GOP attorney general targets therapists working with trans adolescents for investigation | LGBTQNation

This blog originally appeared at LGBTQ NATION.

He’s seeking to acquire more access to children’ medical records.

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey is continuing his battle against gender-affirming care for trans adolescents, now targeting social workers and therapists who work with LGBTQ+ youth for inquiry.

According to Missouri Independent, Bailey has acquired unredacted and loosely redacted medical records of trans children through the state inquiry into the Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital.

He’s also attempting to acquire access from the university’s digital medical records system. Bailey previously imposed harsh limitations on gender-affirming care via an emergency ruling that was overturned last May and investigated Planned Parenthood to get access to medical data of children who got gender-affirming care from the organization.

Katy Erker-Lynch is the executive director of PROMO, an LGBTQ+ advocacy group in Missouri. She claimed that “the attorney general has created a hostile environment for medical providers where they are afraid to stay and practice medicine.”

Bailey has allegedly talked to 57 healthcare professionals as a part of the probe. One of those people is licensed clinical social worker Kelly Storck, who spoke with senior investigator Nick McBroom. McBroom brought with him a file of letters Storck had written to Washington University Transgender Care, supporting patients who desired to get gender-affirming care at the hospital.

McBroom asked Storck to describe in detail her methodology for prescribing gender-affirming, but she declined to. The case was subsequently concluded but left Storck with residual skepticism.

“I still have a lot of distrust about who initiated it and who was in my documents,” she stated.

Levi is a 17-year-old trans teenager who received care at the clinic. His mother, Becky Hormuth, claimed the probe was invasive and disturbing to the family’s lives.

“The state has already basically disrupted our lives,” Hormuth said. “They’ve disrupted our families, our children’s lives with the legislation that has passed. Then for him to continue going on is even more invasive and damaging.”

According to Hormuth, “the state has already essentially disrupted our lives.” “The legislation that has been passed has caused disruptions in our families and our children’s lives.” Therefore, it is even more intrusive and harmful for him to carry on.

Bailey enacted an emergency order extending Missouri’s restriction on gender-affirming care for minors to transgender adults after the state approved a law prohibiting it for minors. He argued in the policy document that gender-affirming care for transgender individuals can “pose very serious side effects” and “lack solid evidentiary support.” After state politicians intervened, he revoked the rule.

In June 2023, Missouri Governor Mike Parson (R) enacted the prohibition. Despite a swift legal appeal, the judge upheld the ban’s implementation.