Dr. Mehmet Oz, the cardiothoracic surgeon-turned-TV personality, was sworn in on April 18, 2025, as Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) under President Donald Trump’s second administration.

His appointment has drawn sharp criticism from LGBTQ+ advocates, especially after his immediate moves to restrict Medicaid coverage for gender-affirming care for minors. Oz’s confirmation sends him to public office following his failed 2022 Senate bid in Pennsylvania.

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Now, he holds authority over health coverage for more than 160 million Americans, including some of the most vulnerable LGBTQ+ populations.

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Dr. Mehmet Oz at a glance

• Location: Cleveland, Ohio (born); New Jersey/Pennsylvania (residence)
• Party Affiliation: Republican
• Race/Ethnicity: Turkish-American
• Gender Identity: Cisgender man
• Sexual Orientation: Straight
• Pronouns: He/Him
• LGBTQ+ Ally status: Not an ally; actively opposes gender-affirming care for minors

Social media

• Twitter: @DrOz and @DrOzCMS
• Instagram: @dr_oz and @drozcms
• Website: doctoroz.com

Biography

Born in Cleveland in 1960 to Turkish immigrant parents, Mehmet Oz earned his undergraduate degree from Harvard University and his MD and MBA from the University of Pennsylvania. He completed his surgical training at Columbia University, where he later became a professor of surgery. Oz rose to national fame through frequent appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show, eventually launching The Dr. Oz Show in 2009, which ran for 13 seasons. His media career was marked by controversy over his promotion of unproven medical treatments, leading Columbia University to sever ties with him in 2022.

In 2022, Oz ran as the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, losing to Democrat John Fetterman. Despite the loss, he maintained a high profile in conservative circles. In November 2024, President Trump nominated him to lead CMS, and the Senate confirmed him in April 2025 by a 53–45 vote. Oz now oversees a $1.7 trillion agency responsible for Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act programs.

Mehmet Oz’s stance on LGBTQ+ issues

As a daytime talk show host, Oz supported a deeper understanding of trans youth. However, as the current CMS Administrator under the Trump administration, Oz has taken positions that significantly restrict gender-affirming care for trans youth.

Same-sex marriage

In July 2022, during his unsuccessful U.S. Senate campaign, his spokesperson confirmed that “Dr. Mehmet Oz believes that same sex couples should have the same freedom to get married as straight couples.” He also signed a letter with over 400 Republican leaders urging the Senate to pass the Respect for Marriage Act, which required federal and state governments to legally recognize same-sex marriages.

Despite this, Oz held a November 2022 campaign event at the Stone Gables Estate, a venue that only holds weddings between a man and a woman, The Washington Post reported.

Transgender children in sports

Oz opposes trans participation in sports.

An ad posted by Oz’s campaign included the message “Men shouldn’t play women’s sports,” and during an April GOP primary debate, he said, “Biological men should not be playing women’s sports,” according to American Journal News.

In one March 2022 X post, he wrote against the inclusion of trans swimmers in collegiate competitions, stating, “This is infuriating. They are ruining every woman’s ability to compete fairly in college sports.” In another February 2022 post linking to a Fox News article attacking Thomas, Oz wrote, “Look what happens when you care more about the woke mob than female athletes. This isn’t fair. Shame on the Ivy League.”

In a leaked December 16, 2021 conversation between Oz and attendees of a private lunch in New York City, Oz was asked what he thought about Lia Thomas, a trans woman and swimmer at the University of Pennsylvania, and his position on trans issues overall.

While he mentioned the high suicide rates of trans people as evidence that “compassion” is needed to deal with the “diluted” issue, he said it’s “unfair” for them to participate in sports.

“Then you layer on top of that changes to our society that hurt other people in an effort to protect one group of people, and that’s not fair. That’s not fair,” he said, adding that “feminists” are harmed by trans sports inclusion.

“Feminists have very eloquently fought for the ability to have women’s sports be on equal [inaudible] as men’s sports, and this takes away that ability,” he said. “There might be some cases where it doesn’t matter, [but] if you’re a bodybuilder or weightlifter, it matters.”

“[This is] not about being hateful or harmful. I’m not trying to make anyone’s life miserable,” he added. I’m respectful of how difficult it is. But we have to be able to say these things in America.”

Conversion therapy

In March 2021, over 600 former contestants on the TV game show Jeopardy! signed a letter saying that they didn’t want Oz to guest host the show because he had promoted “harmful ideas” like conversion therapy, a harmful pseudoscientific form of psychological torture that seeks to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.

In October 2022, a 2012 episode of The Dr. Oz Show — titled “Inside Reparative Therapy” — was removed from the show’s website. Oz presented the anti-LGBTQ organization National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality’s (NARTH) representative, Julie Hamilton, as an “expert.” The two featured “ex-gay” activists stayed and rebutted statements by opponents throughout the show.

In a joint statement, GLAAD, GLSEN, and PFLAG said the episode misrepresented “NARTH’s work and practices [as] legitimate and acceptable medical practices.” They also argued that while the show featured guests who condemned the idea and practice of “reparative therapy,” Oz himself never weighed in, and, according to the groups, “The audience was misled to believe that there are actual experts on both sides of this issue.”