In February, Jamie Reed, formerly a case manager at The Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, launched explosive accusations about that clinic via an article in Bari Weiss’s Free Press publication and a sworn affidavit that Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey subsequently published online.

Reed, who sought whistleblower protections under Missouri state law before coming forward, said in her article and affidavit that the clinic’s practices were deeply irresponsible and likely to harm its patients. Many of those patients, she claimed, were quickly shunted to puberty blockers and hormones without the sorts of in-depth assessments that should precede such treatments. Moreover, she argued, patients and their families were denied important information about their potential side effects.