If I'm understanding correctly, the bridging-hormone guidance to GPs is intended in part to address the medical needs of trans patients in DIY (self prescribed and administered) hormone therapy.

The NIH is trying to help GPs understand how to best care for those patients while acknowledging the reality that they're not likely to stop hormones just because a doctor advises them to.

It's hard to imagine how or why a newspaper would try to twist this into a scandal.

Physicians treat people while avoiding judgment as a matter of professional principle. Any GP worth his salt would want guidance on harm reduction when treating transgender people.

That's just the responsible practice of medicine. I guess if you're a knee-jerk transphobe, the ethical practice of medicine isn't high up on your list of priorities.