Who is Sarah Garwood? Missouri doc asks school to 'affirm' entire group of 5th graders as transgender
ST LOUIS, MISSOURI: The Washington University Transgender Clinic in Missouri has come under fire for allowing an elementary school to "affirm" the transgender identity of numerous fifth graders. Concerns by the school's teachers that the children might be mimicking a friend led to the filing of a complaint against the clinic.
A staff member at Parkway Schools in St Louis emailed the Washington University Transgender Center at St Louis Children's Hospital in October 2021 seeking help, according to emails obtained by Parents Defending Education (PDE). Requesting for advice and "resources," the unidentified staff member wrote, "One of the students in the 5th-grade class is coming out as Trans," and "now several of [her friends] are also saying they are Trans." The school employee inquired, "Is this common?," expressing concern that it might be due to "other reasons" rather than all of the elementary students, who are probably 10 or 11, truly being transgender.
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Dr Sarah Garwood, the clinic's co-director, advised encouraging the children to "explore areas of their identities," such as "sexuality, and gender," as reported by DailyMail. The clinic stated, "The best we can do is affirm, validate, and allow for exploration. If in a few weeks or months, a student wants to go by their legal name and pronouns that match their sex assigned at birth, no harm was really done in affirming them before."
Another member of the clinic staff had previously acknowledged but immediately disproved the widely believed belief that students coming out as transgender can become "a contagion,'" inspiring copycats. The employee argued that such "language isn't affirming," expressing their "personal and professional opinion" that studies raising these issues were "invalid," without providing any justification.
🚨BREAKING: Doctors from the infamous St Louis transgender clinic told a teacher to 'affirm' an entire group of 5th graders coming out as transgender simultaneously - despite the teacher’s serious fears they were being socially influenced by their friends.https://t.co/ECxOLlcDbn pic.twitter.com/QTOqgblYK7
— Nicki Neily (@nickineily) February 16, 2023
The clinic employee acknowledged that many people find it "easy to latch on to a new concept or idea and make it yours," comparing it to fads like diets, exercise routines, and even "mental health diagnoses." The doctor said, "In general, I'd recommend as much support and discussion as possible around their gender exploration."
'Children and their families have been let down'
Nicki Neily, the founder and president of the PDE, told DailyMail.com that the most recent emails regarding affirming children as trans without questioning were another evidence that "children and their families have been let down, both by the school and the hospital."
Neily said, "The utter lack of curiosity about the underlying causes of such a trend among ten-year-old children by medical professionals is immoral at best and an abdication of professional responsibility at worst."
The whistleblower charges against the clinic are the subject of an investigation by US Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo), who also unveiled a dedicated hotline for additional whistleblowers on Thursday, February 16, according to New York Post. Hawley launched the Protecting Our Kids from Child Abuse Act on Wednesday, February 15, allowing those affected by gender-transition treatments while still minors to sue those accountable.
Hawley said, "What the American people are seeing take place at pediatric gender clinics in St Louis and across the nation is appalling. Children who are harmed by these dangerous procedures, which are often irreversible and sterilizing, will now be able to fight back against those who perpetrated their abuse. And federal taxpayers will no longer be forced to foot the bill for abusive treatment."
Who is Dr Sarah Garwood?
Dr Garwood, who is honored in 'The Best Doctors in America' list, is a co-director of the Transgender Center and an expert in adolescent medicine, according to BJC HealthCare. She specializes in treating medical illnesses that affect teenagers, such as eating disorders, weight control, adolescent depression, anxiety, STDs, reproductive health, and sexual identity.
