The fight over access to gender-affirming medical care for trans youths — like the fight over abortion rights and other issues at the intersection of health, politics, gender, culture and race — is impacting where Americans live, work and raise families. And it’s grown particularly acute over the past year, as conservative governors and legislators have restricted access to medical care for gender dysphoria, a condition that stems from one’s lived experience of gender being different from the sex assigned at birth. The rhetoric is leading to violence and hate, and it must be overcome through education and understanding if we are ever to regain civility in our country.

This is a special bonus episode about authentic truth, love, and compassion demonstrated with a family’s journey in gender-affirming care.  Eric interviews Melissa McLaren and her transgender daughter Conner just a few days after the horrific mass shooting at a nightclub in Colorado that targeted LGBTQ individuals.  Conner is a 17-year-old transgender woman, and her mother Melissa has been supportive of her gender transition since Conner expressed her preference to be a girl as a toddler.  Through the support of loving parents and a health system that provided gender-affirming care, Conner was able to find her truest self and live a life of authenticity.


Episode Bookmarks:
01:30 An introduction to Melissa and Conner and their family’s journey in seeking gender-affirming care
02:30 The recent mass shooting tragedy at Club Q targeting LGBTQ individuals on the same day as Transgender Day of Remembrance (Nov. 20)
02:45 The conservative rhetoric against gender-affirming care that engenders hate and violence.
04:00 An overview of Conner’s gender transition and how Conner “would be dead today” had she not received gender-affirming care in her childhood.
05:00 Conner discusses the challenges she faced during her transition (most of it was “smooth sailing except for politicians”)
05:15 Melissa describes Conner’s gender transition since the age of 4 (she is now 17). Conner began expressing her female identity as early as 18-months old.
08:30 How a babysitter traumatized Conner as a 4-year old, stating that changing her gender was “against the Will of God” and that she would be “sent to Hell.”
09:00 Melissa begins her search for medical support to help her child overcome the emotional distress of gender dysphoria.
10:30 Gender-affirming care began with a social transition related to clothing choices.
11:30 Conner’s insistence at the age of 4 that she be identified by She/Her pronouns.
14:00 The team of medical providers that helped the McLaren family navigate the journey in age-appropriate gender-affirming care.
16:00 How mainstream media misleads the public about gender-affirming care.
16:45 The use and efficacy of puberty-blockers in pediatric gender-affirming care.
18:00 Conner describes what it was like to receive her first puberty-blocker shot (a big needle with thick serum)
19:00 The constant clinical monitoring and lab testing that coincides with puberty suppression treatment.
20:00 The patient-centeredness and family support provided in gender-affirming care. (Isn’t this what value-based care is all about?)
21:00 Patient-centered gender-affirming care is not about corralling patients into choices. It is about collaboration between the family and the medical team.
22:00 “We feel so well protected, understand the goals and how to safely get there, and what the offramps are.”
23:00 Approximately 300,000 teenagers identify as transgender, which adds up to 1-2 percent of the nation’s population within that age.
23:30 Referencing the prior Race to Value podcast, “The Truth and Beauty of Gender-Affirming Care, with Dallas Ducar”
24:00 Conservative political opposition to gender-affirming care, especially for the pediatric population, with some states saying this constitutes child abuse.
24:30 There have been hundreds of anti-trans laws res...

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