Johns Hopkins Medicine became the first academic medical center to perform gender-affirming surgeries for transgender people back in 1965. But shortly after breaking ground, the center reversed course, halting the surgeries and taking a controversial stance on transgender health.

--Erin Rook, LGBTQ Nation

At the time, anti-LGBT devout Catholic Paul McHugh had control of the program.

I concluded that Hopkins was fundamentally cooperating with a mental illness. We psychiatrists, I thought, would do better to concentrate on trying to fix their minds and not their genitalia.

--McHugh

Earlier this month, the heads of Johns Hopkins Medicine issued a letter to their colleagues addressing increasing scrutiny on the institution. One of its faculty members, Paul McHugh, has become the face of anti-transgender advocacy, propping up junk science to justify rejecting transgender identities. McHugh’s latest “special report” in The New Atlantis, co-authored with Lawrence Mayer, another Johns Hopkins professor, challenged basic premises about the nature of LGBT identities by cherry-picking studies and sounding anti-LGBT dogwhistles. This prompted the Human Rights Campaign and other LGBT advocates to call upon Johns Hopkins to disavow the report and abandon the legacy established by McHugh’s leadership.

The Dear Colleagues letter is here.

The letter confirmed that the medical school intends to do just that. First, it addresses the controversy of the professors’ scholarship, defending their academic freedom, but sternly noting, “When individuals associated with Johns Hopkins exercise the right of expression, they do not speak on behalf of the institution.”

--Zack Ford, Think Progress

We have committed to and will soon begin providing gender-affirming surgery as another important element of our overall care program, reflecting careful consideration over the past year of best practices and the appropriate provision of care for transgender individuals.

--the letter

That’s why the announcement that it will soon begin offering transition surgeries again could be quite revolutionary. Not only will Johns Hopkins no longer be tacitly endorsing McHugh’s debunked views, but it will actually train generations of doctors in providing affirming care to transgender patients. A four-decade reputation of rejection might not be changed overnight, but the shift could very well save lives in the years to come.

--Ford

Before he was a candidate for president, Ben Carson was invited to speak at the university’s 2013 commencement. Carson, the former director of Johns Hopkin’s pediatric neurology department, ultimately withdrew after students and others protested his anti-gay comments. He has also stated that he thinks being transgender “doesn’t make any sense.”