Roger Hiatt
This content was last updated Oct. 4, 2023, 5 a.m. UTC
Roger Hiatt is a child and adolescent psychiatrist who has provided testimony in court in favor of bills that ban gender-affirming care to minors. He practices the "watchful waiting" technique with transgender patients. He has also said that transgender patients often have comorbid issues, such as mental illness and trauma, and that treating these other issues alone will reduce the effects of dysphoria. Hiatt is a religious Christian and included a biblical quote in a letter supporting anti-transgender bill. He is outspoken in his belief that transition is an impossible goal and that desistance is the only way to minimize the risk of suicide, as well as the belief that going through the process of puberty in gender dysphoric youth is what primarily leads to desistance.
The question of gender is answered at conception. Opinions to the contrary are simply misinformation.
Education and Work
According to his LinkedIn page, Dr. Hiatt has a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Brigham Young University (1980-1985), received his Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (1988-1992), and completed a psychiatric residency at the University of Arkansas (1992-1997). He is listed as a Child Psychiatrist at the Centers for Youth and Families in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Court Appearances
Dr. Hiatt testified as a witness in favor of both the SAFE Act (HB 1570, Act 626) in Arkansas, which banned gender affirming care outside of counseling for anyone under the age of 18 in 2021. He also testified in favor of a similar bill in Kentucky (SB 150) in March of 2023. He has said he has treated over 200 patients with gender dysphoria during his time as a child and adolescent psychiatrist. He does not believe that it is possible to achieve gender transition, nor that that is ever the best option for patients. In a letter to the Kentucky State Legislature in 2023 he made several claims regarding care of patients with gender dysphoria, including that 80-90% will desist, that desistance is the only option that minimizes suicide risk, and that puberty is what leads to desistance. It is not clear from the letter where this information comes from. In 2022, a study of youth who socially transitioned found only 2.5 percent were living as their birth sex after five years.