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Donald Trump wants Brian Christine to have the role that Rachel Levine served in for four years under Joe Biden.
Also, while the Alabama doctor says he’s never treated transgender patients, records reveal that he did offer surgical care to transgender men.
President Donald Trump has nominated an Alabama urologist with a long record of anti-trans rhetoric — but also a history of marketing gender-affirming care to transgender men — to replace Rachel Levine in a top federal health role. Levine is the first transgender person confirmed by the U.S. Senate, which happened under the Biden administration.
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Brian Christine, 61, has been selected to serve as assistant secretary for health at the Department of Health and Human Services. This position oversees key public health initiatives and was previously held by Levine. Christine’s nomination, which requires Senate confirmation, comes amid Trump’s escalating efforts to roll back LGBTQ+ rights across the federal government — and has already sparked an outcry from advocates who accuse Christine of hypocrisy and political opportunism.
Related: Dr. Rachel Levine Confirmed to HHS Post, Makes Transgender History
Christine has spent recent years publicly denouncing gender-affirming care for transgender youth, calling it “damaging” and falsely claiming it is part of a left-wing agenda to attack families, religion, and traditional gender roles.
In an October 2022 podcast episode, Christine described gender dysphoria as a “psychiatric condition” that should be treated with “corrective care” — including counseling or “pastoral care” — rather than medically supported gender affirmation. He accused “the left” of using transgender youth “as pawns to challenge traditional family” and “attack traditional religion and theology.”
Yet Christine — now seeking to lead national health policy — has publicly denied ever treating transgender patients.
The Washington Postreports that in a recent statement released through the White House, Christine insisted: “I have never treated transgender ‘men’ for sexual dysfunction, either with medication or surgery. I have never performed a surgical ‘transition’ of a man or woman. I have never prescribed hormones to a patient with gender dysphoria or to aid in ‘transition.’ I am not a specialist in transgender care. I do not offer treatment to patients diagnosed with gender dysphoria.”
But The Wall Street Journal previously reported that Christine’s practice had explicitly advertised care for transgender men. In a 2017 full-page ad in Peach ATL, an LGBTQ+ magazine, Christine promoted “surgical treatment of erectile dysfunction in female-to-male transgender patients” and promised “no prejudice or bias, just outstanding care” for gay, cisgender, and transgender men alike. His now-deleted website also listed care for transgender men among his specialties in 2017, according to an archived version, and a 2019 speaker biography at a urology conference similarly highlighted his work treating transgender patients.
Related: Rachel Levine on being out in government and the ‘faux’ outrage over Trans Day of Visibility (exclusive)
Major medical associations, including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Psychiatric Association, agree that gender-affirming care is evidence-based, medically necessary, and often lifesaving. Every major U.S. medical authority endorses this care — which may include puberty blockers, hormone therapy, or surgeries—for appropriate patients under medical professional guidance.
Advocates called the contradictions disqualifying.
Human Rights Campaign national press secretary Brandon Wolf said in a statement to The Advocate that Christine’s nomination “is an affront to the groundbreaking leaders who have served in this crucial role and an insult to the communities he has thrown under the bus."
Christine’s record stands in stark contrast to Levine, who, during her time in office, advocated for ensuring access to gender-affirming care for all transgender people, regardless of age. Christine, meanwhile, has aligned himself with political attacks on transgender health care — calling gender-affirming care for youth “damaging,” comparing it to malpractice, and falsely suggesting it is part of a government-driven plot.
Related: Rachel Levine’s Emails Released in Alabama Transgender Care Case
His nomination now heads to the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, where Democrats — including Sens. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, Chris Murphy of Connecticut, Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland, and Bernie Sanders of Vermont — will face pressure to confront Christine’s record and past statements. No hearing has yet been scheduled.
