Middlebury hosted a talk attended by about 120 students on Feb. 20 titled “What is the Right Approach on Public Policy and Transgender Medicine?” in Wilson Hall in McCullough Student Center. The talk featured two speakers invited by the Alexander Hamilton Forum: Leor Sapir of the Manhattan Institute and Brianna Wu, a transgender activist and executive director of the Rebellion PAC. Both speakers maintain an active presence on social media, where Sapir and Wu have previously criticized current transgender healthcare in the U.S.
The speakers’ online rhetoric surrounding the issue led student groups and members of the community to question the speakers’ qualifications to speak about the topic, criticizing the college’s decision to hold the event. The talk took place only a few weeks after President Trump’s executive orders banned transgender women from women’s sports and mandated the recognition of only two sexes, leaving the transgender community and its supporters particularly worried about protecting their rights to free expression and healthcare.
Brianna Wu and Leo Sapir spoke on Thursday in Wilson Hall about their concerns over the state of transgender healthcare in the U.S.
In response to the planned event, the student group Queers & Allies organized a counter-panel at the same time in Dana Auditorium called “Trans Healthcare is NOT a Debate!” that was moderated by Elio Farley ’24.5 and Zoe Predmore ’27.5. Their event featured local pediatrician Paco Corbalan, Director of Middlebury Health Services Alison Finch, Professor of Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies Laurie Essig and former student-athlete Lia Smith ’26, who is transgender, to discuss the current politicization of transgender healthcare.
Half an hour before the alternative event, the organizers held a “Trans Joy Dance Party” outside of McCullough in celebration of queer joy and in protest of the panel before dancing in a conga line across campus to hear the speakers in Dana.
Farley and Predmore described the alternative panel as a way to explicitly support transgender students and counter-program Wu and Sapir’s discussion. The moderators expressed their belief that Sapir and Wu were unqualified to be speaking about transgender healthcare, and could be spreading harmful information.
“Middlebury College does not need to platform pseudoscience. It doesn’t platform flat earthers or anti-vaxxers,” Farley and Predmore said in a joint statement at the event.
Associate Professor of Political Science Gary Winslett, who chose Sapir and Wu to speak, explained his decision to invite the speakers in his introduction to the talk.
“If you're a political science professor like I am, you’re trying to educate your students and you want them to hear these different viewpoints that are out in the world,” he said.
When asked how he felt about the counter-panel taking place at the same time as the one he organized, Winslett said he had no qualms with them hosting another event discussing the topic of transgender healthcare.
“I have zero problem with that. It's a ‘more speech’ approach and it didn’t disrupt anything,” Winslett wrote to The Campus.
At the panel in Wilson, Sapir and Wu discussed what they see as shortcomings in gender-affirming healthcare in the U.S.
Sapir claimed that there is not enough evidence to demonstrate the safety of puberty blockers or other forms of gender-affirming care for minors. He pointed towards recent reversals of gender policy in “progressive” countries like the United Kingdom, Finland and Sweden, which have imposed restrictions on gender-affirming treatments.
“U.S. medical groups are out of date, meaning they don’t recognize what the science is, what it does or does not say, or, they do recognize it but are not being honest with the public,” Sapir said.
Wu agreed, but also pushed back.
“There are serious problems with the way this healthcare is delivered today,” Wu said. “It goes both ways though; there is not strong evidence that [gender-affirming healthcare] helps, but there is not strong evidence that it hurts.”
Sapir countered by discussing what he called the potential harms of puberty blockers, including sterility, sexual dysfunction and osteoporosis.
“There is now emerging evidence that puberty blockers result in cognitive impairment,” he said.
Wu agreed with Sapir on this point. “We don't have to do puberty blockers. We can let a child develop and if their gender identity [is] stable at 14… we can just start [giving them] antiandrogens, estrogen, and give the surgeon enough material [developed sexual organs] to work with,” Wu said.
Major national medical associations such as the the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, among others, have argued in favor of gender-affirming care for minors as medically necessary and important for their safety.
Wu, a transgender woman, attributes her successful transition to the strict “standards of care” in place at the time of her transition. These protocols included months of therapy before any medical treatment and a period during which she was required to work a job and live as a woman before her surgical procedures.
“I had real-life experience. I had to go make actual girl friends in the real world and figure out how girls socialize with each other, which — I don't have to tell any of y’all — it’s tough,” Wu said. “I think we are cheating trans people because all of that’s just been destroyed…I could take anyone here today to Planned Parenthood Massachusetts, and get you started on HRT [hormone replacement therapy]. The clinical safeguarding is gone.”
A student briefly interrupted the event by playing a trumpet and harmonica before being led out, but otherwise the event proceeded unimpeded.
Audience reactions to Wu and Sapir’s talk in Wilson varied.
“I thought the rhetoric was a little too charged to have a productive conversation. I wish it was a little more dispassionate,” David Gross ’25 said.
Professor of Political Science Murray Dry said he was happy to see open discourse about a controversial topic.
“This doesn’t occur often. They were knowledgeable and they understood and respected one another despite their differences,” he said.
Meanwhile, at the event in Dana, which drew in about 100 attendees from both the local area and college, panelists spoke to their own experiences with transgender healthcare.
The conversation touched on Sapir and Wu’s talk, but mostly focused on access to healthcare and how federal actions could potentially curtail it.
“For now, the practicality of what we’re offering and the services that we can provide… in Vermont has not changed, like we can still do all the things we could do before January 20th. What has changed is that we’re doing it in an environment of fear and uncertainty,” said Corbalan, the local pediatrician.
Panelists also discussed what they believe to be a right-wing effort to demonize transgender people, using Sapir and Wu’s talk as an example. They focused on shared perceptions of rising anti-transgender rhetoric and policies that impact transgender collegiate athletes like Smith, who acknowledged that new reality but shared that there is a strong support network for transgender individuals at Middlebury.
“Know that there are people in your community that are here for you and care about you,” she said.
Finch, the health services director, added to Smith’s points. “We want to see you. We’re a welcoming place, and that’s what I’m here for. It’s the most important thing that we offer,” she said.
Sydney Rogers ’25 was impressed with the discussion at the Dana panel.
“I thought it was very well organized and impactful. I felt like it was in touch with the student body and that they brought in a very knowledgeable panel that was able to speak from a broad range of experiences and perspectives,” she said in an interview with The Campus.
Essig, the Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies professor who spoke at the counter-talk, argued that colleges should have a role in limiting campus speech.
“Colleges have a particular obligation that isn’t the same as if you want to put a soap box up… everybody has to socialize together. They have to be in classes together, and I do believe that universities have a special obligation,” she said.
Editor’s Note: Senior News Editor Maggie Bryan ’25 contributed reporting to this article.
Correction 2/28/25: A prior version of this article misstated the description of a student speaker at the counter-panel last week. The name, class year and involvement in Middlebury athletics are now correct. The story has also been updated to reflect more accurately the nature of the American Medical Association and other major national organizations' stance on gender-affirming healthcare for minors, as it was discussed by the Hamilton Forum's speakers.
Luke J. Power '28 (he/him) is a News Editor.
Luke previously served as a contributing writer and as a news editor of "The Anvil" Middlesex school. He is majoring in economics with a minor in political science. He is also a senior analyst with the Middlebury Student Investment Committee, and enjoys skiing, squash, and golf. He lives in Manhasset, NY.
