Genecis, A Program Of Gender-Affirming Will Resume Its Activities After Partial Shut Down.

Genecis, a program of gender-affirming care, located in Texas, will be accepting new patients after a year of rejecting new people on the Hospital´s order.

Genecis was developed by the Children’s Medical Center in Dallas and its main objective is to, support transgender children and adolescents by providing hormones, puberty blockers, and mental health specialists. Additionally, they treat gender dysphoria, a condition that is related to anxiety and depression. 

It first started in 2015 and at that time, it received 20 patients according to NBC. 2 years later, in 2017, Genecis received about 400 adolescents and children. From the Rio Grande to Denton, children with their parents traveled to Dallas to access the only program like this in Texas. 

Dr. Meredith Chapman, lead psychiatrist at Genecis told NBC that this program is heavily rooted in mental health issues because the suicide rate of gender dysphoria children is up to 6 out of 10. “This is a group of kids that we need to make life better for, so we are saving lives and we’re making life better.”  

In November 2021 the Children’s Medical Center decided that Genecis could no longer accept new patients because of the political pressure inflicted by organizations and right-wing politicians. Since then, Genecis has turned down at least 100 families according to the Texas Tribune. In response, Dr. Ximena Lopez, the director of the program, filed a lawsuit against the hospital.

After a 7 month trial, the judge has decided that the Clinic can resume its activities. They will be accepting new patients since November.

To ensure the partial lockdown of the program, a lot of pressure was on. The organization Save The Kids, which is also against Critical Race Theory, organized protests outside of the houses of Genecis Board members, according to 19th News.  

At the same time, Texas was facing several bills that harmed transgender rights. Gov. Abbott proposed a bill to ban the participation of transgender children and adolescents in sports in 2021. Before this bill passed, they have also proposed to ban any treatment such as the one provided by Genecis under the argument it was child abuse. 

Now, hundreds of children and adolescents can enroll in the program and have access to Genecis services, at least temporarily.