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ex-trans movement

Detrans United is an American anti-transgender organization associated with the “ex-transgender” movement.

Key people

References

Astor, Maggie (May 16, 2023) How a Few Stories of Regret Fuel the Push to Restrict Gender Transition Care. New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/16/us/politics/transgender-care-detransitioners.html

Resources

Detrans United (detransunited.com)

Detrans Voices is an American “ex-transgender” website.

Key people

  • Carol Freitas, Fresno, CA (born ~1980)
  • Rachel F, East Coast transitioned 2012
  • Sydney, college student transitioned 14-18
  • Sten Ridley / Kristen Reeves

Via Lee Leveille:

Carol Freitas is a self-described ā€œtransition abolitionistā€[61] whose experience led her to view ā€œtransition [as] harmful to the body & the mind.ā€[62] This view plays out in a wide range of activist efforts, including becoming the Detransitioner Peer Group Coordinator of LGB Alliance US.[63][64] She was also one of the coorganizers of the #DetransAwarenessDay campaign, and when Health Liberation Now! called on them to denounce the far right coverage because of the harm it posed to trans and detrans people, her project DetransVoices.org asserted that they ā€œbelieve its important that this day stays politically neutral[.]ā€ Freitas later emerged under her own account to state that they ā€œare not affiliated with any left or right wing extremist groups.ā€[65] Other notable activism efforts include promotion of anti-trans protests and the propaganda they film outside pediatric clinics, coordinating harassment of California Senator Scott Weiner to undermine SB 132,[66] and trolling LGBTQ resources by dispersing the detransition booklet by Post-Trans while encouraging others to do the same.[67][68]

References

Stella O’Malley and Sasha Ayad (March 19, 2021). One Detrans Voice: a Conversation with Carol. Gender: A Wider Lens https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYFUz7wbKqI

Lee Leveille (2021). When Ex-trans Worlds Collide: Unpacking a New Era of Anti-trans Conversion Therapy. Health Liberation Now! https://healthliberationnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/When-Ex-Trans-Worlds-Collide-Unpacking-a-New-Era-of-Anti-Trans-Conversion-Therapy.pdf

Carol F. (July 14, 2019). From the ashes: Butch lesbian & her family rebuild life after transition. 4thWaveNow https://4thwavenow.com/2019/07/14/from-the-ashes-butch-lesbian-her-family-rebuild-life-after-transition/

-https://feministstruggle.org/2021/06/28/feminist-forum-the-other-side-of-transgender-the-story-of-de-transitioners/

-https://medium.com/@habituallyfemme/about
-https://gettr.com/user/habituallyfemme
-https://www.tiktok.com/@habituallyfemme
-https://www.detransvoices.org/detrans-story-rachel/
-https://youtu.be/dJEiGEpzfLE
-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEoPwk2_bYQ
-https://www.linkedin.com/in/sten-ridley-2298168/
-https://m.facebook.com/artdyke

Resources

Detrans Voices (detransvoices.org)

Twitter (twitter.com)

YouTube (youtube.com)

Tumblr (tumblr.com)

GoFundMe (gofundme.com)

Dysconnected: The Real Story Behind the Transgender Explosion is a film made by people from several factions of the anti-transgender movement, including ex-transgender activists, parental rights activists, gender critical activists, and conservative Catholic/Protestant activists.

Background

The film is distributed by Catholic publisher Ignatius Press. It’s produced by Runaway Planet Pictures and Don Johnson Media.

The film had its world premiere October 8, 2022 at the Freed Theater in Garden Grove, California.

Synopsis

According to Johnson:

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 girls’ 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.

Dysconnected is about exposing the truth behind the gender ideology industry, one that allows children to make life-altering decisions for themselves without any parental consent, explores why there is an explosion of young girls identifying as transgender, seeking to understand why the medical and counseling industries are not pushing back on gender ideology, and highlighting stories of people who have detransitioned.

People

Filmmakers

  • Donald J. “Don” Johnson
  • Kendra Johnson
  • Kevin Wandra

Participants and supporters

  • Daisy Strongin
  • Walt Heyer
  • Ryan T. Anderson
  • Abigail Favale
  • Patrick Lappert
  • Chris Elston
  • Carl Trueman
  • Pamela Garfield-Jaeger
  • Erin Brewer
  • Maria Keffler
  • Christopher West
  • Carl Olson
  • Billy Burleigh
  • Gary Michuta
  • Margaret McCarthy
  • Branda Lebsack
  • Michael Hanby
  • Benjamin Wiker

Resources

Dysconnected (dysconnectedmovie.com)

IMDb (imdb.com)

Ignatius Press (https://ignatius.com/disconnected-dism/)

Don Johnson Media (donjohnsonmedia.com)

Runaway Planet Pictures (runawayplanetpictures.vhx.tv)

No Way Back: The Reality of Gender-Affirming Care is anti-transgender propaganda focusing on the ex-transgender movement. It is directed by Laura VanZee-Taylor and produced by Penka Kouneva. The 2023 project is controversial for including convicted sex offender David Arthur Kendall as one of the original ex-trans activists featured. 

Background

The project was originally titled Affirmation Generation: The Lies of Transgender Medicine.

It is produced by Panacol Productions dba PKS, Inc. [Penka Kouneva Studios] and is released by Deplorable Films. Prior to No Way Back, Deplorable has distributed three propaganda pieces criticizing progressive racial policy and one criticizing progressive firearm policy.

Synopsis

Via their promotional materials:

Detransitioners Michelle, Laura, Cat, David, Joel and Abel tell the stories of their gender distress, transgender medicalization, and subsequent detransition. Without diagnostic clarity or mental health evaluations, their doctors quickly affirmed them as ā€œtransgender,ā€ and mindlessly ushered them along the path of medical transition. (The ā€œgender-affirming careā€ is the only treatment recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics.) These young people were harmed irrevocably by the doctors they trusted. AFFIRMATION GENERATION demonstrates how the ā€œone-size-fits-allā€ medicalization – the ā€œgender-affirming careā€ – has failed these patients.

The stories of the detransitioners are examined by twelve leading experts with decades of clinical practice treating gender-distressed patients: psychotherapists Lisa Marchiano, Sasha Ayad, Stella O’Malley, physician-scientist Lisa Littman, endocrinologist Dr. William Malone, MD; Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist Stephanie Winn, sociologist Dr. Michael Biggs, pediatrician Dr. Julia Mason, NYT best-selling writer Lisa Selin Davis, and LGB activist & lifelong Liberal Democrat Joey Brite, among others. The 90-minute documentary cites 45 peer-reviewed medical and journalist articles.

People

They describe themselves as “life-long West Coast liberal Democrats in the entertainment industry. To take credit for this passion project would, at the very least, risk our careers.”

They collaborated with anti-trans group LGB United to make it available after it was deplatformed by Vimeo in 2022.

Organizations

Filmmakers

Ex-transgender activists:

Note: Joel Koss appears in the film but has denounced it.

“Parental rights” activists

AMC screenings and cancellation

AMC promoted one-day-only screenings of No Way Back on June 21. Cielo Sunsarae of the Queer Trans Project led a successful campaign to get the screenings canceled.

References

Factora, James (June 15, 2023). AMC Theatres Is Hosting an Anti-Trans Documentary During Pride Month. them. https://www.them.us/story/amc-theatres-no-way-back-documentary

Osborne, Duncan (June 17, 2023). Anti-trans film nixed after facing backlash. Gay City News https://gaycitynews.com/anti-trans-film-nixed-no-way-back/

Prestigiacomo, Amanda (June 18, 2023). AMC Theatres Cancels De-Transitioner Film Following Trans Group’s De-Platforming Campaign. Daily Wire https://www.dailywire.com/news/amc-theatres-cancels-de-transitioner-film-following-trans-groups-de-platforming-campaign

Emmons, Libby (June 17, 2023). EXCLUSIVE: Producers of ‘No Way Back: The Reality of Gender-Affirming Care’ speak out after AMC Theaters cancels film screenings. Post Millennial https://thepostmillennial.com/exclusive-producers-of-no-way-back-the-reality-of-gender-affirming-care-speak-out-after-amc-theaters-cancels-film-screenings

Stone, Sasha (June 18, 2023). AMC Pressured to Pull a Film Labeled ā€œAnti-Trans.ā€ Awards Daily https://www.awardsdaily.com/2023/06/18/amc-pressured-to-pull-a-film-labeled-anti-trans/

Dawes, L.E. (February 17, 2023). Opinion | Filmmaker: I believed in gender affirming care. Then I saw what happened to my son. Dallas Morning News https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2023/02/18/i-made-a-film-about-transgender-kids-that-doesnt-align-with-my-politics/

New York International Film Awards (2023). Finalists January 2023: Affirmation Generation, Director L. E. Dawes https://newyorkinternationalfilmawards.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/FINALISTS-NYIFA-January-2023.pdf

Buttons, Christina (February 22, 2023). Vimeo Deplatforms Another Documentary Critical Of ā€˜Gender-Affirming Care.’ Daily Wire https://www.dailywire.com/news/vimeo-deplatforms-another-documentary-critical-of-gender-affirming-care

Osborne, Matt (February 20, 2023). Affirmation Generation: The Lies Of Transgender Medicine. The Distance https://www.thedistancemag.com/p/affirmation-generation-the-lies-of

-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5s1pg7UByoU

-https://twitter.com/2022affirmation/status/1646924000126439424

-https://twitter.com/GrownTomboy/status/1634249769135792128

-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkzBEM5RLis

https://jdiff2023.eventive.org/films/642365131dc3780039a95c6a

Resources

No Way Back (nowaybackfilm.com)

Affirmation Generation [original site] (affirmationgenerationmovie.com)

Deplorable Films (deplorablefilms.com)

Twitter (twitter.com)

Vimeo (vimeo.com)

Cut: Daughters of the West – Alteration & Exploitation of Children is an anti-transgender 2023 film about the ex-transgender movement, with a focus on gender affirming surgery for youth.

Background

The film premiered on April 15th in Phoenix, Arizona as a fundraiser for The Gavel Project, an “anti-woke” non-profit moving from fighting COVID policies to fighting “gender affirmation policies in schools (e.g., policies promoting the sexualization of our children, including hormone therapies and reassignment surgeries for children).”

Synopsis

According to Esler:

Cut explores the impact of the current transgender craze on girls by diving into the history of plastic surgery. […] The film investigates the moral and cultural precursors that have enabled transgender ideology to thrive. Before the rise in puberty blockers, hormone therapy and double mastectomies, there was an exponential increase in teenage girls seeking breast augmentations and labiaplasties. Cosmetic surgery, and feminist icons flaunting sexual liberation, handed girls the power to permanently alter their bodies, based on trends and self diagnosis. Now, pre-teens have spiralled into a mental health crisis that coincides perfectly with the introduction of smartphones, social media and gender theory. Is this the cultural and historical legacy we have handed to girls on the precipice of womanhood. Filmmaker Simon Esler weaves the voices of experts, outspoken citizens and detransitioners into a cultural fever dream that asks: What has happened to the daughters of the West?

People

Production/Crew

  • Simon Esler (writer-director)

Interviews

Blurbed by

  • Scott Armstrong
  • Landon Starbuck
  • Justin Deschamps

Recommended organizations

  • MOM Army
  • The Truthful Therapist
  • The Gavel Project
  • Parents of ROGD kids
  • Thoughtful Therapists
  • Genspect
  • Gender Dysphoria Support Network
  • Advocates Protecting Children
  • Partners for Ethical Care
  • Gender Dissent (in Canada)
  • Gender Dysphoria Alliance
  • Our Duty
  • Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine
  • Transgender Trend (UK)
  • Sex Change Regret
  • Conservative Therapy Directory
  • Jackson Bone Law
  • Detrans United
  • 4th Wave Now
  • Gender Health Query
  • GETA Gender Exploratory Therapy Association
  • TReVoices
  • Parents with Inconvenient Truths about Trans
  • Wait Until 8th

Resources

Cut (daughtersofthewestfilm.com)

IMDb (imdb.com/)

Vimeo (vimeo.com)

Parents of ROGD Kids (PROGDK) is an anti-transgender front group for unsupportive parents of trans and gender-diverse children. It promotes the controversial concept “rapid-onset gender dysphoria” (ROGD).

Using tactics developed by anti-abortion activists, the group organizes clinic protests at children’s hospitals that support gender diverse youth.

Background

PROGDK was created in the fall ofĀ 2017. Their primary goal is to support the work of four anti-transgender psychologists:

They maintain a private online support group.

2023 “ROGD” paper

In 2023, the Archives of Sexual Behavior published the latest in its 50 years of academic attacks on trans and gender diverse youth. The first author is “Suzanna Diaz,” a fake name used by someone connected with PROGDK. The second author is transphobic psychologist J. Michael Bailey.

The International Academy of Sex Research (IASR) opened an investigation into how the “Diaz”/Bailey paper was published. IASR President Meredith Chivers announced the investigation, angering Bailey, who was her dissertation advisor.

The journal’s publisher, Springer, added a note to the article:

10 May 2023 Publisher’s Note: readers are alerted that concerns have been raised regarding methodology as described in this article. The publisher is currently investigating this matter and a further response will follow the conclusion of this investigation.

Fired sexologist Kenneth Zucker, Archives‘ longtime editor, was defended by anti-trans organization Foundation Against Intolerance & Racism in an open letter.

References

McCall, Becky (September 13, 2018). ‘Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria’ in Adolescents Stirs Debate. Medscape https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/901951 [archive: 123]

Parents of ROGD Kids (September 19, 2018). Parents of ROGD Kids Organization Supports Dr. Littman’s Findings and Calls for Action

Littman, Lisa (August 16, 2018). Rapid-onset gender dysphoria in adolescents and young adults: A study of parental reports. PLOS One https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0202330

Media

Joey Brite and Erin Brewer (September 21, 2020). Can I Get a Witness conference. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKWqWqOv9yg

Resources

Trans Data Library (transdatalibrary.org)

Parents of ROGD Kids (parentsofrogdkids.com)

The ex-trans movement will often describe the support they received as bad. They use the same words that transphobic people use to describe our community.

“Gender ideology”

  • gender cult
  • gender theory
  • gender dogma
  • gender theory
  • postmodern
  • anti-science
  • unethical

Disease

  • social contagion
  • derangement
  • delusion
  • plague
  • epidemic
  • abnormality
  • mass hysteria
  • syndrome

An ethical problem

  • iatrogenesis
  • medicalization
  • mutilation
  • atrocity

A problematic trend

  • craze
  • mania
  • frenzy
  • obsession
  • fad
  • clique
  • subculture

A political problem

  • conspiracy
  • movement
  • revolution
  • empire
  • collapse
  • faction

A sexual problem

  • deviance
  • a sexual seduction (grooming)
  • fetish
  • kink
  • defilement
  • corruption of innocence
  • rape
  • a crime against nature

A hate movement

  • misogyny
  • homophobia
  • heterophobia

A supernatural problem

  • demonic
  • evil

The Pique Resilience Project (PRP) is an “ex-transgender” organization created by four ex-trans activists:

  • Chiara Caignon-Lewis (no medical transition steps)
  • Jesse Hinty (hormones as an adult for about 1 year, no surgical steps)
  • Helena Kerschner (hormones as an adult for about 1.5 years, no surgical steps)
  • Dagny Walton (hormones ā€œsix months before turning 18ā€ for about 2 years, no surgical steps)

Members of the group have spoken at anti-transgender events and maintain a website. Members also traveled to Washington, DC to lobby lawmakers and had a meeting with a member of the APA.

Group members have appeared on anti-trans and conservative media outlets, including interviews with Tucker Carlson, Benjamin Boyce, Alex Kaschuta, Keri Smith, Gender Dysphoria Alliance, Tim Pool, The Center for Bioethics and Culture Network, Jennifer Lahl, Michael Laidlaw, Colin Wright, Preston Sprinkle, Carole Hooven, Rod Dreher, Michael Knowles, and Ben Shapiro.

Members have also testified against trans-supportive legislation in addition to working behind the scenes with Denise Caignon, owner of anti-trans site 4thWaveNow and parent of Chiara Caignon-Lewis.

The group disbanded in 2020 after Hinty and Kerschner ended their long-term romantic relationship.

Resources

Pique Resilience Project (piqueresproject.com)

Twitter (twitter.com)

YouTube (youtube.com)

Women’s Liberation Front (WoLF)

  • Gender Hurts Panel with Sheila Jeffreys
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdEVpW88A4k