The KU Hospital Gender Clinic Protest

KANSAS CITY – Members of Gays Against Groomers (GAG) and Moms for Liberty (M4L) came together to protest the medical transitioning of children at the University of Kansas Medical Center, 2000 Olathe Boulevard, Kansas City, KS 66160. The protest took place on Tuesday, September 5 from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. and was the first protest by the GAG Kansas chapter. It was attended by three members of GAG from both the Kansas and Missouri chapters along with two members from M4L. Another mother who was not a part of M4L also showed up to protest for a total of six. Another six showed up to counterprotest.

Co-chapter leader for GAG Kansas Elaine (last name not given) stated that employees of the facility were “comfortable” knowing they supported medical transitioning on children, showing support for the counter protesters. However, she also said the general public was more in favor of their protest.

“I ask, do the citizens of Kansas want a healthcare facility that is so well known, so state of the art, so advanced in medicine, to give care that does not align with the citizens of Kansas values?” Elaine said.

“This is disgraceful of KU to continue to insult Kansans and to put children in harms way, just because of some unsupported ideologies,” Elaine continued. “This isn’t a practice of medicine for our children, it’s a medical experiment.”

GAG Director of Chapters Chris Barrett, who also serves as the Missouri chapter leader, joined the Kansas chapter to protest.

“As a Missouri resident, I think it’s great that our state banned gender transitions for children,” Barrett told The Kansas Constitutional. “Unfortunately, the state of Kansas is still allowing this horrendous practice to continue and Missouri kids are being taken across the state line to be butchered or pumped up with dangerous medications. It’s time for Kansans and Missourians to join together and protect children in both of our states.”

The Kansas chapter of GAG released a short video of the protest on their social media.

“Protesting at KU has really opened the door to how intrinsically the practice of medicalizing children has become,” co-chapter leader for GAG Kansas Avani Barreras told The Kansas Constitutional. “The actions of the KU medical staff and their support of the counter protestors only showed a great lack of understanding of the effects of puberty blockers and hormones to children. This only serves as a greater motivator to continue the fight for children!”

After a day, the chapter took to social media again, this time calling out the University of Kansas Health System for their silence regarding the protest.

It's been a full day plus, and KU has not made any statements against them doing medical transitioning of children.

We are disgusted that a professional medical institute would be a willing participant in sterilizing and medical transitioning of children.

We have even seen…

— Gays Against Groomers Kansas (@GAG_Kansas) September 7, 2023

We reached out to the University of Kansas Health System, asking if the pushback “brought any talk about looking further into the safety and efficacy of child gender transition services provided by the facility.”

“The University of Kansas Health System respects the right of people to peacefully protest,” the facility said in a statement. “Talking with media on this topic has proven disruptive to healthcare at other hospitals, clinics, and health systems across the nation. Our focus remains on patient care for the safety of everyone involved.”

According to their website, “The University of Kansas Health System in Kansas City offers a multidisciplinary approach to gender-affirming medicine, also known as transgender medicine.” The services they provide for this care includes: Nonsurgical aesthetics, fertility preservation, hormone replacement therapy, pelvic health therapy, primary care, psychology, gender-transition surgery for males and females, and voice therapy and vocal surgery.

When looking at the qualifications to get the gender-transition surgery, they do not provide a specific minimum or maximum age requirement, instead stating that the candidate must be the “age of maturity for sterilization.”