(The Tennessee Star) A large group of Tennessee Republican lawmakers have sent a letter to the Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) Board of Directors, asking the organization to stop performing gender transition surgeries for minors.
“This is a time in which elected leaders must boldly lead and speak on behalf of the people. I’ve been joined by my esteemed [Tennessee House GOP] colleagues in formally requesting that Vanderbilt Medical halt all gender transition surgeries on minors,” said State Representative Jason Zachary (R-Knoxville) on Twitter, attaching a copy of the letter.
“Additionally, we request that all conscientious and religious objections be honored,” he added in a second tweet.
“While those 18 years and older are recognized as legal adults and free to make decisions in their best interests, it is an egregious error of judgment that an institution as highly respected as Vanderbilt would condone (and promote) harmful and irreversible procedures for minor children in the name of profit,” the letter says in part.
“The Vanderbilt Pediatric Transgender Clinic’s practices qualify as nothing less than child abuse,” the letter says. “Further, we are appalled that these reports demonstrate threats by Vanderbilt personnel to take adverse action against employees who are contentious and religious objectors to genital disfiguring and double mastectomies of children.”
House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) is among the high profile members of the state GOP to sign off on the letter.
Gov. Bill Lee (R) also recently called for an investigation into VUMC.
The Daily Wire broke news of a video showing Shayne Taylor, M.D., an assistant professor of medicine, bragging that sex change surgeries are lucrative for the hospital.
“These surgeries are labor intensive,” Taylor said. “They require a lot of followup. They require a lot of O.R. [operating room] time, and they make money – they make money for the hospital.”
Taylor continued:
And this is only including top surgery. This isn’t including any bottom surgery. And it’s a lot of money. These surgeries make a lot of money. So, female to male chest reconstruction can bring in $40,000. A patient just on routine hormone treatment who is only seen a few times a year can bring in several thousand dollars … Now these are not from the internet. But it’s from the Philadelphia Center for Transgender Surgery, which has done a lot of surgery for patients. I just want to give you an idea of how much bottom surgeries are making.
Reporting from The Tennessee Star.
