Beyond Trans is an anti-transgender group fronted by ex-trans activists and anti-transgender extremists. Do not get therapy from anyone listed on their site or below.
If you are a minor forced to see someone on this list, try to end the sessions and find supportive alternatives.
note: for the supportive show hosted by trans media personality Mardi Pieronek, see Beyond Trans
Background
Beyond Trans was created in 2023 as part of a web farm controlled by anti-trans extremist Stella O’Malley of Genspect. It is designed to recruit people who have regret, self-doubt, or distress about making changes in their gender identity or expression. Those people are then used to help with anti-trans efforts worldwide.
People
Therapists listed
- J. Claire Abernathy
- Robin Atkins (charisetveritasllc.com)
- Amber Ault
- Ann R. Best
- Sue Beaney
- Claire Blaze – Minnesota (blazepsychotherapy.com)
- Carolyn Brown
- Tyson Brown (good-insight-counseling.com)
- Petra Bueskens (petrabueskens.com)
- Fiona Davies – UK (fd-counselling-therapy.co.uk)
- Vincent Deboni
- Roelien den Ouden
- Sarah Edmonds (flagstaffpsychologist.org)
- Leslie Elliott (theradicalcenterconsulting.com)
- Florence Ellis – Canada (ripplereflection.ca)
- Kimberly Emery (faultlinecounseling.com)
- Lynne Evans – UK (lynneevans.uk)
- Susan Evans
- Kristen Farrell-Turner
- Bradley K. Fox (duggantherapyllc.com)
- Chantal Gagne
- Christine Gillespie – New Zealand
- Liz Goodman – Virginia (dbhrichmond.com)
- Peter Greasley (petergtwt.wixsite.com)
- David M. Haralson (oasis-ft.com)
- Judi Heppner – Canada
- Kelly Hess – Texas
- Kathryn Hilton (kathilton.com)
- Catherine Jensen Colorado (catherinejensencounseling.com)
- Sheri Johnson – Minnesota
- Stephen B. Levine
- Amber Liponoga – Missouri (eightdomainstherapy.com)
- Lir Psychological Services – Ireland (lirtherapy.ie)
- Michelle Mackness (macknesscounselling.com)
- David Habib Martin – Oregon (davidmartintherapy.com)
- David Minor (solidaritycoach.com)
- Libby Nugent – UK (libbynugent.co.uk)
- Dwight Panozzo – New Jersey
- Artemis Papert (jungiantherapy.online)
- Harriette Parnes – UK (drharrietteparnes.com)
- Elektra Pavlou
- Philip J Pellegrino – Pennsylvania (drphilippellegrino.com)
- Jane Power – UK
- Amber Redish
- Fritha Robinson – Texas (robinson.clientsecure.me)
- Lindsey Robinson – UK (lindseyrobinsontherapy.co.uk)
- Terry Patterson
- Tisa Pinkerton – Virginia (lifehopeva.com)
- Mark Pulley
- Stefanie Schumacher (genderconfidentteen.com)
- Tom Sherry – North Carolina (ashevillefamilysystems.com)
- David Teachout (lifeweavings.com)
- Daniel Enoch Tobin (tobintherapy.com)
- Lantie Tom (lantiecreativetherapy.com)
- Gender Crossroads – Canada (gendercrossroads.org)
- Alan von Kleiss (abhsgroup.com)
- Jaco van Zyl
Resources
Beyond Trans (beyondtrans.org)
Grace Lidinsky-Smith is an “ex-transgender” activist. Lidinsky-Smith’s work has been cited by conservative psychologist Erica Anderson and others seeking to restrict access to healthcare for gender diverse youth and young adults.
Background
Lidinsky-Smith “detransitioned” after making a gender transition as an adult that included hormones and top surgery.
Lidinsky-Smith then became active in anti-trans organizations like Gender Care Consumer Advocacy Network (GCCAN).
References
Jones, Kevin J. (Jun 29, 2021). âGender transitionâ regret deserves a voice, says former patient. Catholic News Agency https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/248192/gender-transition-regret-deserves-a-voice-says-former-patient
Lidinsky-Smith, Grace (June 25, 2021). There’s No Standard for Care When it Comes to Trans Medicine | Opinion Newsweek https://www.newsweek.com/theres-no-standard-care-when-it-comes-trans-medicine-opinion-1603450
Resources
X/Twitter (x.com)
Gender Care Consumer Advocacy Network (gccan.org) [archive]
- Who We Are [archive]
- gccan.org/who-we-are
YouTube (youtube.com)
Substack (substack.com/)
Sierra Weir is an American ex-transgender activist who posts gender critical content online using the handle “Exulansic.” Weir gets money and attention by making it harder for others to access trans health services.
If you are transgender, gender diverse, or supportive of the LGBTQ community, do not support Weir’s business. There are many better voice practice and voice therapy options.
Background
Sierra Dullea Weir was born in April 1987.
In 2008, Weir studied Turkish for a year at Middle East Technical University in Turkey. Weir earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of California at Berkeley in 2011. Weir then earned a master’s degree from San Jose State University in 2015. Weir identified as transgender for about four years, then as non-binary:
I lived as a trans man for several years, in community with other gender non-conforming people in the Bay Area, where the culture is open to non-traditional expressions of identity. I went to UC Berkeley, where Judith Butler, author of the seminal Gender Trouble, teaches, and where I majored in Gender and Womenâs Studies. At one point, a significant other and I (both trans men at the time) attended a brunch with a group that included Julia Serano, a trans woman biologist whose book Whipping Girl argues that transphobia is a form of misogyny and that rights for trans people must be central to feminism.
Weir practiced speech therapy at Jewett & Associates, at a middle school via Staffing Options and Solutions, and at Nova Health Therapies. Weir founded Say the Word Speech Therapy in 2018.
Anti-transgender activism
Weir is now part of the gender critical and ex-transgender movements.
Under the pseudonyms “Exulansic” aand “TT Exulansic,” Weir has appeared on Savage Minds, Lou Perez, TRIGGERnometry, Benjamin Boyce, and other anti-trans shows.
References
TT Exulansic (April 8, 2021). How Gender Atheism Saved My Body. The American Mind https://americanmind.org/salvo/how-gender-atheism-saved-my-body/
Resources
Exulansic (exulansic.com) [archive]
Say the Word Speech Therapy (saythewordspeech.com) [archive]
- NPI: 1144598970 [last updated 2019]
Therapy by Sierra (therapybysierra.com) [archive]
LinkedIn (linkedin.com)
X/Twitter (x.com)
The American Mind (americanmind.org)
Muck Rack (muckrack.com)
Substack (substack.com)
Odysee (odysee.com)
Rumble (rumble.com)
Locals (locals.com)
Shopify (myshopify.com)
YouTube (youtube.com)
Gettr (gettr.com)
Discord (discord.com)
Rethink Identity Medicine Ethics (ReIME) is a conservative American anti-transgender organization.
ReIME supports the ex-transgender movement and trans-exclusionary queer separatism.
Background
ReIME was created by Jane Chotard Wheeler, a lawyer who believes in the great replacement conspiracy that transgender people and “gender ideology” are causing so-called lesbian erasure. Wheeler identifies as lesbian and began a committed relationship with filmmaker Lesli Klainberg in around 1992.
ReIME is a Delaware-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit with EIN: 83-3053400.
Associated people
Officers
Advisory board
Media promoted
Books
Video
Articles
- Colin Wright
- Michael Biggs
- Lisa Littman
- Lisa Marchiano
- Marcus Evans
- Susan Bewley, Damian Clifford, Margaret McCartney and Richard Byng
- Roberto DâAngelo, Ema Syrulnik, Sasha Ayad, Lisa Marchiano, Dianna Theadora Kenny & Patrick Clarke
- Varun Warrier, David M. Greenberg, Elizabeth Weir, Clara Buckingham, Paula Smith, Meng-Chuan Lai, Carrie Allison & Simon Baron-Cohen
- Riittakerttu Kaltiala-Heino, Maria Sumia, Marja TyölÀjÀrvi, and Nina Lindberg
- Anastassis Spiliadis
Podcasts
David Crowe interviews William Malone
Resources
Trans Data Library (transdatalibrary.org)
Rethink Identity Medicine Ethics (rethinkime.org)
The International Association of Therapists for Desisters and Detransitioners (IATDD) is an anti-transgender front group. Its members are key figures in “gender critical” anti-transgender activism.
IATDD supported the “ex-transgender” movement, people who describe themselves as “desisters” and “detransitioners.” They sell their services to parents who do not want their children to make a gender transition, known as the “parental rights” movement.
Background
Like many of these official-looking “associations,” it was just a website, part of a web farm of similar sites run by a small fringe group of therapists supporting anti-transgender efforts.
The site went online in December 2020 and went offline in January 2022.
Key people
- Stella O’Malley, founding member (2020â2022)
- Sasha Ayad, founding member (2020â2022)
- Jerry T. Lawler, founding member (2020â2022)
- Kirsty Entwistle, founding member (2020âDecember 2021)
- Anna Hutchinson, founding member (2020âDecember 2021)
- Anastassis Spiliadis, founding member (2020âDecember 2021)
- Lisa Marchiano, member (2021â2022)
Resources
IATDD (iatdd.com) [archive]
Detrans Foundation is a website run by anti-transgender therapists.
Background
The Detrans Foundation website was founded in April 2022.
Key people
Resources
Detrans Foundation (detransfoundation.com)
Genspect is a group of conservative and anti-transgender activists primarily opposed to medical consensus on healthcare for gender diverse youth. Founder Stella O’Malley is a global ringleader in anti-transgender extremism. Genspect is designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Genspect positions include
- opposing transition for transgender people under 26 years old
- opposing laws that would ban conversion therapy on the basis of gender identity
- supporting the disputed diagnosis “rapid onset gender dysphoria” (ROGD)
- supporting the “parental rights” movement of unsupportive parents of gender diverse youth
Background
Genspect was founded in 2021 by Stella O’Malley.
Genspect is part of an anti-trans web farm that includes:
In 2025, Genspect announced that Jennifer Lahl had stepped down from the Center for Bioethics and Culture to run Genspect USA.
Team
- Stella O’Malley, Executive Director & Founder
- Michelle Alleva
- Travis Brown, Content Producer
- Pamela Buffone, Canada
- Joseph Burgo
- Patrick Clarke
- Saoirse Connolly
- Vincent Deboni, South Africa
- Kathleen H. Dooley, USA
- Erin Friday, Board of Directors Member, Genspect USA
- Claire Graham, UK
- Kathleen Goonan
- Alasdair Gunn
- Jude Hunter, Australia Spokesperson
- Helena Kerschner, USA
- Jennifer Lahl, Director, Genspect USA
- Jessie Mannisto
- Julia Mason, USA
- Amanda Miller, Digital Content Manager USA
- Avi Ring
- Jan Rivers, NZ Spokesperson
- Marit RĂžnstad, Norway
- Sarah Vaci
- Sinéad Watson, UK
- “The Anonymous Parent”
Advisors
- Sasha Ayad, USA
- Keira Bell, UK
- Carrie Clark, UK
- Patrick Clarke, Australia
- Colette Colfer, Ireland
- Roberto DâAngelo, Australia
- Stephanie Davies-Arai, UK
- Marcus Evans, UK
- Susan Evans, UK
- Sophie Frost, Germany
- Az Hakeem, UK
- Milli Hill, UK
- Aaron Kimberly, Canada
- Stephen Levine, USA
- Lisa Littman, USA
- Michelle Mackness, Canada
- Lisa Marchiano, USA
- Sarah Phillimore, UK
- Helen Pluckrose, UK
- Rachel Rooney, UK
- Michael Shellenberger, USA
- Abigail Shrier, USA
- “Shannon Thrace,” USA
- Jane Wheeler, USA
2022 Wall Street Journal response
The president of the 67,000-member American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) countered a Wall Street Journal opinion piece by anti-trans activists Julia Mason and Leor Sapir:
AAP advises pediatricians to offer developmentally appropriate care that is oriented toward understanding and appreciating the youthâs gender experience. This care is nonjudgmental, includes families and allows questions and concerns to be raised in a supportive environment. This is what it means to âaffirmâ a child or teen; it means destigmatizing gender variance and promoting a childâs self-worth.
O’Malley responded to their response:
I am encouraged by the American Academy of Pediatricsâ statement in its letter that gender-affirming care âdoesnât push medical treatments or surgery; for the vast majority of children, it recommends the opposite.â Unfortunately, this is not the experience of families of gender-distressed children.
Genspect represents thousands of parents of gender-questioning children and young people around the world. We are not aware of any cases in the U.S. or Canada in which children seeking âgender-affirming careâ were not given the option of puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones.
The AAP should recognizes this fundamental point: There is no consensus and no evidence base on which to confidently declare what is âmedically appropriateâ for gender transitioning of children.
Media Matters for America has noted how writer Katie J. M. Baker of the New York Times has laundered Genspect’s anti-trans views into their publication:
The latest piece â another entry in the genre of New York Times articles that start from the premise that trans people are perhaps too accepted in society â covers âa network of internet support groups for âskepticalâ parents of transgender children, some with thousands of registered membersâ without noting that the groups are run by Genspect, an organization that opposes bans on conversion therapy and has numerous members who support banning gender-affirming care for trans people under 25.
April 2023 Ireland conference
O’Malley organized a conference in Ireland on April 27-29 2023 and featuring many anti-transgender activists.
Attendees included Malcolm Clark, Laura Becker, Colin Wright, Wesley Yang, Jo Bartosch, Camille Kiefel, Robin Ion, Sarah Vaci, Corinna Cohn, and RĂłisĂn Michaux.
November 2023 Denver conference
Scheduled participants included:
Attendees also included “in_detransit,” “Phil Illy,” “Shape Shifter,” Luka Hein, David Boettger, Julia Malott, Laura Becker, Christina Buttons, Jennifer Block, Pamela Garfield-Jaeger, Jennifer Lahl, Lisa Marchiano, Soren Aldaco, Jessie Mannisto, Leslie Elliott Boyce, and Elliot Kaminetzky.
Australia/New Zealand online event
- “An anonymous NZ doctor”
- Joe Burgo
- Margaret Curnow
- Alasdair Gunn
- Sue Middleton
- Jan Rivers
- Linde Rose
- Jillian Spencer
- Ngahuia te Awekotuku
- Simon Tegg
September 2024 Lisbon event
Scheduled speakers include
References
Genspect USA (January 21, 2025). Introducing Genspect USAâs New Director. Genspect https://genspect.org/introducing-genspect-usas-new-director/
Piper, Ernie (July 25, 2023). âFocus relentlessly on under 25â: Leaked chats reveal influential gender-critical groupâs plan to use children to push for bans on transitioning. Daily Dot https://www.dailydot.com/debug/genspect/
Szilagyi, Moira (August 21, 2022). Academy of Pediatrics Responds on Trans Treatment for Kids. Wall Street Journal https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/trans-gender-pediatric-aap-kids-children-care-surgery-affirm-treatment-11660942086
Drennen, Ari (February 8, 2023). The New York Times helped fuel an anti-trans panic in 2022. Will 2023 be any better? Media Matters for America https://www.mediamatters.org/new-york-times/new-york-times-helped-fuel-anti-trans-panic-2022-will-2023-be-any-better
Baker, Katie J. M. (January 23, 2023). When Students Change Gender Identity, and Parents Donât Know. New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/22/us/gender-identity-students-parents.html
-https://genspect.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Conference-Schedule-Denver.pdf https://genspect.org/the-bigger-picture-continues-denver-colorado/
Dixon, Hayley (June 26, 2021). CBBC’s trans messaging is damaging children, says mother. The Telegraph https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/06/26/cbbcs-trans-messaging-damaging-children-says-mother/
Resources
Trans Data Library (transdatalibrary.org)
- Genspect
- transdatalibrary.org/organization/genspect
Genspect (genspect.org)
Genspect Unheard (genspectunheard.org)
Stats for Gender (statsforgender.org)
Beyond Trans (beyondtrans.org)
LinkedIn (linkedin.com)
X/Twitter (x.com)
YouTube (youtube.com)
Facebook (facebook.com)
Instagram (instagram.com)
Sarah Vaci is an Anglo-Hungarian artist and anti-transgender activist.
Vaci’s activism focuses on the ex-transgender movement. Similar to the ex-gay movement of the 20th century, ex-trans activists and their supporters often believe people can be cured of being transgender through “desistance” or “detransition.”
Vaci is associated with anti-trans extremist group Genspect.
Background
Vaci was born on September 22, 1977. After graduating James Allen’s Girls’ School, Vaci earned a bachelor’s degree from Ravensbourne University London in 1996. Following ten years of working in SEN schools and with children with autism, Vaci earned master’s degrees in 2008 from Goldsmiths, University of London and from the Institute of Education.
Vaci worked in animation and film production from 1999 to 2010, including roles at The Film and Video Workshop. From 2008 to 2014, Vaci ran digital workshops at The British Museum. Vaci then opened a studio to work independently.
Vaci is based in Devon and uses the nickname “Lordy.” Vaci joined anti-trans group Genspect as a digital content creator in 2023.
Metamorphosis 100
On March 12, 2022, Vaci began profiling people whose gender identity or expression has shifted more than once and who identified as women at the time Vaci profiled them.
Because transition regret is so rare, Vaci has spent substantial time trying to find 100 verifiable people in the world to profile. A number of people profiled have withdrawn or asked to be removed, so the current number of profiles is misleading.
1: Laura Becker / Funk God
2: Cat Cattinson
3: Amber
4: Aoife [deleted]
5: Celine
6: Ashlyn
7: Aiden
8: Michelle
9: Maria
10: Emanuely
11: Amanda
12: C
13: Kat
14: Eve / Kylie
15: Jill O’Connor
16: Maria
17: ML
18: Jesse
19: Mnemosyne / Lytonya
20: Angelina Mannino
21: Oliver
22: A
23: Rada Linnea
24: Lexi
25: Jamie
26: Dakota
27: Diana Matos
28: Camille Kiefel
29: Juniper / Ellan K
30: A
31: Prisha Mosley / detransaqua
32: Jordan
33: Raven Mack
34: Jasmine / J.J. McQuade
35: Pip Malone
36: Soren Aldaco
37: Courtney Coulson
38: Rachel
39: Jade
40: [Anonymous]
41: Estella
42: Carol
43: Gabrielle
44: [withdrawn]
45: Tyla
46: Magda
47: Emma
48: [anonymous]
49: Max Robinson
50: Chloe Cole
51: Sabet
52: Violet
53: Evie
54: Victoria Gugenheim
55: Mary
56: Marina
57: Ash
58: Jade
59: Hanna
60: Layton
61: April
62: Calista
References
Linton, Deborah (July 25, 2019). Motheaten! Trump, Kim and Putin face an army of starving pests. The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/jul/25/motheaten-trump-kim-putin-artwork-sarah-vaci-clothes-moth-larvae
Vaci, Sarah (August 5, 2021). My Gender Dysphoria Story https://www.sarahvaci.com/post/agenderdysphoriastory
Resources
Sarah Vaci (sarahvaci.com)
Metamorphosis 100 (metamorphosis100.com)
LinkedIn (linkedin.com)
Twitter (twitter.com)
Instagram (instagram.com)
Facebook (facebook.com)
YouTube (youtube.com)
Pamela Garfield-Jaeger is a conservative American therapist and activist in the anti-vaccine and ex-transgender movements.
Do not under any circumstances go to Garfield-Jaeger for any kind of therapy. If you are a trans or gender-diverse minor being forced to see Garfield-Jaeger, do everything in your power to end the sessions and find a supportive local alternative.
Background
Pamela H. “Pam” Garfield was born on July 31, 1973. After earning a bachelorâs degree from Ithaca College in 1996 and a masterâs degree from New York University in 1999, Garfield-Jaeger was licensed in California in 2005. Garfield-Jaeger has done social work and therapy in New York and California at several locations, including The Family Center, Unity Care Group, Starlight Adolescent Center, YMCA, Institute on Aging, and Adolescent Counseling Services. Garfield-Jaeger has had a standalone LCSW practice since 2007 and has offered photography services.
Garfield-Jaeger âresides in Pacifica, California and loves coastal living.â Garfield-Jaeger’s spouse is civil engineer Gregory Owen âGregâ Jaeger (born August 1968), President and CEO of North Coast Engineering in San Miguel.
Conservative activism
Garfield-Jaeger is an ambassador for Turning Point USA (TPUSA), an American nonprofit promoting conservatism on high school, college, and university campuses.
Garfield-Jaeger is critical of vaccine mandates, mask mandates, critical race theory, and “the harms of gender medicine.”
Garfield-Jaeger is an advisor to the conservative anti-trans parent group Mom Army.
Anti-vaccine activism
On Garfield-Jaeger website, it says:
After losing her job at Sutter Health in 2021 due to Vaccine mandates, Pamela has been building a curriculum to guide parents through the mental health system. Her goal is to provide parents with the information and language so they can be the best advocates for their child’s mental health. Pamela’s mission is to educate parents on how to avoid therapists who lack skill or try to indoctrinate their children.
Anti-transgender activism
Garfield-Jaeger is active in the ex-transgender movement. Similar to the ex-gay movement of the 20th century, these anti-trans activists believe that they can prevent or cure children from being transgender. Garfield-Jaeger became alarmed when “half the girls identified as trans” in the outpatient mental health program at Mills Peninsula/Sutter Health:
Iâm a licensed therapist who discovered how extremely wrong gender affirmative therapy is simply because it became so radical and widespread in the last 5 years. I took a hiatus from my profession due to a physical disability and when I returned, the changes were shocking. My views on gender ideology are not politically motivated.
Garfield-Jaeger also promotes the ex-trans propaganda film Dysconnected:
Over the past few years, a transgender tsunami has swept the nation, completely overtaking the medical, educational, and counseling industries, and forever altering hundreds of thousands of young girlsâ lives. What is going on? How did it come to this? Who is behind it? And what is coming next? Filmmaker and father Don Johnson traveled the country to find out.
According to a 2023 promotion for a conservative women’s event:
Pamela has done several podcasts and YouTube interviews and starred in three documentaries about the harms of gender medicine. You can stream âDysconnectedâ by Don Johnson from www.dysconnectedmovie.com. There is a forthcoming film from the Epoch Times (not yet released and title unknown) and another by Simon Esler called âCut-Daughters of the Westâ soon to be available on YouTube. Pamela is part of the advisory board of a new movement called MOM Army (www.mom-army.com). Many of them are sexual abuse and trafficking survivors with a mission to stop the war on our children.
Garfield-Jaeger was on hand to document “Detransition Awareness Day,” a 2023 Sacramento gathering of about 10 ex-trans people, 30 supporters, and hundreds of counter-protestors. Participants included “Chloe Cole,” “detransaqua,” “Layla Jane,” “Exulansic,” “onedonebunu,”, Allie Snyder, Ciara Wall., Jay W. Richards, and Abel Garcia
References
Bay Area GOP (March 15, 2023). Therapy, Not Indoctrination. Mid Peninsula Republican Women Federated https://bayareagop.com/wp-content/images/MPRWF-March2023.pdf
Garfield-Jaeger, Pamela (May 25, 2023). Are We Headed Toward a Genderless, Sexually Dysfunctional World? The Epoch Times https://www.theepochtimes.com/are-we-headed-toward-a-genderless-sexually-dysfunctional-world_5292413.html
Garfield-Jaeger, Pamela (May 25, 2023). They Are Scared: Proponents of Gender Affirmation Showed Their Fear at a Conference. The Epoch Times https://www.theepochtimes.com/they-are-scared-proponents-of-gender-affirmation-showed-their-fear-at-a-conference_5292526.html
Resources
The Truthful Therapist (thetruthfultherapist.com)
LinkedIn (linkedin.com)
Twitter (twitter.com)
Instagram (instagram.com)
Substack (substack.com)
Jaeger Pics (jaegerpics.com) [archive]
Mom Army (mom-army.com)
Dysconnected (dysconnectedmovie.com)
The Epoch Times (theepochtimes.com)
Chiara Caignon-Lewis is an American “ex-transgender” activist and a founder of ex-trans website Pique Resilience Project. Anti-trans activism is a family business: Chiara’s parent Denise Caignon is also heavily involved in anti-transgender extremism as owner of the website 4thWaveNow.
Aliases include:
- “Chiara Canaan”
- “Rachel Miller”
Caignon-Lewis claims the transgender rights movement is “nothing more than misogyny disguised as progressive feminism.”
Background
Chiara Lucia Marie Caignon-Lewis was born August 21, 1997 in Santa Cruz, California to Denise Caignon and Tim Lewis. Caignon-Lewis stated, “I was dysphoric because my father sexually abused me as a child” and because of “my internalized homophobia.”
Denise and Chiara Caignon-Lewis moved to North Carolina. In 2013, at age 16, Caignon-Lewis became an ordained youth minister, then came out as transgender shortly after turning 17. Caignon-Lewis had already come out as lesbian and was dating as one, but an incident at school resulted in few friends in real life. Caignon-Lewis turned to online communities, claiming that popular trans users on Tumblr and YouTube led to a multi-year obsession with transition:
Had I not been exposed to the cultish mindset of Tumblrâs transactivists at a vulnerable phase of my life, I would not have become absorbed by a desire to permanently change my body.
Caignon-Lewis’ coming out involved texting a link to a gender clinic with no other details. Being forbidden to take medical transition steps caused Caignon-Lewis to have many family fights. At the height of the fighting, Denise Caignon got heavily involved with posting anti-transgender materials online at 4thWaveNow and elsewhere.
In 2015, Caignon-Lewis graduated from Chapel Hill High School and was sent to a Florida horse farm for nine months. Caignon-Lewis says the desire to transition subsided after that without taking any legal or medical steps. Denise and Chiara have since teamed up to be the most high-profile family in the modern ex-trans movement.
Caignon-Lewis sometimes performs music locally and has had a string of service jobs in the Triangle area, including at insightsoftware, bartaco, Orangetheory Fitness, Stoney River Steakhouse, Perry’s Steakhouse & Grille, and Hawthorne & Wood.
Caignon-Lewis has been riding horses since age two, got a Selle Français cross mare named Tupelo Honey in 2011, and has been involved in competitive jumping and dressage with Honey in North Carolina and at FenRidge Farm in Florida. A self-described “huge horse nerd,” Caignon-Lewis was active on several online platforms, posting about horses and dressage in addition to identity issues (most of which was deleted). Since 2016, Caignon-Lewis has operated a part-time business called Novation Sporthorse, offering training, lessons, and marketing of sales horses.
Caignon-Lewis and three other ex-trans activists created the Pique Resilience Project in 2019 and disbanded in 2020, allegedly because two of the members stopped dating each other.
References
Kennedy, Dana (May 11, 2022). Anguished parents of trans kids fight back against âgender cultâ trying to silence them. New York Post https://nypost.com/2022/05/11/meet-the-parents-of-trans-kids-fighting-gender-cult/
“Williams, Grace” (February 27, 2019). A grand conspiracy to tell the truth: An interview with 4thWaveNow founder & her daughter Chiara of the Pique Resilience Project. 4thWaveNow https://4thwavenow.com/2019/02/27/a-grand-conspiracy-to-tell-the-truth-an-interview-with-4thwavenow-founder-her-daughter-chiara-of-the-pique-resilience-project/
Williams, Grace (February 19, 2019). A grand conspiracy to tell the truth: An interview with 4thWaveNow founder & her daughter Chiara of the Pique Resilience Project. 4thWaveNow https://4thwavenow.com/2019/02/27/a-grand-conspiracy-to-tell-the-truth-an-interview-with-4thwavenow-founder-her-daughter-chiara-of-the-pique-resilience-project/
[McCann, Charlie] (1 September 2018). Why are so many teenage girls appearing in gender clinics? The Economist https://www.economist.com/united-states/2018/09/01/why-are-so-many-teenage-girls-appearing-in-gender-clinics
- Canaan, Chiara (2018). [response to Economist piece] https://chiaracanaan.tumblr.com/post/177791904093/why-are-so-many-teenage-girls-appearing-in-gender
Buddhist Peace Fellowship (1997). Turning Wheel. “Born on August 21, to TW associate editor Denise Caignon and her husband Tim Lewis: Chiara Lucia (Clear Light!)”
Media appearances
Caignon-Lewis and parent Denise Caignon have both spoken with Benjamin Boyce about their anti-trans activism.
Benjamin Boyce (February 22, 2019). Detransition & Self Acceptance | with Chiara. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fCOVjhZ3VI
Benjamin Boyce (August 14, 2020). Detrans Stories: Taking the Reins | with Chiara. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B05NuuduPro
Pique Resilience Project (September 27, 2019). Dagny & Helena Interview Chiara. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQPQ191LbSQ
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chiaracanaan
https://chiaracanaan.tumblr.com/post/177791904093
I was interviewed for this magazine recently (Iâm âRachelâ), and have been pleasantly surprised at the positive response so far.
I was dysphoric because my father sexually abused me as a child until I learned to associate womanhood with fear and shame, and I was dysphoric because I am a lesbian, but my internalized homophobia jumped at the option of being a straight man instead.
Had I not been exposed to the cultish mindset of Tumblrâs transactivists at a vulnerable phase of my life, I would not have become absorbed by a desire to permanently change my body.
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