EDITORS' CORNER
Key Takeaways
- Harvard Medical School has postponed its transgender health care course after scrutiny arose over offering fee waivers for LGBTQ+ doctors while charging $650 for other attendees.
- The course, 'Advancing Excellence in Transgender Health,' faced legal questions regarding the fairness of fee waivers based on gender identity.
- Harvard has removed information about the fee waivers from its website, though all available waivers had already been awarded.
- Legal experts are divided on the implications of the fee waivers, especially in relation to a Supreme Court ruling on discrimination based on gender identity vs. sex.
Harvard Medical School is delaying an online transgender health care course after facing scrutiny for offering fee waivers to LGBTQ doctors while charging other attendees $650.
The medical school’s website had previously promoted fee waivers for “transgender” and “gender diverse” individuals seeking to enroll in the course “Advancing Excellence in Transgender Health,” National Review reported.
However, after National Review inquired about the legal implications of providing free access to a course on the basis of gender identity, the school said the course was being postponed.
It was initially set to take place virtually from Oct. 24 to 26, and school officials did not provide a reason for delaying it.
The university also scrubbed the information about the fee waiver from its site. Every available fee waiver had already been awarded, and there was a waitlist for the surplus of applicants.
“The continuing education course ‘Advancing Excellence in Transgender Health: A Core Course for the Whole Care Team,’ which is offered and developed by the Fenway Institute and accredited by Harvard Medical School, has been postponed and will be rescheduled for later this academic year,” Harvard Medical School’s media team wrote in an email to National Review.
The school “remains committed to ensuring that the courses we accredit comply with applicable laws,” it wrote.
The transgender health course “is designed to train the whole health care team in providing skilled and confident gender-affirming health care, grounded in research evidence and best clinical practices,” according to the school’s website.
One of the course’s learning objectives is to update “standards of care & programs for transgender & gender diverse adults, adolescents & children, including care focused on both routine primary care needs and care specific to affirming the gender identities of patients.”
The medical training program, which was created by The Fenway Institute, has reportedly been offered for 11 years, according to the New York Post.
Do No Harm medical director Kurt Miceli told National Review the course “gives no apparent recognition to the systematic reviews showing insufficient evidence to support so-called ‘gender-affirming care’ in minors and seems to overlook the potential long-term consequences in children from these interventions — particularly considering concerns about informed consent, social influence, and co-occurring conditions like autism and other mental health challenges.”
Addressing the legality of the course, National Review noted that the Supreme Court’s 2020 Bostock v. Clayton County decision ruled that discrimination based on transgender status or sexual orientation inherently involves sex discrimination, violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
However, legal experts are divided.
Some argue the fee waivers are not discriminatory since eligibility hinges on gender identity, not sex, and both men and women who identify as transgender qualify.
Others contend that denying waivers to non-transgender individuals could constitute sex discrimination. The upcoming Supreme Court case West Virginia v. B.P.J. may clarify this case.
