The Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine (SEGM) is an anti-trans organization that is known for its opposition to gender-affirming care for transgender youth and for engaging in political lobbying. SEGM is known for transgender health care misinformation. It has falsely claimed that the majority of transgender children desist, argued that gender exploratory therapy should be the first line treatment for those under 25, and promoted the scientifically unsupported theory of rapid-onset gender dysphoria. SEGM is often cited in anti-transgender legislation and court cases, sometimes filing court briefs. SEGM is closely affiliated with Genspect and Therapy First. Seven advisors to SEGM are on Genspect's team of advisors, including Stella O'Malley, Genspect's founder. The Southern Poverty Law Center has designated SEGM and Genspect as anti-LGBTQ+ hate groups since 2023 and described SEGM as "a hub of pseudoscience". Researchers at the Yale School of Medicine issued a report which described SEGM as a small group of anti-trans activists and not "a recognized scientific organization". A spokesperson for the Endocrine Society described them as outside the medical mainstream. A paper published in March 2024 described them as a "fringe medical organization".
Leadership and founding The Society for Evidence-based Gender Medicine (SEGM) was founded in 2019 as an international group of clinicians and researchers. Its co-founders include William Malone, an American endocrinologist; Julia Mason, an American pediatrician; and Zhenya Abbruzzese, an American healthcare researcher. Psychiatrist Stephen B. Levine, who has testified in nearly every case on gender-affirming care in the United States and argues transgender people become pathologically narcissistic, is an advisor. SEGM, among other affiliated groups, was formed through connections in the "Pediatric and Adolescent Gender Dysphoria Working Group", a group of 17 academics and researchers including Kenneth Zucker, Ray Blanchard, and J. Michael Bailey. Several SEGM members collaborated with the CAMH Gender Identity Clinic which was directed by Zucker. A report by the Southern Poverty Law Center described SEGM as a hub of the "anti-LGBT pseudoscience network", and specified that the relationship was strongest between SEGM, Genspect, and Therapy First, who shared over 24 personnel connections. The report also stated SEGM members are affiliated with the "anti-LGBTQ+ far right". Julia Mason, Marcus Evans, Roberto D'Angelo, Sasha Ayad, Stella O'Malley, Lisa Marchiano, and Avi Ring are advisors for SEGM and are on Genspect's team or advisors; O'Malley is the founder of Genspect. Therapy First is a group of therapists founded in 2021 by four SEGM members and a Genspect advisor to market, gender exploratory therapy, which experts believe is transgender conversion therapy. Marchiano and O'Malley are on the board of Lisa Littman's Institute for Comprehensive Gender Dysphoria Research (ICGDR). SEGM members O'Malley and Robert P. George are also advisors to the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism. A report by seven people in various departments of the Yale School of Medicine stated that the 14 core members of SEGM regularly worked together on the boards of other organizations that oppose gender-affirming healthcare and "feature biased and unscientific content."
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