U of Minnesota health certificate requires course on 'transgender' children, based on controversial WPATH guidelines

Students at the University of Minnesota can enroll in a certificate program on transgender health which will cover the needs of “transgender and gender-diverse children and adolescents.” 

The course will incorporate The World Professional Association for Transgender Health’s (WPATH) standards of care in its curriculum.

The Transgender and Gender Diverse Health certificate consists of four courses that focus on current practices and considerations used by physicians in the gender-affirmation field. 

One course titled “Considerations in the Care of Transgender and Gender-Diverse Children and Adolescents” is a required prerequisite to the certificate which equips students with an understanding of gender-affirmation health care for minors, while also addressing practice-related controversies.

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The course “will discuss the importance of a well-balanced, nuanced, and thoughtful approach to the available research, clinical knowledge, and dilemmas in the field,” according to the course description.

As part of its curriculum, the course will concentrate on the WPATH, a non-profit group whose mission is to “promote evidence based care, education, research, public policy, and respect in transgender health.” The most recent version of their standards of care favor “gender-affirmative” care for minors, including methods such as hormone therapy, genital tucking, and chest binding.

Campus Reform reported on an April 2023 letter signed by then president-elect of WPATH condemning laws restricting sex change surgeries and hormone therapy for minors. The letter said that transgender care is an “important part of many transgender adolescents’ overall care.”

“[N]ow is the time to make a commitment to provide gender-affirming care,” the University of Minnesota states. “Health care professionals who can deliver sensitive, competent care to transgender and gender-diverse patients and clients are more in demand than ever.”

The remaining three required courses for the certificate focus on “destabilizing biases and western assumptions surrounding the topics of gender” and exploring the “systemic marginalization of gender-diverse populations.”

Students can stack the Transgender and Gender Diverse Health certificate with an additional Human Sexuality certificate to lead them toward obtaining a master’s degree in sexual health. 

[RELATED: Texas students protest in favor of ‘sex change’ operations for minors]

These online programs were developed with the help of the university’s National Center for Gender Spectrum Health which aims to “challenge cisnormativity in healthcare,” as well as “promote pleasure and positive sexuality for all bodies.”

University of Minnesota is not the only school that offers certificates in transgender healthcare. Campus Reform reported that Lewis and Clark Graduate School students can enroll in “Gender Diversity in Children and Youth” which “advocates for the elimination of arbitrary and destructive gender role stereotypes.”

Campus Reform contacted all relevant parties for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.

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