Psych association holds ‘irreconcilable positions’ on transgender ideological medicine, says medical watchdog

The American Psychological Association publicly promotes so-called gender-affirming care for minors but simultaneously warns against medical intervention in official statements to the Federal Trade Commission – an outright contradiction, according to Do No Harm.

Do No Harm – a nationwide group of over 50,000 members including medical professionals dedicated to removing identity politics from medicine – sent a letter Monday to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), asking the agency to investigate.

“We advocate for what should be common sense: children should not be subjected to dangerous, life-altering procedures that lack scientific justification,” Do No Harm said in a statement provided to The Lion.

Last fall, in a statement to the FTC, the APA admitted a “lack of long-term scientific evidence” to support medical interventions for minors with gender dysphoria and recommended evaluation and psychological care without medical intervention. But the APA’s 2024 policy statement endorsed “access to comprehensive, gender-affirming healthcare.” Despite this stark contradiction, the APA told The Daily Wire at the end of March that the two statements are “consistent.”

“An investigation into potentially unfair or deceptive trade practices in this space must examine why the nation’s largest psychological organization appears to present one face to the public and practitioners and a different face to federal regulators,” Do No Harm’s letter argues. “Full transparency is urgently needed from the APA about the scientific limitations of so-called ‘gender-affirming care’ for minors, with organizational policy clearly following suit.”

The FTC has recently launched investigations into organizations such as the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, the Endocrine Society and the American Academy of Pediatrics regarding their transgender policies for minors. The FTC should launch a similar investigation into the APA for “knowingly promoting so-called ‘gender-affirming care,’” in violation of Section 5 of the FTC Act, Do No Harm argues.

“The APA cannot have it both ways,” the letter says. “These conflicting messages, which will influence how psychologists and other providers counsel children and families on irreversible medication interventions, are misleading to consumers, patients, and the FTC.”

The APA’s 2024 policy statement encourages “psychological and medical” research into “gender-affirming care” and supports medical interventions on minors, while the 2025 APA letter to the FTC says psychologists’ responsibility is to assess “the full spectrum of a child’s psychological, social, and developmental functioning.”

Similarly, the 2024 policy recommendations deny that gender dysphoria may derive from “traumatic stress or neurodivergence,” calling the theory “misleading and unfounded,” but the 2025 statement advises psychologists to consider multiple factors that may contribute to gender-identity confusion, such as developmental stage, family, social contexts and co-occurring conditions.

The 2025 statement further clarifies that a diagnosis of gender dysphoria does not launch a “singular pathway to medical intervention or even social transitioning.” But the 2024 policy demands insurance companies cover “both psychological and medical gender-affirming care” and directs psychologists to support “all appropriate healthcare services and treatment for transgender, gender-diverse, and nonbinary individuals.”

The 2025 review also calls gender dysphoria “complex, evolving” and often temporary, adding that the condition relies on a “lack of long-term scientific evidence” and warns against conducting randomized controlled trials on minors, citing “irreversible harm.” But the 2024 policy recommendations claim gender identity “non-affirmation” is violent and discriminatory and oppose state bans on “gender-affirming care,” saying such laws contradict the “comprehensive body of psychological and medical research supporting the positive impact of gender-affirming treatments.”

Do No Harm Chief Medical Officer Dr. Kurt Miceli says the statements represent irreconcilable positions.

“Make no mistake, the APA’s original policy position pushes for unobstructed access to sex-rejecting interventions for children, equates non-affirmation with violence, and condemns state protections as human rights violations,” Miceli said in a press release. “By recently doubling down on that position, the APA is contradicting its more measured comments to the FTC, which encourages caution and comprehensive psychological assessments rather than medical intervention.”

Children who undergo “experimental and irreversible gender interventions,” as the APA’s 2024 policy statement recommends, bear “detrimental effects,” Executive Director of American Parents Coalition Alleigh Marré said in a statement to The Lion.

“Medical organizations whose mission is to provide guidance to healthcare providers across the country continue to prioritize transgender ideology over the wellbeing of children,” Marré said. “American parents deserve medical guidance from these institutions that prioritize their children.”