FTC Hires Goldis To Spearhead Investigation
The Federal Trade Commission has quietly made a hire that is already reverberating far beyond Washington’s bureaucratic corridors. Glenna Goldis, a lawyer fired by New York Attorney General Letitia James after publicly criticizing transgender medical procedures for children, is now joining the FTC as a senior litigator in its Bureau of Consumer Protection.
According to The Daily Wire, Goldis will take a leading role in investigations examining whether so-called “gender-affirming care” has caused harm to minors and whether providers have misled parents and consumers about the risks and benefits involved.
Goldis is not an obvious culture-war caricature. She has described herself as a “lefty lesbian lawyer,” and until recently worked under one of the most progressive attorneys general in the country.
Her dismissal from James’s office followed months of public and internal criticism of pediatric gender medicine, particularly the use of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones on minors. Goldis has argued that these practices may constitute a form of consumer fraud, alleging that providers exaggerate benefits while minimizing or obscuring long-term risks.
That stance put her directly at odds with James’s legal posture. According to Goldis, officials in the attorney general’s office struggled to identify what rule she had violated before settling on the claim that her public commentary conflicted with James’s official legal positions, including those related to United States v. Skrmetti, a Supreme Court case addressing transgender medical procedures for children.
Goldis disputes that interpretation and says the rules were used less as a professional safeguard and more as a tool to silence dissent. A spokesperson for James confirmed her firing, citing “flagrant and repeated disregard” for internal rules.
At the FTC, Goldis is being welcomed rather than sidelined. Agency officials have praised her background in consumer protection and framed her hiring as part of a broader effort to determine whether medical professionals are violating Sections 5 and 12 of the FTC Act by making deceptive or unsubstantiated claims about “gender-affirming care.”
The commission has already signaled its direction of travel. In May, it announced a workshop on the subject, often a precursor to enforcement action, and in July it convened academics, parents, doctors, and detransitioners to testify about their experiences.
An internal FTC memo accompanying the workshop suggested there is “considerable reason” to believe that parents may be misled by providers who downplay harmful side effects while overstating benefits. FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson underscored that point directly to detransitioners, telling them the commission wants to understand how the law may be broken.