Q&A with Katherine: Many Of Us Will Always Choose to “Aid and Abet” For Trans Kids

What message do you have for trans and queer youth?

We love you. We will fight for you, always. Your only job is to be a kid, to learn who you are, to experiment, to fuck up, to keep going. Our job as the adults who love you is to protect you. They want to destroy you not because you are unlovable, but because of the exact opposite. Your being embodies liberation, choice, community, love, all forces that terrify fascists. Hold onto yourself and each other. We are here, always. We won’t let them kill you or your spirit. It’s not an option

In response to the decision by UPMC to disrupt and dismantle gender affirming healthcare for trans youth 19 and under, a stalwart group of UPMC employees have been resisting – challenging the administrative narrative, clarifying the consequences, and distinguishing between an executive order and a law. They’ve rallied, partnered with community groups, and worked behind the scenes on safety nets.

Over 400 UPMC employees signed the open letter (read it here.) Several have agreed to answer some questions for us. Their words and actions are inspiring. Please read, share, then read again. Understanding the facts – the facts of law, the facts of what UPMC administrators are telling their staff, and the facts of how to push back – is essential for all allies.

This is the second Q&A in that series. Please share to make sure trans youth read these messages directly from their providers and allies.

Katherine makes an important point – UPMC expects therapists to provide mental health care as a substitute for necessary physical healthcare

If you are a signator to the UPMC Open Letter willing to complete a Q&A. please email upmcproviders4transjustice@gmail.com

Your Name: Katherine

Your Pronouns: she/they
Your Affiliation with UPMC: I am a Behavioral Health Therapist at the UPMC STAR (Services for Teens at Risk) Clinic. We are a suicide prevention clinic for teens and young adults ages 12 to 24.

Please tell us about the first LGBTQIA+ person you met and describe the impact they had on your life.

My neighbors growing up, J and L, were a lesbian couple. There were very few out queer people in the Ohio suburb I grew up in. I remember asking my mom as a young kid why they lived together and she told me it wa because they were married. I asked if they kissed and she said yes! No one had told me about gay people before this so I was shocked! My family was supportive of J and L and the LGBTQIA community, but didn’t have any other queer friends to my knowledge. I loved J. She taught me piano and worked at the local garden store. She was a delight. When I came out as queer years later I told her at my mom’s 60th birthday party. It was cute!

UPMC’s Adolescent Programming for LGBTQIA+ youth, especially gender affirming healthcare, has been a source of pride for our region.Tell us about these healthcare supports in your own words.

UPMC Child and Adolescent Medicine Clinic has provided great services for queer and trans youth. There are many passionate, skilled providers there. Our clients go to them and their clients come to us. They offer physical and mental health care. A lot of kids I work with have had good experiences with them, and I have too.

Please share something about Pittsburgh’s LGBTQIA+ healthcare that most people would not know.

I’ll make a plug for Trans Youniting here — that you can donate to help trans youth access healthcare! Here is the link: https://givebutter.com/Uj0NLs?s=pQ18KI

Tell us about your own work with trans and queer youth (as much as you can share) as a UPMC employee.

As mentioned above, I am a therapist at a UPMC youth suicide prevention clinic. Many of our clients are queer and trans kids who have contemplated or are contemplating suicide. It is very important to me personally and professionally to help these kids stay alive, to show them that they can live full, wonderful adult lives and that we want them here.

In your professional opinion, what consequences can we expect as UPMC discontinues these healthcare services? Please help us understand the big and small impacts we might otherwise not notice.

UPMC higher ups have explicitly told us to expect a large influx of suicidal, dysphoric, depressed, and even psychotic teenagers due to UPMCs decision to taper all youth under 19 off of their puberty blockers and hormone therapy. Their goal is to do this for all of their clients over the course of 3 months with 6 months being the absolute maximum amount of time. This course of action is very dangerous to the mental and physical health of trans youth and UPMC knows this. They expect us as therapists to provide mental health care as a substitute for necessary physical healthcare. As therapists working for a major hospital system we are sickened by this! In no other instance would we be asked to substitute necessary medical care for mental health therapy. We have not been given any training on how to work with kids are being forced to detransition / stop puberty blockers and there has been no additional staff hired nor additional programming created. It’s madness.

It is important to note that Pennsylvania lawmakers have not banned gender affirming healthcare. UPMC officials have implied that they are acting to protect providers from litigation, but your work and the work of your colleagues is absolutely legal. Do you think most people understand this legal and politicized landscape?

The government is making threats to UPMC’s federal funding if they don’t comply and UPMC is telling us providers that the real threat is our safety as providers (which, as you point out, is a lie since gender affirming care is legal in PA!). This sets a really dangerous precedent. Will UPMC roll over for anything the Trump administration demands? Will they continue to ignore the local and statewide laws that protect this care? What about when they come for the healthcare of trans adults over 19? Or for behavioral healthcare? Ohio is already trans affirming behavioral healthcare. UPMC higher ups have told us not to be worried about this in PA, but we have no reason to trust them or the Trump administration. This is about trans kids full stop, but it’s also about our whole country. If UPMC will throw trans kids under the bus when asked, will they protect any of us? People need to understand that fascism historically starts by going after the most vulnerable: marginalized racial and ethic groups, immigrants, and queer and trans people. The first books burned in Nazi Germany were the research of Magnus Hirschfeld, a gay Jewish man, and the Institute of Sex research. In addition to offering contraceptives and sexual health checks to the public, he and his staff believed in treating gay and trans people like human beings and many people of the time did, too. The Nazis forbade this research and targeted queer and trans people viciously. Powerful institutions (like UPMC!) complied and let our community be forced to wear pink triangles, ultimately leading to their imprisonment in concentration camps. People may think this comparison is extreme, but it is not. These are the stakes.

Will you refer clients and potential clients out of the UPMC network? Is that a viable substitute?

We have been told by UPMC higher ups that to refer trans youth under 19 to anywhere they can access hormone therapy and puberty blockers would put us at risk for being criminally charged with aiding and abetting a felony. And that they won’t protect us from these charges as of June 30, 2025. Many providers are taking this really seriously. But I’m not. Many of us, including me, will always choose to “aid and abet” for trans kids.

There are still places offering this healthcare to trans youth. Please reach out to us directly if you want to know what we know – or reach out to organizations like Trans Youniting. They also have a fund to support kids in accessing this healthcare, as mentioned above.

We’ve published the open letter to UPMC circulating among staff. Please tell us in your own words what the letter says.

Our open letter outlines the severe consequences UPMC’s decision will have on children’s lives and demands that they reverse this deadly decision immediately! We let them know that we know they are a multiple billion dollar corporation with immense resources and power and that this positions them to fight back against the trump administrations illegal actions (again, gender affirming care is legally protected in PA and Pittsburgh!). We ask them to stand up for what is ethical and right.

We wrote this letter with the help of over a dozen UPMC staff and the ACLU. At this point, 454 UPMC staff have signed it.

What message do you have for trans and queer youth?

How can blog readers support your efforts and the larger cause of preserving affirming healthcare?

Please send a letter to UPMC leadership demanding they reverse this deadly decision immediately! https://actionnetwork.org/letters/demand-upmc-to-reinstate-healthcare-for-trans-youth-and-young-adults?source=direct_link&

If you would like to be more involved as a provider or community member you can email us at upmcproviders4transjustice@gmail.com. We will continue to fight in public and less public ways.

You can donate to Trans Youniting’s Trans Youth Health and Healing Fund mentioned above. Here is the link again! https://givebutter.com/Uj0NLs?s=pQ18KI

You can also plan your own letter writing campaign, your own rally, your own educational workshop, your own fundraiser.

Are there any social media accounts or websites people can access to stay up to date with your efforts?

Not yet! TBA.

Finally, what is your love song to trans and queer youth?

You Are Not Alone by Mavis Staples <3

I asked each for suggestions on how you can help. In my opinion, providing resources to trans led efforts is critical. All of these orgs and their members are experiencing the immediate fallout.

SistersPGH
QMNTY Center
TransYouniting
PFLAG Pittsburgh
PFLAG Beaver County
PFLAG Butler County
TransPride Pittsburgh
Hugh Lane Wellness Center
Pennsylvania Youth Congress
Pittsburgh LGBTQ Charities Protect Trans Kids – pick up yard signs/stickers (**tied to this blog)

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