Transgender policy at Kaiser shines a light on medical care across America

I’ve been a Kaiser patient for over forty years and have invariably received superb care. Having said that, I wasn’t the least surprised to learn from a Libs of TikTok exposé that the nation’s oldest and largest HMO is entirely on board with so-called “transgenderism,” right down to bringing it to young children. That’s because it’s just one of many healthcare institutions being led by a young generation of doctors and administrators who fully embrace the madness.

Kaiser Permanente is headquartered in Oakland, California, the heart of today’s hard leftism. However, when I became a member in 1991, all my caregivers were older than I was. They were people who attended college and medical school from the 1950s through the 1970s. Even in the San Francisco Bay Area, many (I’d say one-third) were obviously Republicans. Given that this was the Bay Area, even the conservative ones were comfortable with (or pretended to be comfortable with) homosexuality.

However, transgenderism was a bridge too far. I know this because I distinctly remember that people I met were ruffled in the late 1990s when a male doctor came to work in San Francisco in a dress. Things had already gone far enough in the Bay Area that Kaiser management said to let him go ahead with that conduct, but the people to whom I spoke were shocked, and many were uncomfortable.

Forty years later, everyone with whom I interact at Kaiser is younger than I am. Most are leftists. Why do I say that? Because if I’m ever at Kaiser in June, they’re all wearing rainbow paraphernalia, including the ones who I am reasonably sure are heterosexuals. (The pictures of opposite-sex spouses and children tend to be a giveaway.)

Image of a generic healthcare worker by luis-molinero (edited to add the flag background).

Also, during COVID, Kaiser was all-in on masks, lockdowns, and vaccinations. I know this because I kept getting emails from Kaiser promoting masks, lockdowns, and vaccinations. This time around, I doubt Kaiser will get on the lockdown bandwagon (that wagon has rolled on), but I’m sure I’ll start getting mask and vaccination emails.

Where does all this leftism come from? I’m willing to bet that it comes from academia, which is Ground Zero for every damaging leftist idea that’s becoming integrated into American society. Because Kaiser is a great place to work, while not all the doctors are Ivy League graduates, few come from small medical schools on only slightly larger islands somewhere in the Caribbean. They come from reputable places.

Having been the most assiduous students in their undergrad classes, and then having been equally attentive at medical school, Kaiser doctors were sponges for every bit of indoctrination that came along. Moreover, Kaiser has always been open to hiring minorities, from doctors on down. Statistically, minorities are more likely to be leftists, although that’s changing as the Democrats economically destroy hard-working minorities.

There’s also the class thing. Once upon a time, you’d start as a communist and, as you worked your way up the economic ladder, you’d end as a Republican. Now, as I can attest by looking at my graduating class from law school, you start out a conservative and, as you work your way up the prestige ladder, you become a Democrat with nothing but disdain for people like Sarah Palin, Donald Trump, and everyone in flyover states and the South.

What all this means is that it came as no surprise to me to read a Libs of TikTok article revealing that California’s Kaiser staff are being trained in “gender affirming care” that includes giving small children toxic and sterilizing hormones, along with mutilating surgery:

An employee at Kaiser Permanente, one of the largest healthcare providers on the West Coast, reached out to us after she was mandated to take a new staff training on “gender affirming care.” The employee, who wishes to remain anonymous for fear of losing her job, was horrified that a healthcare facility would be promoting the mutilation and castration of children.

[snip]

In the training video, a young boy who now identifies as a girl, discusses how he always knew he was a boy from age 4. Another individual, now an adult identifying as a man, says she knew she was trans at age 3.

[snip]

On their website, Kaiser has a chart on “Culturally Responsive Care” for transgender and gender-nonconforming people. They claim sex is “assigned” at birth and suggest there are many genders. Imagine going to a doctor who thinks a person’s biological sex is “assigned” and that there are infinite genders!

Kaiser also boasts on their site that they provide pediatric gender care, offering surgical procedures and irreversible hormone therapy which they offer to children.

It’s not just Kaiser. All medical institutions in America behave the same way because they’re filled with young or youngish, upwardly mobile, college-educated physicians and staff. They’re true believers, having been subject to “transgender” propaganda throughout their academic careers, swimming in it at the workplace and viewing it as a sign that they belong to the economic and intellectual elite.

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