American College of Pediatricians vs. transgender people

by Andrea James Reviewed September 13, 2026 9 min read

The American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds) is a socially conservative organization of activist pediatricians. They are designated as an anti-LGBTQ hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Members have consistently taken a stand against gender affirming models of care for trans and gender diverse youth. With only about 700 members, ACPeds are a conservative fringe group within pediatrics, only about 1% of the size of mainstream organization American Academy of Pediatrics. With about 67,000 members, the American Academy of Pediatrics remains supportive of gender affirming care for youth.

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center:

The American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds) is a fringe anti-LGBTQ hate group that masquerades as the premier U.S. association of pediatricians to push anti-LGBTQ junk science, primarily via far-right conservative media and filing amicus briefs in cases related to gay adoption and marriage equality.
SPLC (2023)

LGBTQ+ media advocacy organization GLAAD notes that the group:

opposes same-sex marriage
opposes same-sex adoption
opposes abortion
opposes gender-affirming care for youth
opposes LGBTQ youth access to sports
opposes drag queen story hours
supports non-affirming models of care for gender diverse youth, including conversion therapy
claims “transgenderism is a belief system that increasingly looks like a cultish religion”
claims LGBTQ activists “have pedophilia intrinsically woven into their agenda”

Background

In 2002, Joseph Zanga and Gerry Boccarossa founded The American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds) after the mainstream group American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released a report supporting adoption by LGBTQ people. ACPeds has gone on to be a prominent voice in anti-transgender extremism.

Position statement (2016)

In March 2016, Van Meter, Michelle Cretella, and Paul McHugh released an American College of Pediatricians position statement titled “Gender Ideology Harms Children,” in which they urge educators and legislators “to reject all policies that condition children to accept as normal a life of chemical and surgical impersonation of the opposite sex.” The statement has 8 points:

Human sexuality is an objective biological binary trait: “XY” and “XX” are genetic markers of health – not genetic markers of a disorder.
No one is born with a gender. Everyone is born with a biological sex. Gender (an awareness and sense of oneself as male or female) is a sociological and psychological concept; not an objective biological one.
A person’s belief that he or she is something they are not is, at best, a sign of confused thinking.
Puberty is not a disease and puberty-blocking hormones can be dangerous.
According to the DSM-V, as many as 98% of gender confused boys and 88% of gender confused girls eventually accept their biological sex after naturally passing through puberty.
Children who use puberty blockers to impersonate the opposite sex will require cross-sex hormones in late adolescence. Cross-sex hormones are associated with dangerous health risks including but not limited to high blood pressure, blood clots, stroke and cancer.
Rates of suicide are twenty times greater among adults who use cross-sex hormones and undergo sex reassignment surgery, even in Sweden which is among the most LGBQT – affirming countries.
Conditioning children into believing a lifetime of chemical and surgical impersonation of the opposite sex is normal and healthful is child abuse.

Letter to Trump Administration (2018)

In 2018, a consortium of anti-transgender activists associated with ACPeds petitioned the Trump Administration with the goal of “upholding the scientific definition of sex in law and policy,” adding “an individual who identifies as transgender remains either a biological male or female.”

Signatories [reordered alphabetically by surname]

Larry Alexander: Warren Distinguished Professor of Law University of San Diego

J. Michael Bailey: Professor of Psychology Northwestern University
Gerard V. Bradley: Professor of Law University of Notre Dame
Susan J. Bradley: Professor Emerita, University of Toronto

Frank Cannon: President American Principles Project
Allan C. Carlson: Editor, The Natural Family: An International Journal of Research and Policy
Michelle Cretella: Executive Director, American College of Pediatricians

Christopher Doyle: Co-Founder National Task Force for Therapy Equality

Michael Farris: President, CEO, & General Counsel Alliance Defending Freedom
Matthew J. Franck: Senior Fellow, Witherspoon Institute

Donna Harrison: Executive Director, American Association of Pro-life Obstetricians and Gynecologists
Laura Haynes: California Licensed Psychologist USA Representative, International Federation for Therapeutic and Counseling Choice (IFTCC.org)
Marie T. Hilliard: The National Catholic Bioethics Center
Paul W. Hruz: Pediatric Endocrinologist, Physician-Scientist, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Associate Professor of Cellular Biology & Physiology

Robert G Kennedy: Department of Catholic Studies University of St. Thomas
Stephen M. Krason: President, Society of Catholic Social Scientists

Michael K. Laidlaw: Endocrinologist and member of gdworkinggroup.org
Angela Lanfranchi: Clinical Assistant Professor of Surgery Rutgers-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
Patrick Lee: McAleer Professor of Bioethics Center for Bioethics, Franciscan University of Steubenville
Charles LiMandri: ounder and President, Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund

Paul McHugh: University Distinguished Service Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Medical School and the former psychiatrist in chief at Johns Hopkins Hospital
Peter Morrow: President, Catholic Medical Association
Jennifer Roback Morse: Founder and President, The Ruth Institute
Robert J. Muise: Co-Founder, American Freedom Law Center

Tony Perkins: President Family Research Council
David Pickup: Co-Founder National Task Force for Therapy Equality

Austin Ruse: President, Center for Family and Human Rights

Maimon Schwarzschild: Professor of Law University of San Diego
Mary Lou Singleton: nurse
Sharon Slater: President, Family Watch International
Steven D. Smith: Warren Distinguished Professor of Law University of San Diego
Matthew D. Staver: Founder and President, Liberty Council [sic]
David Stevens: CEO, Christian Medical and Dental Associations
Craig Stump: Endocrinologist, University of Arizona College of Medicine
D. Paul Sullins: Research Professor of Sociology and Director, Leo Institute for Catholic Social Research, The Catholic University of America

Christopher Wolfe: Distinguished Affiliate Professor, University of Dallas President, American Public Philosophy Institute

Cited works by

Colin Wright
Lawrence S. Mayer and Paul McHugh
Jiska Ristori and Thomas D. Steensma
Cecilia Dhejne, Paul Lichtenstein, Marcus Boman, Anna L. V. Johansson, Niklas Långström, Mikael Landén
Alliance Defending Freedom

TransRegret (2021)

In 2021, The Ruth Institute and the anti-trans American College of Pediatricians founded the website TransRegret as a “support” site for questioning and people with transition regret, similar to anti-abortion “crisis pregnancy” projects that target pregnant people weighing their options. It claims “puberty blockers & crosssex hormones may actually make you feel worse! These drugs are not proven safe to use for gender identity distress. Puberty blockers & cross-sex hormones have potentially permanent side-effects and increase serious health risks.” They quote Swedish psychiatrist Christopher Gillberg, who claims trans healthcare for minors is “possibly the biggest scandal in medical history.”

Biological Integrity (2023)

In 2023 ACPeds launched an anti-trans website called Biological Integrity. The site has misleading information about trans healthcare.

Data leak (2023)

ACPeds inadvertently shared links to an unsecured Google Drive that contained 10,000 files, including membership information, financial data, and strategy. As of spring 2022, the College counted slightly more than 700 active members. An internal database listed 1,200 past and current members. Via WIRED:

Many of the College’s most radical views target transgender people, and in particular, transgender youth. The leak, which had been indexed by Google, includes volumes of literature crafted specifically to influence relationships between practicing pediatricians, parents, and their children. It includes reams of marketing material the College aims to distribute widely among public school officials.

Doctors Protecting Children petition (2024)

In 2024, ACPeds published an anti-trans petition under the name Doctors Protecting Children.

Primary signatories:

Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine (AHM)
American Academy of Medical Ethics
American Association of Christian Counselors (AACC)
American College of Family Medicine (ACFM)
American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds)
Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS)
Catholic Health Care Leadership Alliance (CHCLA)
Catholic Medical Association (CMA)
Christian Medical & Dental Associations (CMDA)
Coalition for Jewish Values
Colorado Principled Physicians
Genspect
Honey Lake Clinic
International Foundation for Therapeutic and Counselling Choice (IFTCC)
National Association of Catholic Nurses, USA
National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC)
North Carolina Physicians for Freedom (NCPFF)
South Carolina Physicians for Freedom (SCPFF)

Other signatories include:

Advocates Protecting Children
CHANGED Movement
Child & Parental Rights Campaign (CPRC)
Desert Stream Ministries
Discovery Institute
Family Research Council
Family Watch International
Focus on the Family
International Partners for Ethical Care (PEC)
Liberty & Justice for All
Moms for Liberty
Will Pen for Change, LLC

People

Key people

Board

Michael Artigues
Jane Anderson
Tom Benton
Christina Chan
Scott S. Field
Salwa Gendi
Russell Gombosi
Mark Grubb
Patricia Lee June
J. Wells Logan
Renata Moon
David Olson
L. David Perry
Robin Pierucci
Richard Sandler
Jill Simons
Ron Smith .
William Stigall
Den A. Trumbull
Kimberly A. Vacca
Leah Willson
Nick Yates

References

Sweeney, Billie Jean (July 24, 2025). “A Shameful Chapter”: How Anti-Trans Disinformation Drowned Out Science and Gripped the Mainstream. Assigned Media https://assignedmedia.org/breaking-news/anti-trans-disinformation-drowned-out-science-mainstream/

Staff report (December 5, 2024). These Are the Groups Fighting Access to Health Care for Trans Youth. GLAAD https://glaad.org/these-are-the-groups-fighting-access-to-health-care-for-trans-youth/

Molloy, Parker (June 12, 2024). The Bogus Anti-Trans “Declaration” From a Bogus Medical Organization. The New Republic https://newrepublic.com/article/182633/american-college-pediatricians-trans-kids

Reed, Erin (June 10, 2024). Bogus Doctors Group Pushed By Elon Musk, Fox News Against Trans Care. Erin In The Morning https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/bogus-doctors-group-pushed-by-elon

Reed, Erin (October 20, 2023). Right-Wing “American College Of Pediatricians” Releases Trans Youth Conversion Therapy Site. Erin In The Morning https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/right-wing-american-college-of-pediatricians

Gill, Julian (June 26, 2023). Report: Former Texas health leader was member of doctor group that targets trans care. Houston Chronicle https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/health/article/texas-health-leader-anti-lgbtq-18163383.php

Weber, Lauren; Gilbert, Caitlin; Lorenz, Taylor (June 15, 2023). Documents show how conservative doctors influenced abortion, trans rights. Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2023/06/15/abortion-transgender-christian-doctors/

Cravens, R.G. (June 5, 2023). Documents Reveal ADF Requested Anti-Trans Research From American College of Pediatricians. Southern Poverty Law Center / Hatewatch https://www.splcenter.org/resources/hatewatch/documents-reveal-adf-requested-anti-trans-research-american-college-pediatricians/

Pauly, Madison; Rindlisbacher, Emma (May 17, 2023). A Massive Leak Spotlights the Extremism of an Anti-Trans Medical Group. Mother Jones https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/05/anti-trans-american-college-pediatrics-leak-michelle-cretella-abortion/

O’Connell, Kit; Monacelli, Steven (May 10, 2023). Documents Reveal ‘How to Defund Trans Pediatrics’ in Texas. Texas Observer https://www.texasobserver.org/monty-bennett-acpeds-genecis-transphobia-sb14/

Cameron, Dell; Mehrotra, Dhruv (May 2, 2023). An Anti-Trans Doctor Group Leaked 10,000 Confidential Files. WIRED https://www.wired.com/story/american-college-pediatricians-google-drive-leak/

Stahl, Aviva (April 16, 2021). Meet The “Fringe Extremists” Pushing Flawed Science To Target Trans Kids Buzzfeed News https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/avivastahl/transgender-trans-kids-healthcare-science

Zuckerman, Jake (February 5, 2020 ). Conversion therapy is a discredited practice. Ohio hired its advocate as an expert witness. Ohio Capital Journal https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2020/02/05/conversion-therapy-is-a-discredited-practice-ohio-hired-its-advocate-as-an-expert-witness/

LaCapria, Kim (May 20, 2016). Did American Pediatricians Issue a Statement That ‘Transgenderism’ Is ‘Child Abuse’? Snopes https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/americas-pediatricians-gender-kids/

Lenz, Ryan (March 1, 2012). American College of Pediatricians Defames Gays and Lesbians in the Name of Protecting Children. Southern Poverty Law Center https://www.splcenter.org/resources/reports/american-college-pediatricians-defames-gays-and-lesbians-name-protecting-children/

Anti-trans coverage

Staff report (2025). 2025 Innovation Prize Winners: Mission Statements and Quotes. Heritage Foundation https://www.heritage.org/25-innovation-prize-mission-statements-and-quotes

Pandolfo, Chris (June 9, 2024). American College of Pediatricians issues fiery statement condemning child gender transition. Fox News https://www.foxnews.com/health/american-college-pediatricians-issues-fiery-statement-condemning-child-gender-transition

Johnston, Jeff (February 13, 2024). American College of Pediatricians: No Benefits From ‘Gender-Affirming’ Interventions. Focus on the Family / Daily Citizen https://dailycitizen.focusonthefamily.com/american-college-of-pediatricians-no-benefits-from-gender-affirming-interventions/

Selected publications by ACPeds

Cretella M et al. (December 4, 2018). [Letter to Matthew Whitaker, Alex Azar, and Betsy DeVos]. https://acpeds.org/assets/imported/12.4.18-Final_Revised_-12.4.18-Joint-letter-to-HHS-DOJ-DOE-Uphold-Definition-of-Sex.pdf [archive]

Cretella, Michelle (2018). Gender Dysphoria in Children. ACPeds https://acpeds.org/position-statements/gender-dysphoria-in-children

Cretella, Michelle A.; Van Meter, Quentin; McHugh, Paul (March 2016). Gender Ideology Harms Children. American College of Pediatricians https://acpeds.org/the-college-speaks/position-statements/gender-ideology-harms-children [archive]