Skip to content

Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine vs. transgender people

Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine (SEGM) is an American anti-transgender organization maintained by William Malone.

SEGM is designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Beckground

SEGM was conceived in 2019 to draft an alternative to the WPATH Standards of Care. In 2023, Elisa Schupe leaked a trove of emails describing the development of SEGM:

Michelle Cretella states that they are incubating a new group to draft “alternative standards of care,” referring to Michael Laidlaw and Will Malone. This corresponds with the creation of the Society For Evidence Based Gender Medicine, of which Will Malone helped found. The SEGM would go on to be utilized in the drafting of Florida’s alternative standards of care in 2022 banning gender affirming care for trans youth. SEGM affiliates were on the board which made that decision.

SEGM was formally incorporated in 2021 and is based in Twin Falls, Idaho.

Income reported to the IRS:

  • 2020: $199,566
  • 2021: $793,975
  • 2022: $229,683

As trans journalists Erin Reed and Evan Urquhart note:

According to the Southern Policy Law Center, SEGM has received significant funding from the same sources that support the partisan  Alliance Defending Freedom and the Heritage Foundation, organizations known for drafting anti-trans legislation. SEGM is closely linked with anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ extremist groups, a connection mapped out by the SPLC’s analysis. Its founder, William Malone, was part of an anti-trans working group in 2019 where members asserted that “god’s will” is being enacted through passing trans bans. In this group, he stated, “It might take years, but we’re going to get them.” If that is not activism, what is?

People

Leadership

Key personnel include:

2022 HHS meeting

On April 25, 2022 Malone arranged a meeting with US government officials on healthcare for trans and gender diverse youth. Attendees were:

Government

  • Josh Brammer – OMB/OIRA
  • Vanessa Duguay – OMB/HD
  • Dylan de Kervor – HHS/OCR
  • Audrey Wiggins – HHS/OGC
  • Alissa Stoneking – HHS/OCR

SEGM

Self

2023 conference

In October 2023, SEGM held a conference attended by and featuring many key figures from the global anti-transgender movement, including:

2024 conference

In October 2024, SEGM met in Athens Greece for their annual conference. Scheduled participants included:

  • Amita Jassi
  • Lucy Johnstone
  • Artemis Tsitsika

References

Lazine, Mira (March 7, 2025). New HHS Directive Cites Anti-LGBTQ+ Hate Groups, Demands Hospitals Stop Trans Youth Care. Erin in the Morning https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/new-hhs-directive-cites-anti-lgbtq

Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine (October 2024). Questioning Gender: Psychotherapeutic Approaches to Youth Gender Dysphoria. https://trans.so/files/SEGM24_AgendaPrint_9-16-24.pdf

Reed, Erin (October 3, 2024). NHS Trans Care Officials Speak At Anti-Trans Hate Group SEGM’s Conference. Erin in the Morning https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/nhs-trans-care-officials-speak-at

Reed, Erin (June 5, 2024). SPLC Designates Genspect, SEGM As Anti-LGBTQ Hate Groups. Erin in the Morning https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/splc-designates-genspect-segm-as

Reed, Erin; Urquhart, Evan (February 8, 2024). Readers Deserve Better Than Misinformation About Trans Care; A Response To Pamela Paul. Erin in the Morning https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/readers-deserve-better-than-misinformation

SPLC (December 12, 2023). Group dynamics and division of labor within the anti-LGBTQ+ pseudoscience network. https://www.splcenter.org/resources/reports/defining-pseudoscience-network/

Reed, Erin (March 10, 2023). 2600 Leaked Anti-trans Lobbyist Emails Show Fundamentalism, Not Evidence, Is How First Anti-Trans Bills Were Drafted. Erin in the Morning https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/2600-leaked-anti-trans-lobbyist-emails

Jones, Zinnia (January 11, 2023). Anti-trans group SEGM’s cofounder Stephen Beck is an executive at Bon Secours Mercy Health, the fifth-largest Catholic healthcare network in the US. Gender Analysis https://genderanalysis.net/2023/01/anti-trans-group-segms-cofounder-stephen-beck-is-an-executive-at-bon-secours-mercy-health-the-fifth-largest-catholic-healthcare-network-in-the-us/

Reed, Erin (December 20, 2022). “Gender Exploratory Therapy”: A New Anti-trans Conversion Therapy With A Misleading Name. Erin in the Morning https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/gender-exploratory-therapy-a-new

Kroszner, Debra (2022). Biased Science in Texas & Alabama. Office of Public Affairs, Yale Law School https://medicine.yale.edu/lgbtqi/research/gender-affirming-care/biased-science/

Boulware, Susan D; Kamody, Rebecca; Kuper, Laura; McNamara, Meredithe; Olezeski, Christy; Szilagyi, Nathalie; Alstott, Anne (2022). Biased Science in Texas & Alabama. Yale School of Medicine https://medicine.yale.edu/lgbtqi/research/gender-affirming-care/biased-science/

US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) (April 25, 2022). EO 12866 Meeting 0945-AA17. Nondiscrimination in Health Programs and Activities https://mobile.reginfo.gov/public/do/viewEO12866Meeting?viewRule=true&rin=0945-AA17&meetingId=131923&acronym=0945-HHS/OCR

Moore, Mallory (August 26, 2021) SEGM uncovered: large anonymous payments funding dodgy science. Trans Safety Network https://transsafety.network/posts/segm-uncovered/

Stahl, Aviva (April 16, 2021). Meet The “Fringe Extremists” Pushing Flawed Science To Target Trans Kids. Buzzfeed News https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/avivastahl/transgender-trans-kids-healthcare-science

SEGM (2020). About us. http://segm.org/about_us

Resources

Trans Data Library (transdatalibrary.org)

Society for Evidence-based Gender Medicine (segm.org)

Guidestar (guidestar.org)

X/Twitter (x.com)