Top Kansas medical school supports child sex-change org despite state ban, growing criticism from experts

A leading Kansas medical school receiving millions of dollars in taxpayer funding trains physicians in sex-change surgeries for adults – but it supports an organization that has drawn criticism for its positions on gender medicine for kids, which was made illegal in the state.

The University of Kansas Medical Center teaches physicians how to perform “top” and “bottom” sex-change surgeries through its Adult Comprehensive Gender Care and Surgery fellowship. However, the program also supports the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), an organization critics accuse of ignoring scientific evidence and promoting pediatric sex-change procedures based on political agendas.

Sex-change surgery, also called gender-affirming surgery, “gives transgender people a physical appearance that aligns with their gender,” the University of Kansas Medical Center says on its website.

The procedures range from facial reconstruction to mastectomies and breast augmentation, as well as genital surgeries including vaginoplasty and phalloplasty.

The University of Kansas combines plastic surgery, reconstructive urology and gynecology in its surgical program.

“Fellows at the University of Kansas Medical Center, which receives millions in federal and state funding, will be taught how to perform a vaginoplasty, a procedure where a pseudo-vagina is created on a male, oftentimes using skin from the penis,” The Daily Wire reported.

“Another procedure is phalloplasty, when a fake penis is created using skin removed from other parts of the body.”

Kansas banned sex-change treatments, including surgeries, for minors in February 2025, although a federal court partially blocked the law in May, allowing hormone therapy for minors to continue while litigation proceeds.

The University of Kansas currently limits sex-change surgeries to adults 18 and older. Before the law took effect, however, the University of Kansas Hospital performed eight sex-change surgeries on minors, the most of any Kansas hospital, according to Stop the Harm’s database.

Although the university does not currently perform sex-change surgeries on minors, its fellowship supports WPATH.

“Additionally, the medical center will sponsor fellowship participants to become members of WPATH, an organization accused of twisting science to hide uncomfortable details about transgender procedures,” Daily Wire reported. “Fellows will attend WPATH’s annual symposium. WPATH is one of the largest advocates of transgender procedures for kids.”

The Federal Trade Commission, along with the states of Alaska, Iowa, Nebraska and Texas, sued WPATH, alleging the organization used false or misleading claims to persuade parents to consent to sex-change treatments for their children.

According to the lawsuit, WPATH’s Standards of Care state that sex-change treatments are medically necessary and improve children’s mental health. The standards also state puberty blockers are fully reversible and that mastectomies are safe and improve quality of life.

The standards further state that “childhood gender diversity is an expected aspect of general human development” and that gender confusion in children “is not a pathology or mental health disorder.” At the same time, they argue medical interventions to alter a child’s sex characteristics can be medically necessary.

WPATH says its standards are based on research, ethical principles and expert knowledge. However, many physicians and researchers have challenged the evidence supporting gender treatments for both children and adults.

“While adults have broad power to consent to things, you cannot consent to unsound medical practices, or at least, that is not an excuse for the unsound practices,” Cornell University professor and CriticalRace.org founder William Jacobson told The Daily Wire.

Critics argue many studies on sex-change treatments rely on small sample sizes and lack control groups. Concerns also have been raised about the effects of puberty blockers on brain development and cognitive function, as Heartlander News previously reported.

Evolutionary biologist Dr. Colin Wright and Ethics and Policy Center senior fellow Mary Rice Hasson argue the evidence supporting gender medicine relies on weak studies and repeatedly cites the same limited research.

Fighting for decades 

Johns Hopkins psychologist Dr. Paul McHugh has opposed sex-change treatments for decades and played a key role in closing the Johns Hopkins Gender Identity Clinic in 1979.

McHugh said many patients initially believed sex-change surgery had solved their problems, but underlying struggles remained.

“Their difficulties in interpersonal relationships, their difficulties in their jobs,” he said. “They had difficulty with their families, which was the whole reason for doing it.

“They were not better.”

McHugh said he believes gender ideology separates biological reality from personal belief.

“And I thought that was one of the kinds of things where psychiatry has gone wrong in the past and could go wrong again – imagining things rather than knowing things.”

McHugh has faced criticism for his opposition to gender ideology and sex-change procedures, with some critics citing his Catholic faith.

“I am Catholic, and I can’t tell in what way my faith influences any of the things I do,” McHugh said. “I’m sure it’s important in everything I do. So I can’t deny that it may play a role.

“But … I try to use the information that everybody else uses in determining the fixity or the ‘born that way’ idea.”

Despite criticism of the evidence supporting sex-change procedures, many physicians continue to support them.

The University of Kansas requires patients to meet several criteria before surgery, including obtaining letters of support from licensed medical professionals.

Requirements include:

• Two letters from mental health providers supporting surgery – one from a provider with a Ph.D. or M.D. and one from a provider with at least a master’s degree.

• Adults who have reached the legal age to consent to sterilization.

• 12 continuous months of hormone therapy.

• 12 continuous months of living in a gender role that aligns with the patient’s gender identity.

• Recommended regular visits with a mental health or medical professional.

• Must be a nonsmoker.

• Must meet procedure-specific BMI requirements.

“I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised because the truth of the matter is many people want to know the answer to a question, but they don’t want to have an answer that they don’t like,” McHugh said of those who continue to support sex-change surgery.

McHugh said he has no plans to retire but will continue his advocacy because God has gotten him this far.

“I think it’s really important to see that the role you have calls for certain kinds of courage. And if you don’t have that, you shouldn’t have that role. And I had some adventures.

“And it turns out I was right about a lot of things – that’s the fun part.”

(Photo credit: The University of Kansas Health System, CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication)