This family moved to Minnesota to access gender-affirming care. More might soon
Living in Minnesota has made a positive difference for Wes Samuelson and his 11-year-old child Liz. The two moved to Duluth from Wyoming in 2020 after they could not get access to gender-affirming care.
“I was going to be worried if we stayed in Wyoming much longer,” Samuelson, who is transgender, said on a recent weeknight as he made dinner in his Duluth home for Liz and his partner, Beram Compo, who is also trans. “I am living a normal life and that feels nice.”
Samuelson said the freedom to live his life in peace is all he ever wanted. The lack of accessible care and social support in Wyoming forced him into the closet, and deeply hurt his mental health. But that changed, he said, when he got to Minnesota and was able to receive hormone treatments within two months and top surgery, or male chest reconstruction, within six months.
“I had a full care team at my disposal,” Samuelson recalled.
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His child Liz is also exploring gender identity: Liz uses the pronouns she/they right now, and feels supported at school in Minnesota.
“I just have a lot of good friends here and it’s really nice,” Liz said.
Samuelson said Liz’s anxiety calmed and sleep improved once Liz came out and felt accepted.
“The reality is trans health care saves lives,” Samuelson said. “They don’t have to struggle and suffer for years, they can get support early.”
Minnesota working to protect gender-affirming care
As several state legislatures surrounding Minnesota and around the country are passing laws meant to prevent transgender individuals from getting gender-affirming care, Minnesota has done the opposite.
Earlier this year, Gov. Tim Walz signed an executive order to guarantee access to care for trans adults and youth. And the state House passed a bill to make sure that’s the law. The Minnesota Senate will consider a bill with the same objective.
Rep. Alicia Kozlowski, DFL-Duluth, was elected last year as part of a legislative body with a record number of LGBTQ lawmakers. They formed the state’s first DFL Queer Caucus in the House and helped pass the “trans refuge” bill in that chamber.
“And we need to follow up with the legislation to make sure it is protected and there for the long haul,” Kozlowski said.
The current executive order making Minnesota a trans refuge is not permanent. With the DFL-controlled Senate now taking up the issue, Kozlowski is hopeful a law will pass soon to protect gender-affirming care and those who seek and provide it. Kozlowski said it is a critical protection as Minnesota sees more families moving to the state from other states that have limited transgender rights.
“It’s a very scary landscape,” said Kozlowski. “And as these things continue to march across the country, here in Minnesota we are saying that the march runs out.”
But Kozlowski said lawmakers also need to focus on creating inclusive schools and access to housing and other resources that contribute to overall quality of life in addition to access to health care.
Data show that young people who are discriminated against when they try to show their gender identity can suffer from mental health problems as a result.
The reality of gender-affirming care
Pediatrician Dr. Angela Kade Goepferd of Children’s Minnesota hospital system said developmentally, some kids know their gender identity at a very young age, while it may take longer for others.
“Access to gender-affirming care and supportive families improves mental health outcomes for kids,” Goepferd said. “They just do better.”
Goepferd serves as medical director for Children’s gender health program, which provides gender-affirming care. With young patients, Goepferd said a lot of the need is about promoting good mental health.
“Navigating family situations, coming out to grandparents, social transitions, how things are going at school,” Goepferd said. “That is the vast majority of what we do.”
Republicans who oppose these efforts have argued that gender-affirming care takes away the rights of parents and allows children, regardless of age, to seek and receive radical medical treatments.
Medical professionals like Goepferd say there’s a lot of misinformation and disinformation around this type of health care. For example, Goepferd said there are no medical treatments for kids before puberty.
And there are no genital surgeries done on children under the age of 18. Less than one percent of trans adolescents under age 18 access chest or top surgery, according to Goepferd.
What is true: At puberty, some young people do take medication to delay puberty. And some young people might take hormones to initiate puberty in the gender they identify as. Medical studies have shown these treatments to be safe and effective, Goepferd said.
“There has been a manufactured controversy around this type of care to advance a political agenda and it is doing a huge disservice to kids,” Goepferd said.
‘Trans people can grow older and have families’
Goepferd’s program has been running since 2019, but with a slew of states, including many that border Minnesota, passing laws to restrict or ban gender-affirming care for minors, Goepferd said Minnesota providers are stretched thin to help an influx of out-of-state patients.
Goepferd said the wait for a new patient in the program at Children’s Minnesota is currently 9 to 12 months.
Every passing moment without proper care is critical, Samuelson said.
“We don’t see ourselves usually growing older,” Samuelson said. “We hear about bad things that happen, so I am excited to show that trans people can grow older and have families and a partner, a kid, a steady income.”
Samuelson said he feels more hopeful for his child Liz’s generation, believing they will have more choices and less tragic outcomes.
This story is part of Call to Mind, American Public Media and MPR's initiative to foster new conversations about mental health.