8 Things To Know About the Lawsuit Against Doctors Over Gender Transition at Age 12

UCLA student Kaya Clementine Breen filed a lawsuit against two California doctors, alleging they hastily facilitated her gender transition starting at age 12. Breen claims Dr. Johanna Olson-Kennedy, who runs a prominent transgender youth clinic, and others overlooked her mental health struggles and history of trauma.

Breen said, “People are just brushing exactly what happened to me off as something that doesn’t happen.”

Breen had approached a school counselor in 2016, who informed her parents she was transgender. Breen did not receive a psychological evaluation before beginning her medical transition.

Breen began receiving puberty blockers at 12, started cross-sex hormones at 13, and underwent a double mastectomy at 14. Olson-Kennedy reportedly diagnosed Breen with gender dysphoria shortly after their first meeting and recommended puberty blockers.

Breen began therapy before attending college and realized she might not be transgender but was suffering from PTSD related to her past trauma. She has since stopped taking testosterone, claiming her mental health has improved, but states that her body has been “irreversibly and profoundly damaged,” resulting in near infertility.

Breen said, “I wasn’t really sure about my identity at all,” noting she now believes she had unresolved trauma from violence at the hands of her autistic brother and sexual abuse from someone outside the family at age 6.

Breen’s lawsuit seeks unspecified damages and was filed shortly after the Supreme Court reviewed a case regarding state bans on gender transition care for minors. The lawsuit also names Dr. Scott Mosser and the Gender Confirmation Center of San Francisco, alleging that Mosser approved her surgery after a brief meeting.

Breen argued she required psychotherapy but was instead “fast-tracked onto the conveyor belt of irreversibly damaging” medical procedures.