In October, Washington State University’s (WSU) medical school gave its blessing to a series of “Gender Medicine” continuing education courses that were designed by an organization that seeks to erode confidence in life-saving health care for transgender people.
Shortly after, the university suspended them in response to community backlash. The courses are being evaluated, but the suspension is not permanent and the university has not committed to totally revoking the accreditation, despite advocates’ demands.
The courses, part of a broad category of credentialing curricula and not part of the college of medicine’s curriculum, were accredited according to standards set by a Chicago accreditation authority.
After WSU considered the courses in April, students and faculty had pushed back for months, but it wasn’t until more than 30 LGBTQIA+ advocacy groups and allies pressured the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine (ESFCM) that the school suspended the courses.
Katelyn Costanza, a second-year student at ESFCM and member of Health Equity Circle, said both students and faculty were notified about the decision in April.
“The courses continued to be approved and available from April through October, despite student and faculty requests to administration for it to be rescinded,” Constanza said.
Asked about the lapse in time from being notified about SEGM’s transphobic course material and the suspension, WSU spokesperson Pam Scott replied, “The course materials were suspended at ACCME’s request while they review the materials.”
ACCME is the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education, which sets the accreditation standards for such courses.
The organization that created the courses, the Society of Evidence Based Gender Medicine (SEGM) of Twin Falls, Idaho, is listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) as an anti-LGTBQIA+ hate group.
Queer orgs demand action
The suspension was sparked in late October, after the Spectrum Center of Spokane learned from independent transgender journalist Erin in the Morning’s Substack that it had accredited the courses.
After Spectrum and dozens of other queer advocacy groups in the Inland Northwest red-flagged SEGM to both WSU and the ESFCM, the school sent an October 31 email, obtained by RANGE, to internal staff announcing the suspension. The email emphasized that WSU did not create the courses but chose to accredit them according to standards set by ACCME.
“Accreditation indicates that the courses meet ACCME’s requirements for scientific balance and educational integrity,” the email says.
The courses are part of a category of credentialing curricula known as continuing medical education credits (CMEs), which are created by many organizations.
While universities do not have the authority to evaluate teaching material, they can choose which organizations provide CMEs.
“Transgender patients deserve better and so do providers,” wrote KJ January, director of advocacy and engagement for Spectrum Center in a press release on Nov. 5. “For some licensed practitioners, continuing education is the only opportunity to learn about transgender healthcare. Accrediting a group that promotes anti-trans propaganda is a disservice to both the medical community and the patients they serve.”
Spectrum Center and the coalition made three demands of WSU after the course’s suspension:
- Revoke SEGM’s CME accreditation and remove all related courses.
- Implement stronger oversight procedures to ensure CME partnerships align with evidence-based medicine, professional ethics and equity policies.
- Make gender-affirming care curriculum a required part of medical training within the WSU Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine.
WSU said in the emails that it was investigating whether “all course materials continue to comply with all standards set forth.”
What is SEGM?
In addition to the SPLC’s designation of SEGM as a hate group, researchers at the Yale School of Medicine have identified SEGM as a fringe group with “well-known anti-trans activists.” Members of SEGM founded Therapy First in 2021, an organization that advocates for “gender exploratory therapy,” which other researchers have compared to conversion therapy.
“Its materials advance unfounded theories such as “Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria,” a pseudoscientific assertion that treats transness as a social contagion, which has been rejected by the broader scientific and medical community,” Spectrum’s letter said. “Accrediting such content under WSU’s name risks giving a veneer of legitimacy to approaches that cause real and measurable harm to transgender and gender-diverse people.”
By accrediting SEGM’s teaching materials, the letter argued, WSU violated its commitment to diversity, inclusion and scientific integrity.
University spokesperson Pam Scott told RANGE WSU President Elizabeth R. Cantwell is working on a response to Spectrum Center. She said that while the accreditation does not represent the university’s endorsement of SEGM, “accreditation indicates that the courses met ACCME’s requirements for scientific balance and educational integrity.”
It also called on the university to question the harm this accreditation will have on transgender patients, who already experience higher rates of suicide ideation. SEGM has posted these course videos online for public viewing.
Potential litigation
January told RANGE in an email statement that WSU’s medical and pharmaceutical programs offer some curriculum that includes aspects of gender affirming care, but Spectrum Center has not received any word on the curriculum since 2020. In its demands to the university, Spectrum Center called on WSU to make gender-affirming care a required component of both its general medical education and training.
“Beyond a three-hour required training and an optional gender affirming care symposium, it is not clear how consistent or extensive their curriculum is,” January noted.“They even have an LGBTQ+ Program Manager within their Office of Healthcare Equity. … This seems out of alignment, and so we want to know how it is possible that this accreditation was approved.”
“Depending on their response, we anticipate lawsuits and internal investigations into this decision, as it violates WSU’s own nondiscrimination policy, and contradicts Washington State anti-discrimination law,” January added.
As of the time of January’s statement, WSU had not yet responded to the Spectrum Center. The organization initially reached out to providers with ties to WSU to gather more information.
Queer cougars feel left out in the cold
Costanza, the second-year medical student, said the delay in response from WSU makes queer students and staff feel as if their safety is not front of mind during the process, especially as President Donald Trump is targeting queer communities.
The College of Medicine has an office specifically for managing CME. And from Costanza’s perspective, while the accreditation process normally takes place without student input, it still feels far detached from “what the rest of the university or what students wanted.”
Costanza, alongside a handful of students also involved with Health Equity Circle, plan to meet with the College of Medicine’s administration to better understand the approval process, which she says the university cannot fall back on arguing that it acted in neutrality.
“The pushback that a lot of us have, or like what we’re feeling – put particularly in this political climate – is that the provision of health care and the education of health care professionals is not neutral,” they added. “But education is not neutral, and accrediting an institution or an organization such as SEGM is an endorsement.”
