A former worker at a “transgender clinic” is speaking out against “transitioning” minors, revealing what really goes on at these clinics. This appears to be the first instance of a “transgender center” whistleblower in history.
Jamie Reed worked for four years as a case manager at The Washington University Transgender Center (WUTC) at St. Louis Children’s Hospital from 2018 until 2022. And she’s not a conservative; not even close.
She describes herself in her recent article at The Free Press as a “42-year-old … queer woman, and politically to the left of Bernie Sanders.” She’s currently married to a “transman,” i.e., a woman.
In other words, she’s not from the conservative camp by any stretch of the imagination. But she’s speaking out, and in a big way.
Reed says that when she began working at WUTC, the center’s “working assumption” was that the sooner you treat kids with gender dysphoria, the better. Treatment commonly involves prescribing kids with puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to prevent their normal sexual development, and then begin the development of the secondary sex characteristics of the opposite sex.
She writes:
I left the clinic in November of last year because I could no longer participate in what was happening there. By the time I departed, I was certain that the way the American medical system is treating these patients is the opposite of the promise we make to “do no harm.” Instead, we are permanently harming the vulnerable patients in our care.
Today I am speaking out. I am doing so knowing how toxic the public conversation is around this highly contentious issue—and the ways that my testimony might be misused. I am doing so knowing that I am putting myself at serious personal and professional risk.
Almost everyone in my life advised me to keep my head down. But I cannot in good conscience do so. Because what is happening to scores of children is far more important than my comfort. And what is happening to them is morally and medically appalling.
Reed adds that most of the patients that visited WUTC did not have actual gender dysphoria, a psychological feeling of being uneasy with their biological sex. Instead, most of the individuals WUTC treated were there because of social and culture influences, i.e., because of a “social contagion.”
One of my jobs was to do intake for new patients and their families. When I started there were probably 10 such calls a month. When I left there were 50, and about 70 percent of the new patients were girls. Sometimes clusters of girls arrived from the same high school.
She continues:
Frequently, our patients declared they had disorders that no one believed they had. We had patients who said they had Tourette syndrome (but they didn’t); that they had tic disorders (but they didn’t); that they had multiple personalities (but they didn’t).
The doctors privately recognized these false self-diagnoses as a manifestation of social contagion. They even acknowledged that suicide has an element of social contagion. But when I said the clusters of girls streaming into our service looked as if their gender issues might be a manifestation of social contagion, the doctors said gender identity reflected something innate.
She says that the individuals who came to WUTC had many other psychological problems: depression, anxiety, ADHD, eating disorders, obesity and autism.
Reed notes that the center claims it has studies showing that kids who claim to be gender dysphoric, and proceed to medically “transition,” “often wind up functioning psychosocially as well as or better than their peers.”
Reed says: “There are no reliable studies showing this.”
There are numerous heartbreaking stories that Reed shares, including the case of one of WUTC’s doctors testifying in a custody battle against a father who opposed his child’s mother’s wish to “start their 11-year-old daughter on puberty blockers” (emphasis in original).
Reed writes:
I had done the original intake call, and I found the mother quite disturbing. She and the father were getting divorced, and the mother described the daughter as “kind of a tomboy.” So now the mother was convinced her child was trans. But when I asked if her daughter had adopted a boy’s name, if she was distressed about her body, if she was saying she felt like a boy, the mother said no. I explained the girl just didn’t meet the criteria for an evaluation.
Then a month later, the mother called back and said her daughter now used a boy’s name, was in distress over her body, and wanted to transition. This time the mom and daughter were given an appointment. Our providers decided the girl was trans and prescribed a puberty blocker to prevent her normal development.
The father adamantly disagreed, said this was all coming from the mother, and a custody battle ensued. After the hearing where our doctor testified in favor of transition, the judge sided with the mother.
Reed noted that she was motivated to speak out after seeing comments from Dr. Rachel Levine, the U.S. Assistant Secretary for Health, who is a man who believes he is a woman. Levine had said that “clinics are proceeding carefully and that no American children are receiving drugs or hormones for gender dysphoria who shouldn’t.”
Reed writes:
I felt stunned and sickened. It wasn’t true. And I know that from deep first-hand experience.
Jamie Reed concludes her article by suggesting what she wants to see done. She has since brought her concerns and documents to the attention of Missouri’s attorney general. She says:
He is a Republican. I am a progressive. But the safety of children should not be a matter for our culture wars.
Finishing her article, Reed writes:
Given the secrecy and lack of rigorous standards that characterize youth gender transition across the country, I believe that to ensure the safety of American children, we need a moratorium on the hormonal and surgical treatment of young people with gender dysphoria.
In the past 15 years, according to Reuters, the U.S. has gone from having no pediatric gender clinics to more than 100. A thorough analysis should be undertaken to find out what has been done to their patients and why—and what the long-term consequences are…
Some critics describe the kind of treatment offered at places like the Transgender Center where I worked as a kind of national experiment. But that’s wrong.
Experiments are supposed to be carefully designed. Hypotheses are supposed to be tested ethically. The doctors I worked alongside at the Transgender Center said frequently about the treatment of our patients: “We are building the plane while we are flying it.” No one should be a passenger on that kind of aircraft.
Jamie Reed’s decision to share her story is significant; and she has modeled true courage in speaking out. She has become the first whistle blower exposing the inside of “transgender clinics,” able to give the inside scoop of what really goes on.
Jamie Reed is the first to speak out. But she won’t be the last.
If you or someone you know need help dealing with the transgender issue, check out Focus on the Family’s Transgender Resources page here.
To learn more about defeating gender ideology, click here.
Related articles and resources:
Counseling Consultation & Referrals
How to Defeat Gender Ideology, Protect Children and End ‘Trans America’
How to Defeat Gender Ideology, Protect Children and End ‘Trans America’ Pt. 2
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