For this special NBC News feature, reporter Emma Davis spent months working on this important story. She received assistance by Whitman-Walker Institute Director Dr. Kellan Baker who spoke candidly about how the rise in transgender health care bans is putting providers in the crosshairs. Kellan also connected her to many healthcare providers, all of whom went on the record to provide factual information that made this article possible.

Excerpt:

Twenty-six states now have restrictions on transgender health care for minors, according to the LGBTQ think tank Movement Advancement Project. The laws have left those still able to provide this type of care, like Dr. Kade Goepferd, struggling to keep up with demand.

NBC News spoke to a dozen clinicians in states where gender-affirming care for minors remains legal, from Connecticut to California, and found all are treating transgender youths fleeing bans. Not only does the surge in out-of-state and newly relocated patients create logistical challenges — from waitlists to insurance denials — it also presents a legal risk for health care professionals. Although some states have enacted protections for gender-affirming care providers, these shield laws remain untested in court, and they have done little to deter anti-trans attacks. Many doctors said they’ve had to take added security measures as transphobic rhetoric has intensified.

“There’s been a growing awareness over the last year that the environment is only getting more and more dangerous for providers,” said Kellan Baker, executive director of the Whitman-Walker Institute, a nonprofit advancing LGBTQ health care.

Read more here: https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-news/trans-minors-treatment-clinicians-laws-bans-rcna164515