved 2022-10-14.
  11. ↑ "American anti-trans activist invited to give Singaporeans a 'better understanding'". Coconuts. February 24, 2021. Retrieved 2022-10-14.
  12. ↑ Wong, Dale John (2021-02-25). "Homophobic U.S. doctor gets invited to teach Singaporeans about transgenderism". Mashable. Retrieved 2022-10-14.
  13. ↑ Imlay, Ashley (February 19, 2021). "Proposed ban on gender reassignment treatment for minors stalls at Utah Capitol". KSL. Retrieved 2022-10-14.
  14. ↑ Frieden, Joyce (2021-04-01). "Arkansas May Bar Gender Transition Care for Minors". Medpage Today. Retrieved 2022-10-14.
  15. ↑ Stahl, Aviva (April 16, 2021). "The Science Behind Those Anti-Trans Healthcare Bills Is Bullsh*t, According To Experts". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved 2022-10-14.
  16. ↑ Land, Joni Auden. "Idaho trans kids fear losing gender-affirming medical care as bill moves to House floor". Idaho Statesmen. Retrieved 2022-10-14.
  17. ↑ Russell, Betsy Z. (March 4, 2022). "Idaho House panel backs bill to make trans youth treatment a felony". Idaho State Journal. Retrieved 2022-10-14.
  18. ↑ Mueller, Sarah (2022-07-10). "A hearing on banning Florida Medicaid payments for gender-affirming care pits religion against science". WSFU. Retrieved 2022-10-14.
  19. ↑ Kam, Dara (2022-07-15). "Report targets Florida over its transgender treatment plan". WUWF. Retrieved 2022-10-14.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.