Donald Trump withdrew his nomination of Casey Means for the role of surgeon general this week and nominated Nicole Saphier for the post instead. Saphier is a doctor, Fox News personality, and wellness influencer who has supported anti-trans viewpoints, equating trans identities with mental illness.
“Puberty is a critical window for growth, bone density, and emotional maturation, and altering it with hormone blockers can lead to irreversible consequences—ranging from weakened skeletal health and infertility to heightened anxiety and depression,” Saphier told OutKick last year in a statement, which is at odds with medical consensus on puberty blockers for both cis and trans youth.
Related
While the role of surgeon general is not a policy-making role, reports from the surgeon general often inform policy decisions. Saphier’s guidance as surgeon general could be used to justify curtailing access to gender-affirming care.
Unlike Trump’s previous nominee, Saphier is a practicing physician, specializing in breast imaging and oncology. In his announcement on Truth Social, Trump described Saphier as “a STAR physician who has spent her career guiding women facing breast cancer through their diagnosis and treatment while tirelessly advocating to increase early cancer detection and prevention, while at the same time working with men and women on all other forms of cancer diagnoses and treatments.”
Insights for the LGBTQ+ community
Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more.
In a February episode of her podcast, Wellness Unmasked, Saphier hosted the “detransitioner” Claire Abernathy. The episode promoted the idea that “detransition” is a common experience, while studies find that it is very rare and often a result of social pressures rather than actual changes in gender identity.
In the episode, Saphier calls trans identities a “fad” and a “trend,” echoing debunked theories that gender diversity is a “social contagion.” Saphier has also equated trans identities with mental illness and called it part of a “national emergency” for mental health. She went on to suggest that trans identities are more common in unstable or “nontraditional” households and are tied to peer pressure. There is no scientific evidence to support this.
Outside of her commentary on trans issues, Saphier promotes and sells supplements from a line called Drop Rx. These include a range of herbal tinctures that are unregulated by the FDA. Unregulated herbal medicine is not constrained by what claims it can make about its effects.
Saphier is Trump’s third attempt to nominate a surgeon general, with neither of his previous candidates being confirmed in the past year and three months of his second term. His first nominee was Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, whose nomination was pulled in March last year after reports that she may have lied about her medical credentials.
After Nesheiwat, Trump nominated Means. However, her confirmation process has been stalled due to her vaccine skepticism and lack of medical credentials. Three Republican senators on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions refused to say whether they would vote to confirm Means, so the matter was never brought to a vote.
Subscribe to the LGBTQ Nation newsletter and be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.