The GENECIS transgender clinic has formally dissolved: How Texas is failing its children

VARSHINI REGUPATHY: The Gender Education and Care Interdisciplinary Support (GENECIS) healthcare program has formally dissolved, leaving hundreds of transgender children in Texas without access to gender-affirming healthcare. The GENECIS clinic had 500 patients in 2021 and serves transgender youth from across Texas and even some other states. Unfortunately, the GENECIS clinic recently closed its doors after facing extreme political pressure, and as a result, transgender youth in Texas have been left severely underserved. Many transgender youth, parents and advocates fear for the future of transgender healthcare under the current repressive Texas Republican leadership.

Since its opening in the Fall of 2014, the GENECIS program is the only gender-affirming clinic in the Southwest region of the United States, as most clinics that serve transgender youth are located in California and the East coast. The program was started at the Children’s Medical Center in Dallas by Dr. Ximena Lopez, a pediatric endocrinologist, and consists of a team of social workers and psychologists. The clinic offers both mental health services and hormone treatments, but does not provide sex-change surgery. According to the hospitals’ physicians, the number one priority of the clinic is to support and care for transgender children and their parents. Consequently, a variety of options and treatments are considered based on each child’s specific needs. In some cases, hormone therapy is offered to older children, but only following a rigorous screening and several check-ins. 

There is a dire need for the GENECIS clinic in Texas, especially because it is currently the only gender-affirming clinic in the state, and parents of transgender children are often unable to make interstate trips to receive frequent treatment. Furthermore, many of the patients that arrive at the clinic struggle with psychiatric issues such as depression and anxiety, often stemming from gender dysphoria. In fact, the clinic reports that around up to 40% of these patients have previously attempted suicide.  This is a nationwide issue; according to the CDC, the rate of suicide attempts among transgender youth is three times higher than their cisgender peers. 

Clearly, the GENECIS clinic is necessary for the mental health and safety of Texan transgender children. However, despite this need, the clinic is closing. The clinic has recently come under fire from conservative groups and lawmakers. Following the attack on transgender athletes in schools, lawmakers  introduced  Senate Bill 1311, that would consider gender-affirming hormone therapy on transgender individuals under 18 child abuse. 

GENECIS has faced additional pressures outside of the threat of the Senate Bill. “Save Texas Kids,” a movement that opposes gender-affirming treatment for transgender youth, put immense pressure on board members of the Children’s Health hospital to close the clinic, going so far as to encourage their members to protest at board members’ homes and outside the hospital. 

 Governor Greg Abbott has been at the forefront of the  war against transgender children,their families and physicians who support them. In fact, it was recently revealed that the GENECIS clinic faced strong political pressure from the governor’s office before making the difficult decision to close its doors. Abbott also recently directed officials to begin investigating reports of children receiving gender-affirming care in an attempt to label this care as child abuse. Not only are these attacks at odds with the medical community and basic scientific research regarding gender-affirming care but they are also causing transgender children and their families to fear for their lives and family structure.  

In light of the attacks on the GENECIS clinic, Texan Republican lawmakers and conservative groups have once again proven that they would rather push their agenda than ensure the safety of Texan children, a dreadful and downright despicable political move.

Varshini Regupathy is a sophomore in the McDonough School of Business studying Business and Global Affairs. She is the daughter of Indian immigrants and a proud native Texan.