Dallas doctor at heart of fight over trans care will leave Texas

The Dallas doctor who led Texas’ most prominent medical program for transgender youth is leaving Texas as legislators get within one step of banning gender-affirming medical treatments for minors.

Dr. Ximena Lopez said she is moving to California. She will be finishing her care at UT Southwestern on July 31, according to the medical center’s website.

As the pediatric endocrinologist who formerly headed up Genecis, a program for transgender youth operated jointly by Children’s Medical Center Dallas and UT Southwestern Medical Center, Lopez has become one of the most visible faces in the fight over gender-affirming medical care.

Lopez declined to comment on her decision to leave, her attorney Charla Aldous said.

Aldous also said the doctor’s decision to leave should not impact an ongoing lawsuit Lopez filed against her employers last spring over the Genecis changes.

“The lawsuit is about conduct that Children’s engaged in that was wrong. Dr. Lopez’s response to those wrongful acts does not relieve Children’s from accountability for those acts,” Aldous said.

Confirmation of her departure comes less than 24 hours after the Texas legislature pushed a bill closer to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk that bans gender-affirming medical treatments for minors and urges doctors to wean current patients off these treatments. The Texas Senate approved changes made in the House on Wednesday evening.

Should the bill become law, it would require the state to revoke the medical licenses of doctors who provide treatments like puberty blockers, hormone therapy or surgery to minors in order to “transition a child’s biological sex.” The legislation contradicts the recommendations of major U.S. medical organizations.

Existing patients could continue with their treatment path if they attended at least 12 sessions with a mental health counselor or psychotherapist in the six months prior to June 1. Doctors would still be required to wean them off of the care in a “safe and medically appropriate” way.

The legislation would also ban taxpayer money from going to individuals and entities – including public universities – that provide gender-affirming care for minors. UT Southwestern, a public medical school, and Children’s, a not-for-profit health system, have not said how the legislation could impact care offered.

“We monitor legislation that could impact the patients and families we serve. Due to ongoing legal proceedings, we are unable to further discuss this matter,” Children’s Health said in a statement Thursday.

UT Southwestern did not respond to a request for comment as of 5 p.m. Thursday.

Abbott has not publicly commented on the gender-affirming care ban legislation. Last year, however, he directed child protective services to investigate parents of transgender children for abuse. That policy is on hold pending litigation.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, the national ACLU, Lambda Legal and the Transgender Law Center pledged Thursday morning to file a lawsuit against the ban. Restrictions on gender-affirming care for minors are already in place in 17 states, according to the pro-LGBTQ rights website Movement Advancement Project, although laws in at least two states are on hold.

Lopez is the latest Texas physician to leave their position in response to shuttering of gender-affirming medical care. Doctors providing such care to teenagers at Dell Children’s Medical Center in Austin will be leaving the practice and transition-related care to patients has halted, the Texas Tribune reported on May 13.

In April 2022, the chief pediatrician at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, who specialized in care for transgender youth, resigned after penning an article in support of gender-affirming care for adolescents. The hospital, which paused gender-affirming medical treatments in March of last year, said the resignation was unrelated to the publication.

UT Southwestern and Children’s winddown of medical care for transgender adolescents began in November 2021, when the hospitals removed all Genecis branding from the internet and began referring new patients seeking puberty blockers and hormone therapy to treat gender dysphoria to outside providers.

Transgender patients previously enrolled in Genecis can still access these treatments, as can patients seeking hormones for reasons not related to gender dysphoria, UT Southwestern said. The hospitals continue to provide mental health care to new child and adolescent patients with gender dysphoria and they do not perform gender-affirming surgeries on minors.

The hospitals cited political and media attention for the changes at Genecis.

Lopez sued Children’s over the Genecis decisions. Last May, Dallas County Court Judge Melissa Bellan allowed her to resume accepting new transgender patients seeking gender-affirming care at the medical center. The doctor said she saw 72 additional patients between then and the end of last year.

Lopez celebrated another court victory in September when the Dallas appeals court ruled that the state also could not step in to halt the treatments.

Bellan decided in a hearing Thursday that Children’s must produce documents relating to the lawsuit within five business days. A trial is scheduled for Oct. 12.