Tennessee House Republicans formally requested that Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) stop performing gender surgeries on minors in a letter on Wednesday.
The medical center has been the subject of massive debate after the Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh published a video of a Vanderbilt doctor calling transgender surgeries “huge money makers.”
Vanderbilt opened its trans clinic in 2018. During a lecture the same year, Dr. Shayne Taylor explained how she convinced Nashville to get into the gender transition game. She emphasized that it’s a “big money maker,” especially because the surgeries require a lot of “follow ups” pic.twitter.com/zedM7HBCBe
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) September 20, 2022
“It’s a lot of money. These surgeries make a lot of money,” VUMC Clinic for Transgender Health’s Dr. Shayne Sebold Taylor said during the video.
In another speech, Dr. Ellen Clayton warned that “conscientious objections” are “problematic.” Staff members who decide not to be involved in transition surgeries due to “religious beliefs” were informed that they would face “consequences”
Vanderbilt was apparently concerned that not all of its staff would be on board. Dr. Ellen Clayton warned that “conscientious objections” are “problematic.” Anyone who decides not to be involved in transition surgeries due to “religious beliefs” will face “consequences” pic.twitter.com/CgNicrG4Mg
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) September 20, 2022
“I just want you to take home that saying that you’re not going to do something because of your religious beliefs is not without consequences and it should not be without consequences,” said Clayton.
Walsh also uncovered the fact that Vanderbilt is using a program called “Trans Buddies.” The “buddies” are trans activists from the community who attend appointments with trans patients, monitoring the doctors to guard against “unsafe” behavior such as misgendering.
Vanderbilt makes their Trans Buddies available to children, too. They make lots of “services” available to children, including chemical castration. Though at some point in the last month they removed explicit admission of this fact from their site. Here’s the archived screenshot pic.twitter.com/X9nBpSxTC1
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) September 20, 2022
But they must have forgot to delete a video from Vanderbilt Psychiatry’s Youtube channel back in 2020 which admits explicitly that they will give and have given irreversible hormone drugs to children as young as 13. pic.twitter.com/Qn48zWoJ1N
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) September 20, 2022
A letter to Vanderbilt was signed by 62 state House members, and posted to Twitter by Republican Rep. Jason Zachary.
This is a time in which elected leaders must boldly lead and speak on behalf of the people.
I’ve been joined by my esteemed @tnhousegop colleagues in formally requesting that Vanderbilt Medical halt all gender transition surgeries on minors.
1/ pic.twitter.com/FgiRdLHEM4— Rep. Jason Zachary (@JasonZacharyTN) September 28, 2022
“The Vanderbilt Pediatric Transgender Clinic’s practices qualify as nothing less than abuse,” the letter stated.
“We, the elected representative body of the state of Tennessee, ask members of the VUMC Board of Directors to take immediate action by halting all permanent gender transitioning surgeries being performed on minor children,” the letter continued.
Since Walsh exposed the program, there has been a massive call for it to be stopped.
“Tennesseans across our state have demanded a swift response and a call to action. We agree that these revelations require the legislature to act immediately,” the letter explained.
Lawmakers have also demanded an investigation into the pediatric clinic.
According to a report from the Daily Wire, Republican Governor Bill Lee’s office said he is in contact with the state’s top lawmakers about potential legislation.
“We should not allow permanent, life altering decisions that hurt children, like we saw on display at VUMC. The Governor is in communication with Leader Johnson and Leader Lamberth about legislative solutions, and we look forward to working with them and many other Tennesseans who are passionate about protecting children,” Casey Sellers, a spokeswoman for the governor, told The Daily Wire.