Monday, April 06, 2026

Anti-transgender 'medical group' SEGM faces criticism for its interpretation of Finland study

SEGM, an anti-trans 'medical group,' got pushback after it implied that a Finland study refutes the belief that gender-affirming therapy helps trans youth.

Those who have followed this blog over the years (it will be 20 this September) know that a feature is me calling out the religious right and the anti-LGBTQ industry when they create junk science and distort legitimate studies to demonize LGBTQ people. It's been a while since I've done this, so I think today is a good time to throw one out with the help of people more knowledgeable on this particular subject that I am. 

First, a little background.

The Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine (SEGM)  is an organization which claims to "promote safe, compassionate, ethical and evidence-informed healthcare for children, adolescents, and young adults with gender dysphoria."

However, its critics claim that the group pushes anti-transgender misinformation under the veneer of legitimate science. In 2024, the Southern Poverty Law Center designated SEGM as an anti-LGBTQ hate group.  The year before, SPLC issued an extensive report on how SEGM works with other anti-LGBTQ groups in legitimizing bigotry as science: 

 The report, Combating Anti-LGBTQ+ Pseudoscience Through Accessible Informative Narratives, also known as Project CAPTAIN, unpacks the proliferation of biased and misleading information used — under the guise of science — in state and federal legislation and litigation over the last decade and exposes the far right and far-reaching network behind it. 

 Researchers from the SPLC’s Intelligence Project identify a network of over 60 groups, including Alliance Defending Freedom, the Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine and Genspect, with nearly 1,000 shared connections that have mobilized their efforts to challenge the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) standards, advance the so-called “Women’s Bill of Rights” and recruit for Project 2025. Project CAPTAIN lists the 100 commonly cited sources used by anti-LGBTQ+ actors to make junk science claims, including research papers and letters to the editor, that attack the scientific consensus of gender-affirming care, defend conversion therapy and generate moral panic over trans people. 

 “We show how this network of anti-LGBTQ+ actors have built a political and PR machine that twists data and opinion from a very small minority of the medical community and positions it as mainstream,” said R.G. Cravens, senior research analyst for SPLC’s Intelligence Project. 

 In 2021, The Trans Safety Network published an extensive report on SEGM's ties to other anti-LGBTQ groups, its campaigning against trans health funding, and questions about its funding. 

All of this background leads to a recent tweet SEGM sent out trumpeting the "results" of a Finland study on gender-affirming care for kids:

 

This claim was retweeted by many of SEGM's supporters, i.e. folks who want to ban gender-affirming therapy for trans kids (and probably trans adults.) However, there was some pushback calling out how SEGM interpreted the study.

 

Dr. Laura Targownik sent out a series of tweets analyzing the study and SEGM's claim. Targownik has been called "a prominent leader in advocating for gender equity and transgender health rights within the medical profession."

The following are a few excerpts.

 

Also,

Finally, and perhaps more importantly,

Not unlike other anti-LGBTQ groups masquerading as legitimate medical organizations, SEGM seems to be more interested in creating a narrative instead of genuine scientific research.

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