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Farr Curlin vs. transgender people

Farr Curlin is an American physician and anti-transgender activist. Curlin was a contributor to the Trump Administration’s 2025 US HHS report attacking gender affirming care.

Background

Farr Andrews Curlin was born in May 1971. Curlin attended University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, earning a bachelor’s degree in 1992, followed by a medical degree there. Curlin comlpeted a residency at University of Chicago. Curlin is a board-certified hospice and palliative care specialist.

Curlin taught at University of Chicago, and co-founded the Program on Medicine and Religion there. In 2014, Curlin took an appointment at Duke University and serves as Josiah C. Trent Professor of Medical Humanities.

In 2022 Curlin was named Educator of the Year by the Christian Medical & Dental Associations.

Curlin cites a deep faith in Christianity as a motivator:

My entire line of work was kicked off by what I sensed as a problem in medicine: despite the fact that I and many of my colleagues went into medicine confident that medicine can fit well into the Christianā€™s vocation to love God and love oneā€™s neighbor, in medical education I was getting the message that religious commitments are fine as personal values, but they should be kept separate from the professional sphere. Insofar as oneā€™s religious commitments appear to interfere with ā€œstandardā€ medical care or what leading figures expect of you or what patients expect of you, thatā€™s the personal interfering with professional commitments.

I found that unsatisfying both spiritually and intellectually. As a Christian, thereā€™s no part of my life nor any part of creation that is not called by God and accountable to God.

Curlin is married to Christian counselor Kimberly (Batchelder) Curlin (born 1975).

Anti-trans activism

On September 22, 2020 Curlin and Paul Hruz gave a seminar at the Christian Medical & Dental Associations conference titled “A Virtual Discussion on Transgender Care in Medicine.”

In 2024, Curlin was one of Missouri’s expert witnesses supporting the state’s restrictions on gender-affirming care.

Staff report (June 13, 1999). Batchelder-Curlin Marriage. The Jackson Sun [Jackson, Tennessee], page 14

References

Fiore, Kristina (November 19, 2025). HHS Names Authors of Its Gender Dysphoria Report. MedPage Today https://www.medpagetoday.com/washington-watch/washington-watch/118601

Hanshaw Anneliese (September 24, 2025). Ruling upholding Missouri transgender care ban had ā€˜factual errors,ā€™ attorneys argue. Missouri Independent https://missouriindependent.com/2025/09/24/ruling-upholding-missouri-transgender-care-ban-had-factual-errors-attorneys-argue/

Hanshaw Anneliese (October 7, 2024). Ruling on Missouri transgender health care restrictions expected by end of year. St. Louis Public Radio https://www.stlpr.org/law-order/2024-10-07/ruling-missouri-transgender-health-care-restrictions

Boyle, Patrick (March 15, 2022). A place for faith: Doctors bring spirituality to work. Association of American Medical Colleges https://www.aamc.org/news/place-faith-doctors-bring-spirituality-work

Coverage in anti-trans press

Ryan, Benjamin (November 19, 2025). Unmasked At Last: The 9 Authors of the Trump Administration Report On Pediatric Gender Medicine. So Who Are They? Hazard Ratio https://benryan.substack.com/p/unmasked-at-last-the-9-authors-of

Editorial Board (November 19, 2025). What we still don’t know about pediatric medical transition. Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/11/19/transgender-pediatric-medical-transition-hhs-report/

Oliveira, Alex (November 19, 2025). Scientists okay Trump-ordered report that found almost nothing to support ā€˜gender-affirming careā€™ for kids. New York Post https://nypost.com/2025/11/19/us-news/trump-ordered-report-that-found-almost-no-evidence-to-support-gender-affirming-care-for-kids-gets-scientific-seal-of-approval/

Selected anti-trans writing by Curlin

Curlin, Farr (January 15, 2025). Exhibit G: Declaration of Farr A. Curlin. https://www.aclumontana.org/app/uploads/2025/04/190_defendants_brief_in_support_of_motion_for_summary_judgment.pdf

Curlin, Farr (June 23, 2025). Transgender Treatments Distort the Purpose of Medicine: Physicians are supposed to promote patientsā€™ health, not cater to their desires. Wall Street Journal https://www.wsj.com/opinion/transgender-treatments-distort-the-purpose-of-medicine-ccd6e513

Curlin, Farr (July 23, 2024). Medicalized Gender Transition and the Silence of Medicine and Bioethics. Sensible Medicine https://www.sensible-med.com/p/medicalized-gender-transition-and

Books

Curlin, Farr; Tollefsen, Christopher (2021). The Way of Medicine: Ethics and the Healing Profession. University of Notre Dame Press, ISBN 978-0268200855

Media

Colson Center with John Stonestreet, Farr Curlin, and James Cantor (September 17, 2024). Breakpoint Forum: Following the Science on Transgender Ideology. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1R3yfrEu5k

MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics (January 2, 2018). Farr Curlin – Gender Transition Services: Progress or Medical Hubris? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LT1rE66S30

Resources

Duke University School of Medicine (medicine.duke.edu)

Duke Divinity School (divinity.duke.edu)

Duke Health (dukehealth.org)

The Federalist Society (fedsoc.org)

LinkedIn (linkedin.com)