FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—Six of America’s largest companies have executives on the boards of hospitals that perform child sex-change procedures.
Executives of Costco, General Motors, T-Mobile, Procter and Gamble, Wells Fargo, and Kroger are board members at the 12 leading hospitals on medical watchdog Do No Harm’s list of health care facilities that offer irreversible transgender medical interventions to children.
These interventions include prescriptions for sterilizing “puberty blockers” and for hormone replacement regimens, as well as sex-change surgeries.
Consumers’ Research launched a public awareness campaign on Tuesday to inform consumers about the companies’ leadership. Will Hild, executive director of Consumers’ Research, sent letters to the boards of the six companies, warning them that their employees’ participation on these hospital boards poses a serious risk to their business’ reputations and urging them to take action.
“Corporate executives are allowing children to be victimized, and consumers need to know about it,” Hild told The Daily Signal in a statement. “While serving as a member of the board of directors of these hospitals, each of the eight executives named by Consumers’ Research has allowed hundreds of children to be subjected to dangerous, irreversible sex-change procedures on their watch.”
Consumers’ Research’s mission is to “educate consumers about issues impacting their welfare and to amplify their voice in the marketplace,” according to the nonprofit’s website.
Ron Vachris, CEO of Costco, is a board member at Seattle Children’s Hospital, which has provided sex-change procedures to 285 minors. This includes 50 surgery patients and 246 hormone and “puberty blocker” patients.
Richard Libenson, director emeritus at Costco, is a board member at Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego, which offered sex change procedures to 136 minors.
Kroger’s Stuart Atiken, who serves as chief marketing officer, is also a board member at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, which has treated 399 minor sex change patients.
Consumers’ Research placed mobile billboards outside the companies’ corporate offices to warn the public.
“To see popular American brands like Costco and Kroger connected to the victimization of minors is both tragic and unconscionable,” Hild said. “When corporate leadership at these hospitals allow these procedures to go on unabated, they must be held accountable and consumers should know when they are giving money to companies whose executives involved.”
Hild’s letter urges the companies to “immediately disassociate” from the executives involved with hospitals that participate in sex changes for minors.
“American consumers have options on where to spend their hard-earned dollars,” the letter says. “There is no reason why they should give them to a company whose executives are involved in child abuse.”
The Daily Signal reached out to each of the companies, and none responded to requests for comment by publication time.
President-elect Donald Trump has promised to ban so-called gender affirming care for children without parental consent.
The Daily Signal asked Vice President-elect Vance if the Trump-Vance administration would ban “puberty blockers,” hormone treatments, and irreversible surgeries for minors in all cases, regardless of parental involvement.
“I think sex changes for minors, permanently altering, either chemically or surgically, the body of young child, is crazy,” the Republican vice president-elect said. “I can’t believe that we do this. I really can’t.”
