Quentin Van Meter
This content was last updated Nov. 15, 2023, 9:19 p.m. UTC
Dr. Quentin Van Meter is a pediatrician and anti-trans activist in Atlanta, Georgia, who is most known for his work as the ex-president for the American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds), a fringe group of doctors who oppose gender-affirming care for minors and the adoption of children by LGBTQ+ people. Van Meter has often lent his support to bills in various states with the intention of banning gender-affirming care to minors, and is an open supporter of conversion therapy in lieu of medically accepted treatments.
No adolescent is capable of making a decision, with informed consent … of what that adolescent will feel like when they are an adult, and they are infertile, their genitalia [doesn’t] work
Van Meter, testimony as quoted in the Pennsylvania Capital-Star, 12 March 2020
Education and Faith
Van Meter received his medical degree in 1973 from the Medical College of Virginia, followed by his pediatric residency and fellowship through 1980. From 1980 until 1991, he worked for the Navy Medical Corps, followed by his retirement and a move to Atlanta, Georgia to work in a private medical clinic. He has since founded a pediatric endocrine practice in Atlanta under his own name.
Van Meter is a member of the Cathedral of Christ the King, a Catholic church in Atlanta, Georgia.
American College of Pediatricians and SEGM
Van Meter joined the American College of Pediatricians in 2007, moved to its board of directors in 2008, and served as its president between 2018 and 2023. ACPeds splintered off from the American Academy of Pediatricians due to religious conservative doctors’ disagreement with the AAP over their stances on LGBTQ+ adoption, same-sex marriage, and other issues. ACPeds has been labeled as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Van Meter has been involved in the Society for Evidence-based Gender Medicine (SEGM) since its inception in 2020. SEGM is composed of members of the American College of Pediatricians, among others, and regularly endorses anti-trans stances on healthcare. Several individuals in their roster also support conversion therapy, including Van Meter.
Support for Legislation, Expert Testimony, Amicus Briefs
Van Meter submitted an amicus curiae brief for the 2017 Supreme Court case of Doe v. Boyertown Area School District alongside Miriam Grossman, Paul Hruz, Michael Laidlaw, and Andre Van Mol. The claimant in the case was a cisgender boy who said that transgender boys using the boys’ locker room infringed on his right to privacy. The brief stated that “conditioning children into believing that a lifetime of impersonating someone of the opposite sex, achievable only through chemical and surgical interventions, is harmful to youths.” The court found in favor of the school, which was upheld on appeal.
In February of 2020, Van Meter testified as an expert witness in a Texas divorce case involving a minor undergoing gender-affirming treatment. The judge presiding over the case found that Van Meter was “discredited as an expert” on hormone therapy, stating he could not offer science-driven testimony on “the legal question of whether an adolescent transgender child should be administered puberty blockers and whether affirmation of an incongruent gender in a child is harmful or not.”
Van Meter was hired by the state of Ohio in 2020 to act as an expert witness in a civil rights case brought against them by four transgender individuals. The claimants argued the state’s stance on disallowing the alteration of birth certificates to update gender markers breached their rights to privacy. When questioned as to why he was chosen, Van Meter stated “I don’t know, I guess I’m known for my opinion.”
Van Meter testified in support of Missouri’s House Bill 33 a ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth. He also supported Texas’ House Bill 1686, a similar piece of legislation, stating “When a child comes out and goes to school the next day as the opposite sex and is treated as such, that can't be put back together. That's a Pandora's [sic] box.”