Gov. Kristi Noem, R-S.D., announced the retirement of her state health secretary, Joan Adams, just days after the governor discovered the state Health Department had contracted a transgender activist group.
The group will participate in a "gender summit" event next month.
Noem announced Adam's retirement Monday morning, days after the governor denounced the transgender health summit.
"Gov. Kristi Noem is reviewing all Department of Health contracts and immediately terminated a contract with The Transformation Project," Ian Fury, Noem's chief of communications, told The Daily Signal on Friday. "The contract was signed without Gov. Noem's prior knowledge or approval."
Fury sent The Daily Signal a copy of the document dissolving the state contract.
"South Dakota does not support this organization's efforts, and state government should not be participating in them," Noem said in a statement. "We should not be dividing our youth with radical ideologies. We should treat every single individual equally as a human being."
Noem had not explicitly mentioned the transgender issue in the press release about Adam's retirement.
"Joan has lived a life of service to the Pierre community and to the people of South Dakota," Noem said in the statement. "She has been able to put families first because she recognizes the importance of her own family. I am grateful for her advice and wish her the best on everything that she does."
The state's largest employer, Sanford Health, will host the "Gender Identity Summit" with The Transformation Project. The project celebrates controversial medical procedures for minors.
The third annual Midwest Gender Identity Summit will occur on Jan. 13 at the Sanford Research Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. According to its website, Sanford Health is "the largest rural health system in the United States," serving more than 1 million patients. It operates 47 medical centers and employs 2,800 physicians.
The Transformation Project's mission is "supporting and empowering transgender youth." Attendees will be awarded up to 6.5 professional education credits.
The Midwest Gender Identity Summit includes workshops embracing biological males as females and vice versa. It also cites transgender people are likely to commit suicide unless doctors provide drugs to stunt growth. It calls it a "hormone disease." Its experimental medicine is regarded as "gender-affirming care."
Topics discussed in the summit include "Providing Gender Affirming Care," "Gender Affirming Care and the Attitude of Affirmation in Assessment," "How My Journey as a Transgender Provider Has Impacted Patient Care," and "Lessons from Transgender Parents."
The Transformation Project previously opposed a state bill that would make it illegal for doctors to perform sex-reassignment surgeries on children or prescribe them puberty blockers.
The South Dakota Department of Health hired The Transformation Project to "Create a Community Health Worker (CHW) Program with 'at least one certificate-level CHW.'" The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines CHWs as "trained public health care system and state health departments."
The contract between the state mandated Transformation Project to develop infrastructure for the CHW program, increase awareness to promote it, participate in the Community Health Worker Collaborative of South Dakota's annual conference, collect clinical data, and provide success stories and quarterly reports.
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