Culture War Vs Consumer Protections

Nonrulemaking Docket No. FTCX-2025-0001

Request for Public Comment Regarding the FTC’s and Civil-Society Organizations’ Workshops on Gender-Affirming Care for Minors

Agency: Shadow Federal Trade Commission

Posted: July 10, 2025

Comment Period ends September 8, 2025

DOCKET DETAILS ABSTRACT:

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) hosted a workshop on July 9, 2025 titled “The Dangers of Gender-Affirming Care for Minors.” Departing from thirty years of agency practice, the FTC did not originally open a comment docket to hear from the public on the subject of the workshop and platformed only one set of views during the workshop instead of hearing from multiple perspectives. To provide balance on the question and allow the public to be heard, civil-society organizations led by Public Knowledge organized their own workshop on July 10, 2025 titled “Culture War vs. Consumer Protection: How a Politicized FTC Fails Families, Patients, and Consumers.” This comment docket seeks to further develop the factual record arising out of these workshops so that legislators, regulators, and enforcement agencies can inform their decisions with rigorous data and the perspectives of all Americans.

DOCUMENT:

The civil-society organizations accepting comments on this docket encourage members of the public—including consumers, medical professionals, therapists, researchers, parents, transgender individuals who received or were denied care as minors, workers, businesses, and academics—to comment on any issues or concerns that are relevant to the topic. Responses are specifically solicited on the following questions:

  1. Should the Federal Trade Commission take any action with respect to medical  care for transgender youth? If so, what action? Why or why not? Please provide any relevant data, studies, or other information that supports your views.
  2. Does the Federal Trade Commission have jurisdiction over providers of medical care for transgender youth? If so, which providers? Please identify any claims made in interstate commerce or other act or practice that affords the Commission with jurisdiction.
  3. What is the current medical standard of care with respect to transgender youth? What is the medical consensus and scientific evidence that currently exists, and in what ways is it evolving? Please provide any peer-reviewed literature from professional publications or describe first-hand experience in being a care provider.
  4. Have you received medical care related to being a transgender minor or as an adult? Are you the parent of a minor who has received this care? Describe your experiences and the benefits or drawbacks of the care you received.
  5. If you or your child received this care, what was the process of learning about care options and providing consent to a treatment plan? Describe the kinds of conversations you or your parents had with your health-care providers and what sorts of disclosures you received. What was the timeline from the initial conversation to receiving each aspect of care you received?
  6. Have you ever seen claims or representations about the efficacy or utility of medical treatment for gender dysphoria? If so, what were the claims, and were the claims substantiated by evidence? If so, describe or provide the evidence. Were these claims made in interstate commerce, such as in an advertisement in media or the mail?
  7. Care for transgender youth has become a politically charged topic. Has the conversation around this care had an impact on you, your family, or your community? Please describe the impact.
  8. The Federal Trade Commission has broad jurisdiction to police the economy to promote competition and protect consumers, but it has limited resources with which to carry out its mission. What consumer-protection or competition problems have the most impact on you, your family, your business, or your community? Please identify any actions you would like the FTC to take to address the problems you identified. Do you think that such actions are more important than action regarding medical care for transgender youth? Why or why not?

Please DO NOT include sensitive or confidential information in the comments including:

  • social security numbers;
  • dates of birth;
  • driver’s license numbers or other state identification numbers;
  • financial account information;
  • sensitive health information; or
  • competitively sensitive information. Comments will be posted on the Internet and made available to the public (subject to exceptions such as for personal privacy information).

BIG NEWS! In response to public pressure, including from this effort, the FTC has finally opened its own docket to receive public comments. Those comments are due September 26, 2025, so we are extending our comment deadline to match the agency’s. We strongly encourage you to file your comment with us AND with the FTC. It takes only a minute extra. The FTC’s comment docket is here.