ST. LOUIS — With a different set of circumstances, Dr. LJ Punch might have had more sympathy for Jamie Reed’s cause.
Reed recently published an account in a conservative online publication alleging multiple ethical violations at Washington University’s Transgender Center, where she used to work.
Punch is a trauma surgeon. When he came to Washington University in 2016, he noticed some issues with trauma care at the hospital, specifically when it came to young Black people who were shot. They were sent back to their families with wounds treated but nothing else.
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“I saw patients coming back to the emergency department after receiving care, not having the ability to care for themselves,†Punch says. “They had unmet social needs, lack of connection to mental health resources and a lack of support to access care that was available.â€
Punch worked inside the system to advance changes. He worked on the outside as well, forming a nonprofit that seeks to reduce violence in the city and treat its symptoms.
So when Punch saw Reed’s story, and the affidavit she filed with Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, he wasn’t unsympathetic to the cause of advocating for improved health care.
“I understand there are shortcomings in holistic health care,†Punch says. “I’m not speaking without understanding the idea.â€
Indeed, that’s true on two fronts. Punch isn’t just a physician; he’s a member of the transgender community. In 2019, Punch came out as “nonbinary,†meaning he doesn’t identify with the female gender of his birth or the male gender. Then, the next year, he came out as a transgender man, having sought health care (outside Missouri) to begin the transition.
Punch refers to himself as “trans masculine nonbinary.â€
“That’s a complex gender expression, but I think there needs to be a place for it,†says Punch, who now runs his nonprofit, Power4STL, full-time.
It’s the experience as a transgender person that has Punch worried about how Reed chose to bring her allegations forward.
“I understand being a concerned part of a health care system in which you are advocating for care that is not currently happening,†Punch says. “A genuine concern would have been presented in a way that was not so harmful. It goes against every concept of ‘do no harm.’â€
Instead, Punch says, Reed’s missive feels like it was purposely timed, coming as Republicans in the Missouri Legislature are engaged in an “all-out war against the LGBTQ+ community.â€
Reed’s pick of lawyers has also raised questions. One of them, Georgia attorney Vernadette Broyles, is founder of the Child and Parental Rights Campaign, which calls gender identity an “artificial social construct.†The other is Ernie Trakas, a Republican member of the ºüÀêÊÓƵ County Council.
“War†seems an apt description for the efforts of Rabbi Daniel Bogard, who feels he’s been fighting nearly every Tuesday at the legislative session that began in January. This year, there are at least 27 anti-LGBTQ bills in the Legislature, more than in any other state. Many of them target trans children, their parents or their doctors.
Bogard has a trans son, and he trudges down early on Tuesdays to Jefferson City with other parents, as well as religious leaders and trans children, to advocate for their rights — only to see bill sponsors walk out before they testify or, as happened last week, for the advocates to not even be listened to.
If politicians like Bailey and U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, who are publicizing Reed’s allegations, truly cared about trans kids, wouldn’t they want to hear from them and their parents, Bogard asks.
“Every parent of a trans kid, and every trans kid, is asking them not to do this, begging them not to do this. And they don’t even want to hear our voices,†Bogard says. “We don’t want our Legislature sitting in our doctor’s offices. There is no world in which these people can be more concerned about the side effects of various medicines or treatment than I am.â€
Bogard, though, sees the writing on the wall. The Missouri Legislature is spending an inordinate amount of time trying to criminalize transgender care. Reed’s complaint only added to the likely outcome: the passage of a bill that turns doctors who are following the best known medical advice into felons.
“This is not a real issue. It’s just a culture war,†Bogard says. “They are terrorizing our families because they think it’s good politics for them.â€
And that’s what makes Punch so upset, both as a physician and a transgender person.
“It’s this feeling of ‘you don’t matter,’†Punch says. “I don’t want trans kids and families with trans kids and trans adults to feel unimportant and erased and unseen. To use identities in the realm of health care as a tool for political polarization is deeply concerning to me as a physician.â€
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