Pediatric chief’s abrupt exit from hospital triggers fear, disappointment within transgender community

Some parents of transgender children are expressing fear and disappointment after the sudden resignation of Texas Children’s Hospital’s chief pediatrician, who has been a vocal advocate for continuing care for transgender patients being targeted by a recent statewide order. Dr. Catherine Gordon, who served as the hospital’s chief pediatrician for seven months, has been aligned with the broader medical community in supporting care that helps children transition from their assigned sex at birth to their affirmed gender. In a journal article published March 31, she spoke out against Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s recent directive to investigate the families of transgender children who seek out hormone therapy as child abusers. She touched on her extensive experience caring for transgender youth and said the state’s involvement undermines the trusting relationship among patients, families and physicians.

So when the hospital on Thursday announced that Gordon had been replaced by Dr. Lara S. Shekerdemian, some parents of transgender children felt they had lost a powerful voice. Gordon previously served as a professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and chief of adolescent medicine at Boston Children's Hospital. “I knew she was an advocate and ally for us, someone in our corner,” said one mother who has sought care for her transgender child at Texas Children’s. The mother asked only to be identified by her first name, Lisa. Gordon’s article was published at a sensitive time for the wider transgender community and the hospital, which one month earlier revealed that it had halted hormone therapy for transgender children “to safeguard” providers and families from possible criminal penalties. The hospital has said Gordon resigned and that her departure was not related to transgender medicine or the article’s publication, which was “fully supported by the organization,” a hospital spokesperson said Monday. The hospital, the spokesperson said, has continued to care for transgender patients in light of a recent statewide injunction by a Texas appeals court that blocks investigations triggered by the governor’s order.