Tonya Shellnutt

NEW UNDERCOVER INVESTIGATION: I spent several months investigating a nationwide network of advocacy organizations and medical providers helping families continue medically transitioning their children in defiance of state laws. My investigation centers on Campaign for Southern Equality (CSE), an LGBT advocacy nonprofit that connects families with cooperating medical providers across the country. CSE has distributed over $1 million in travel grants to more than 1,200 families, plus another $1 million to partner organizations, including funding for medical appointments. With CSE's knowledge, providers in its referral network told me the ways that they circumvent state restrictions on gender-transition treatments for minors. Some discussed using alternative diagnosis codes, such as “endocrine disorder,” to facilitate prescriptions or insurance coverage. Others described mailing medications directly to families' homes or sending prescriptions to pharmacies in states where these interventions are banned. Providers also discussed conducting virtual appointments with patients in those states. Others required patients to cross state lines for telehealth but did not appear to have a reliable method for verifying their physical location. My primary undercover scenario involved an 11-year-old girl in Tennessee who had only recently begun identifying as nonbinary, with no long history of gender-related distress. The providers I shared this scenario with seemed eager to treat her. Many indicated that puberty blockers could be prescribed after an initial evaluation lasting just one to several hours. My investigation uncovered practices that may violate state and federal laws and pose medical risks to children living hundreds or thousands of miles from their treating physicians. Read my full @CityJournal investigation: city-journal.org/article/ped…