The tiny clinic where physicians prescribe hormones and other medications to transgender teenagers shares the same campus where West Virginia kids travel to receive treatments for rare cancer, heart surgery and other health care difficult to get anywhere else.
“I was caught off guard to see that WVU Medicine has a clinic to change the sex of children in West Virginia,” the Republican said, leading a charge to reject amendments that would have allowed some care to continue. Two physicians on the committee — both Republicans — expressed concern, saying “medically uneducated” people shouldn’t be making such decisions.
Opened in 2021, WVU Medicine Children’s Adolescent Gender and Sexual Development Clinic looks like any other health care setting — animal-shaped stickers cover the walls, examination rooms, machines to check blood pressure and heart rates. But providers wear lanyards with colorful buttons displaying pronouns and jackets decorated with a rainbow heart and stethoscope — something Kidd calls “visible reminders” of support.
“I’ve had young people tell me that they can’t imagine a future where they can be happy,” she said. “That’s one of the most heartbreaking things I ever hear.” “The amount of ignorance about the subject is honestly astounding,” she said. “Watching our society respond with such emotional fervor about something that they obviously logically don’t understand is terrifying.”
“It is heartbreaking,” Kidd said, “to have to tell young people and families that we can’t provide the care that they need.”