The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently released a report linking “gender ideology” to leftwing authoritarianism and political violence – a study scientists say was poorly conducted and “nakedly political”, likely leading to greater politicization of science and health.
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scientists → release → science
It follows attempts by the administration to limit access to gender-affirming care – including, on Friday, an agreement reached between the Department of Justice and a New York hospital to no longer offer pediatric gender-affirming care.
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It → follow → care
Dozens of hospitals stopped offering gender-affirming care after the Trump administration began investigating them for offering the standard of care.
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administration → stop → care
Patients on Medicaid and government insurance plans have also been blocked from accessing care, and a proposed rule would block any health system offering gender-affirming care from receiving federal funding.
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rule → block → funding
The new report, which was not published by a scientific journal and did not undergo peer review, takes aim at medical organizations offering guidelines on gender-affirming care.
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which → publish → care
It also links those who say they support trans individuals with supporting authoritarianism and political violence.
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they → link → authoritarianism
“It was a very poorly done piece of research,” said Gideon Meyerowitz-Katz, an epidemiologist from the University of Sydney, who highlighted several methodological failings.
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who → do → failings
I think this is probably the most obviously political study that I’ve come across.”
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I → think → that
The report is “quite an abnormal document with a number of oddities,” said Daniel Aaron, an associate professor at the University of Utah’s SJ Quinney College of Law.
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Aaron → say → Law
“It likely also violates federal law because it’s not peer-reviewed, and it’s essentially quite an influential dissemination of information,” which could mean it violates the Information Quality Bulletin, a federal regulation that requires peer review for influential scientific information from the US government, he said.
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he → violate → government
The HHS did not respond by press time to the Guardian’s questions about whether this report was commissioned by the agency and if it violated federal regulations.
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it → respond → regulations
Aaron believes the report would not survive peer review and wondered why a political science report was published by HHS.
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report → believe → HHS
“It’s actually not even health-related, so I don’t understand why this is related to HHS’s mission,” Aaron said.
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Aaron → ’ → mission
Craig Konnoth, a professor at the University of Virginia School of Law who coauthored with Aaron a perspective on gender-affirming care policy for the New England Journal of Medicine, agreed.
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who → coauthore → Medicine
He sees the report as an attempt to undermine mainstream health and science organizations such as the American Psychological Association, American Psychiatric Association, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, and the American Academy of Pediatrics, all named in the report.
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all → see → report
“By that standard, any medical recommendation becomes ‘authoritarian’.
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recommendation → become → standard
Any standard set by any licensing board becomes ‘authoritarian’,” Konnoth said.
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Konnoth → set → board
“What we’re seeing is this broadside attack on the scientific establishment more generally, and trans rights are being used as the vehicle to do this.”
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rights → see → this
Colin Wright, an author of the report and a fellow at the conservative thinktank Manhattan Institute, said he believes the study was published by HHS quickly because a draft had been leaked to the public.
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draft → say → public
He said the researchers are planning to release more information, including the numbers from the survey, and they are planning to submit the study to an unnamed journal for publication.
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they → say → publication
“It was kind of a surprise to us that it dropped when it did, and so we didn’t have plans beforehand,” Wright said.
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Wright → drop → plans
“We probably could have tightened the language a little bit more.”
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We → tighten → language
Wright disputed that the study was an attempt to link support for trans people and political authoritarianism and violence, though the report itself says: “These findings suggest that gender ideology is associated with LWA [left-wing authoritarianism] and willingness to justify political violence.”
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ideology → dispute → violence
Gender ideology was measured by statements such as: “People should be supported in expressing their transgender identity,” and “Parents should support their children’s transgender exploration.”
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Parents → measure → exploration
Wright suggested that the study is about the guidance offered by medical organizations and “in many ways geared to make people sort of have a more extreme reaction to it, and to kind of fuel somewhat authoritarian tendencies of trying to silence people” on gender-affirming care.
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people → suggest → care
He argued that the guidelines appear to push people toward ideological extremes.
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guidelines → argue → extremes
“Sort of independently, it increased their willingness, at least correlationally, to their support for political violence,” Wright said.
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Wright → increase → violence
In an online survey, 1,208 people ranked statements about support for trans people as well as about political ideology and political violence.
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people → rank → ideology
The political ideology questionnaire essentially measured whether someone was a Democrat, said Meyerowitz-Katz, who added: “I don’t think anyone would think this is a good measure of authoritarianism.”
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this → measure → authoritarianism
One of the statements was about whether opposition to gay marriage is homophobic; another was a statement about whether the focus on terrorism should shift to the far right.
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focus → shift → right
“If you were a rational human being who understood the facts, you would agree with that,” said Meyerowitz-Katz.
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Katz → understand → that
For instance, approximately 75-80% of deaths from terrorist attacks in the United States come from people on the far right, and rightwing attacks are more lethal than leftwing violence.
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attacks → come → violence
Similarly, the questions on political violence focused only on political violence against conservative figures or institutions, he said.
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he → focus → figures
If they’d included political violence against other actors, “you would almost certainly see the opposite correlation,” making the questionnaire an unreliable predictor of whether someone supports political violence, Meyerowitz-Katz said.
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Katz → include → violence
It was also difficult to parse these relationships, because the researchers haven’t yet released any numbers from the survey, Meyerowitz-Katz said: “The only thing they report in that paper is correlations.”
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they → parse → paper
But they don’t say, for instance, how many respondents supported actions like arson of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) buildings.
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respondents → say → buildings
“This is very silly,” said Meyerowitz-Katz.
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Katz → say → ?
“They’re producing what I would describe as pseudoscience …
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I → produce → pseudoscience
It’s a bad, poorly done report.”
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It → ’ → ?
Konnoth, who studies the link between opposition to LGBT rights and authoritarianism, noted that the report overlooks significant research in the field.
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report → study → field
…and 14 more, not listed.
The Aporia
