‘Woke’ Government Bureaucrats ‘Hiding’ Crucial Data On Blockbuster Trans Study, Watchdog Says

A conservative watchdog accused federal bureaucrats of “hiding” key data from a government-funded study that would expose the questionable “science” behind putting gender-confused kids on puberty blockers. 

The American Accountability Foundation filed a suit on Wednesday, alleging that the Department of Health and Human Services and the National Institutes of Health are withholding the release of data expected to significantly undermine transgender ideology. The data is from a government-funded study that the author admitted in an interview with The New York Times would hurt the case for placing young children on puberty blockers. 

“For over a year, HHS has been hiding a bombshell study that confirms what we’ve known all along: transgender therapy is a failure,” American Accountability Foundation President Tom Jones told The Daily Wire. “The lead researcher herself admitted that the findings challenge the effectiveness of these drugs. HHS bureaucrats are playing woke political games, ignoring science and common sense.”

The American Accountability Foundation first requested the data from the $9.7 million project after the Times published a story on October 23, 2024, that featured researcher Johanna Olson-Kennedy admitting that she had delayed publishing the effects of puberty blockers on children due to political concerns. Olson-Kennedy told The Times that the data did not show better mental outcomes for children placed on puberty blockers. 

Five days later, the American Accountability Foundation submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to get the data. However, the response came with significant redactions that obscured important data points, the suit filed in the District of Columbia said.  

“Though the NIH sent a response and produced some records in November 2024, NIH’s production appeared incomplete, as it didn’t include Dr. Olson-Kennedy’s data and contained redactions throughout. NIH’s response also appeared incomplete and insufficient because it didn’t justify any of the redactions, nor did it explain how the search was conducted to find responsive records pertaining to the data set,” the suit said. 

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Jones filed an appeal of the redactions on January 6, 2025, but says that the issue has not yet been resolved. The suit says that HHS and the NIH have violated federal records laws in their handling of the request. 

Specific records that have been redacted include the names of researchers who aided in the project, their background, and information on the compensation they received from the government. 

Also redacted are demographic information and other data points about the kids who were put on puberty blockers. That data is redacted for “proprietary info,” while some is left out with the reason, “redacted by agreement.”

The suit said that the AAF opposed the vague redactions and “objected to the adequacy of NIH’s search. Specifically, AAF requested a copy of the data to which Dr. Olson referred. The FOIA coordinator’s response said nothing about how the search was conducted, whether such data are being withheld, and, if they are being withheld, why they are being withheld.”

A preprint version of Olson-Kennedy’s study appears to be available, but it has not yet been peer reviewed. Olson-Kennedy and her co-authors claim in that version that their research shows that “youth demonstrated both stability and improvement in emotional and mental health over 24 months.”

The American Accountability Foundation believes that all the data documenting the study should be made available so it can be independently analyzed.

“We’re fighting back, suing HHS to force them to follow the law and release this truth,” Jones said. “The American people deserve to know what’s being hidden by the radical left!”