Shrier is author of the 2020 book Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters and has testified against the Equality Act before Congress in 2021.
Background
Abigail Brett Krauser Shrier was born June 21, 1978 and grew up in College Park, Maryland. Shrier’s parents are Sherrie L. Krauser, a judge of the Circuit Court of Maryland, and Peter B. Krauser, a judge of the Maryland Court of Special Appeals and former chairman of the Maryland Democratic Party.
Shrier attended Sheridan School and Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School. After earning a bachelorâs degree from Columbia University in 2000, Shrier earned a bachelor’s degree from Oxford in 2002. Shrier then earned a law degree from Yale University in 2005. After clerking for Judith W. Rogers and Chief Justice Aharon Barak of the Supreme Court of Israel, Shrier was admitted to the New York Bar in 2006 and the California Bar in 2007. Shrier was an associate attorney at Irell & Manella from 2006 to 2008 before becoming a full-time writer in 2009. Shrier’s California license became inactive in 2009.
Shrier is a registered Republican and married wealth manager Zachary Loren Shrier in 2007.
David Sylva is an American psychologist whose graduate work involved questionable studies about sex and gender minorities.
Background
David M. “Dave” Sylva was born in July 1980. Sylva did graduate work with controversial Northwestern University psychologist J. Michael Bailey. Bailey is well known for work in the field of anti-LGBT eugenics, which Bailey euphemistically calls “parental selection of children’s sexual orientation.” Bailey’s other students at the time included Gerulf Rieger, Chris Skidmore, and Elizabeth Latty.
One of Sylva’s early projects was to claim that gay men can be identified by their stereotypical gait.
Bailey claimed for years that male bisexuality did not exist, stating that men are “gay, straight, or lying.” After taking money from the American Institute of Bisexuality, Sylva and Bailey grad students Jeremy Jabbour and Luke Holmes magically “discovered” bisexual orientation among men.
After the bisexuality organization paid Sylva to “discover” male bisexuality, Sylva’s 2012 dissertation was titled âNeural Correlates of Sexual Arousal in Bisexual, Homosexual, and Heterosexual Men.â Since that payoff, Sylva’s work has been used to shore up one of Bailey’s other claims: that women may not have a sexual orientation.
Impact on transgender clients at Kaiser
Following this amazing “discovery” with Bailey, Sylva then began working for insurance company Kaiser Permanente in California.
Licensure:
NPI Number: #1790106961
Medical license: PSY26122 (CA)
Though Sylva is a member of WPATH, sex and gender minorities should avoid getting healthcare from Sylva due to this professional affiliation with J. Michael Bailey and associated anti-trans psychologists.
Safron A, Sylva D, Klimaj V, Rosenthal AM, Li M, Walter M, Bailey JM (2018). Neural Correlates of Sexual Orientation in Heterosexual, Bisexual, and Homosexual Women. Scientific Reports. 8: 673 https://doi.org/10.1038/srep41314
Safron A, Sylva D, Klimaj V, Rosenthal AM, Li M, Walter M, Bailey JM (2017). Neural Correlates of Sexual Orientation in Heterosexual, Bisexual, and Homosexual Men. Scientific Reports. 7: 41314 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-18372-0
Jabbour J, Holmes L, Sylva D, Bailey JM (2020). Robust evidence for bisexual orientation among men. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 117 (31) 18369-18377 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2003631117
Klimaj V, Safron A, Sylva D, Rosenthal AM, Li M, Walter M, Bailey JM (2021). Sexual Orientation and Neuroanatomy: An MRI Study of Gray Matter Differences in Homosexual, Bisexual, and Heterosexual Women and Men. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/zuyhp
Klimaj V, Safron A, Sylva D, Rosenthal AM, Li M, Walter M, and Bailey JM (2021). Comparing the Structure and Function of Social-cognition-related Brain Areas in Bisexual, Heterosexual, and Homosexual Women and Men. PsyArXiv, August 16 https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/62wvd
Sylva D, Safron A, Rosenthal AM, et al. (2013) Neural correlates of sexual arousal in heterosexual and homosexual women and men. Hormones and Behavior. 64: 673-84 DOI:Â https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yhbeh.2013.08.003
Sylva D, Rieger G, Linsenmeier JAW, Bailey JM (2010). Concealment of sexual orientation. Archives of Sexual Behavior. 39: 141-52 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-008-9466-2
Can you tell whether someone’s gay just by the way he or she walks?
David Sylva wants to know. He straps bright red lights to people’s bodies and videotapes them walking in the dark. He then shows the videotape to observers (who won’t be biased by clothing or hairstyles since the walker is in the dark) and asks them to guess the walker’s sexual orientation.
Sylva’s observations focus on the physical characteristics of the individual’s stride, such as the closeness of the knees.
Why does Sylva, a graduate student at Northwestern University, care so much about how gay people walk? Because he’s one of a growing number of researchers who think sexual orientation may be as basic as how you walk, something inborn that you don’t choose.
David Sylva, a graduate student at Northwestern University, has been studying individual walking styles to see if homosexuals’ strides are different from those of their straight counterparts. He hopes the data will give support to the nature side of the sexual orientation argument.
Connie Lee (July 6, 2007). Research points to inherit [sic] trait for homosexuality; some dispute. The Purdue Exponent. http://www.purdueexponent.org/index.php?module=article&story_id=6347 [archive]
“Dr Sarah” (February 1, 2019). The Transphobic Comments Of Dr Jacob Edward Les. Geeky Humanist / Freethought Blogs https://freethoughtblogs.com/geekyhumanist/2019/02/01/the-transphobic-comments-of-dr-jacob-edward-les/ [archive]
Resources
Ed Les (dredles.com) [site active 2018â2021: archive]
Michael McClure is an American web developer and “autogynephilia” activist.
Background
Michael John “Mike” McClure was born in 1987, grew up in California, and graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a music degree in 2007. McClure then held a variety of software development roles and did guest and substitute teaching in the San Francisco Bay area. McClure worked at General Assembly, Apple, Fitbit, and Foxconn, as well as contract work at several firms.
McClure is part of the “rationalist” movement associated with sites like Slate Star Codex.
This book has caused quite a stir as the reviews below suggest. The subject matter is controversial, and the author’s approach–first-hand accounts and summaries of the literature–will not appeal to everyone. Despite a reliance on secondary sources, Bailey breaks new ground in this unusually lucid review of the causes of male homosexuality and transsexuality. Most arresting is his claim that there are two types of transsexuality, one related to homosexuality, the other totally different and caused by male identification with the female form. He concludes that both types of transsexuals are rooted in biology. The book should be of interest to therapists who treat transsexuals, as well as preoperative and postoperative transsexuals seeking more information. There is also a helpful “how-to” section on the transition process from male to “female,” including surgery, hormones, etc.
Note: this site erroneously attributed writing published under the pseudonym “Mark Taylor Saotome-Westlake” to McClure. Transgender Map apologizes for the error.
Barbara Kline Pope is an American marketing executive responsible for publishing one of the most transphobic books ever written, The Man Who Would Be Queen by J. Michael Bailey.
Background
Pope was born on October 27, 1959 and grew up in York, Pennsylvania. Pope earned a bachelor’s degree from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 1981 and a master’s degree from University of Maryland in 1990.
Pope held various marketing positions at the National Academies from 1983 until 2017, then was appointed Director of Johns Hopkins University Press.
Pope’s spouse Andrew M. “Andy” Pope (born 19500 has also worked at the National Academies, serving as Director of the Board on Health Sciences Policy and at the Institute of Medicine. They have adult children.
The Man Who Would Be Queen (2003)
In 2003 Pope was Executive Director of the National Academies Press (NAP) in Washington, DC. During the controversy, Pope was also named Executive Director of Communications, a post formerly held by Suzanne Woolsey.
Pope was responsible for training and direction of professional managers in all areas of publishing, including their trade arm Joseph Henry Press. Pope’s employees, editor Stephen Mautner and publicist Robin Pinnel, were key contributors in the decisions about editing, fact-checking, and promoting Bailey’s book. Pope’s major focus is marketing:
“Branding, marketing research, derivative products, and reputation management occupy her time as executive director of communications. She has studied consumer behavior and her published work examines business models for the digital publishing arena and the use of information sources among organizational buyers.”
Pope’s enthusiasm for generating revenue came at the expense of scientific integrity and basic editorial standards expected of an academic press.
The book Pope published has been widely condemned as a eugenic screed against sex and gender minorities. In it, author J. Michael Bailey claims that transgender women are really men who are “especially well-suited to prostitution” (page 185). Bailey also presents a case report of a child named “Danny Ryan” who was allegedly cured of being transgender. Pope and Mautner did not bother to confirm if this child actually exists. The book they put out helped the author get tenure.
When marketing trumps science and academic rigor
Pope wrote a widely-cited article on NAP’s successes in The Journal of Electronic Publishing. In it, she tells why the National Academy decided to give away its intellectual property, what happened, and why she thinks others might do the same.
Pope has also worked with The Oxford Publicity Partnership, a marketing service specially designed for nonfiction publishers and specialty presses. It is not clear if OPP is involved in the marketing of the Bailey book in the US or abroad.
Despite the outpouring of concern about Pope’s decision to market the Bailey book, NAP and Joseph Henry Press have made no efforts to rectify this decision. Pope has never made any public statements about the book or her responsibility.
Lynn Conway’s 2004 encounter with Pope
American engineer Lynn Conway is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a prominent critic of the transphobic book Pope published. In 2004, Conway happened to be at National Academies headquarters for a meeting, where she spoke directly with Pope about the harm Pope’s work had caused to a vulnerable population. Conway’s report appears below.
On Thursday, July 22, 2004, I was in Washington, D.C. to participate in a meeting of one of the National Academiesâ boards [the U.S. Air Force Science and Technology Board] of which I am a member.
The meeting was held in the Academiesâ new Keck office building at 500 Fifth Street, NW. The Keck Building is a large metal and glass building with a security-guarded entrance. Itâs one of those places in D.C. where visitors are screened and can only get in if they are cleared for entry.
That morning the idea crossed my mind that since I was already in the building that day, it would be interesting to introduce myself, at least informally, to the National Academies Press (NAP)/Joseph Henry Press (JHP) staff.
As an elected Academy member Iâd often taken advantage of meeting breaks to interact opportunistically with Academy staff. In this case, I hoped to introduce myself to the NAP/JHP staff members responsible for editing, publishing and overseeing the promotion of The Man Who Would Be Queen: The Science of Gender-Bending and Transsexualism, a book by Northwestern University psychologist J. Michael Bailey.
Since the publication of that book in early 2003, it has been widely condemned. By now those staff members must certainly be aware of the awful impact its publication has had on the trans community. After all, the author was by now widely discredited in the court of public opinion for his sloppy science and defamatory caricatures of trans women.
However, up to now Academy leadership and NAP/JHP staff had stonewalled the community, giving us the âsilent treatmentâ by never responding directly to our many complaints and requests to meet with them. It was as if we were invisible as they dismissed us as apparently powerless, friendless and of little consequence to them.
I thought to myself, âThe Academy folks must sense that they should reach out to us a bit and try to build some bridges with the trans community if they are to have any hope of saving face as Bailey and his supporters go down in infamy…â
With that thought in mind, I walked out to the lobby area during the morning break and asked the receptionist for office locations for Stephen Mautner (Executive Editor of the JHP) and Robin Pinnel (publicist for the Bailey book). She looked up the room numbers for me, and I went upstairs to see if they were in.
The NAP offices are on the third floor of the building, which is also the ground floor of a big multi-story atrium that runs up through the middle of the building. The architecture is consistent with the antiseptic style of the remainder of the building  spare and colorless, and yet somewhat pretentious in its visual display of bright metal and glass. As in the rest of the building few people are seen moving about. Itâs very quiet everywhere there, and seems as if most staff members are simply ânot inâ on any given day.
I walked through the atrium and wandered on into the NAP area. The offices were very nice and many had wonderful outside views. However, even here almost no one seemed to âbe inâ except for an administrative assistant down at one end of the hall.
I wandered the NAP corridor for a while, looking for Stephen Mautnerâs office. I found a sign for Joseph Henry Press on the wall, marking off the offices for this function of the National Academy Press. Mautnerâs office was there, but he wasnât in.
Just then the assistant to the NAPâs director, a very pleasant lady named Olive Schwarzschild, walked up to me and asked if I needed any assistance.
I introduced myself, and said I was on a break from a board meeting and thought Iâd check to see if Stephen Mautner and Robin Pinnel were in. I mentioned that they were involved in publishing a book that I was interested in Âand that Iâd hoped to briefly introduce myself to them and say hi while I was here.
Olive seemed nicely surprised by having an elected member of the National Academies stop in at the NAP offices, and she went out of her way to be very polite and helpful. She checked her notes and said that Mautner was away that day but that maybe Robin Pinnel would be in. She called over to Ms. Pinnelâs office (which apparently was in another section of the floor), but it turned out that Pinnel wasnât in at work that morning either.
While standing by Oliveâs desk I noticed out of the corner of my eye a well-dressed middle-aged woman seated at a desk in the large nearby corner office. She was looking at me and listening to what I was saying. I turned my head slightly and read the name on the outside office wall. It was the office of Barbara Kline Pope, the Director of the NAP.
I mentioned to Olive that although Mr. Mautner and Ms. Pinnel werenât in, it would be nice to be able to briefly introduce myself to Ms. Pope while I was there. I said it just loudly enough for Ms. Pope to hear me, hoping that sheâd acknowledge my presence and weâd get a chance to introduce ourselves.
Just then, Ms. Pope picked up the phone and called someone. It was 10:45 am.
Olive asked if Iâd like to sit down somewhere to wait for a few minutes, but I said âno, thatâs OK, Iâll just hang out here in hopes of having a couple of minutes to meet Barbara.â Olive assured me that Ms. Pope knew that I was there, saying that she had mentioned to her who I was shortly after Iâd first introduced myself.
I stood outside Ms. Popeâs office and waited – and waited.
Suddenly, a little after 11:00, Ms. Pope hung up the phone, walked towards the office door and, without looking at me, said quite loudly to Olive âI have a meeting at 11:00.â
This seemed odd to me, because Olive apparently didnât know about any meeting, and there was no one else waiting outside Ms. Popeâs office (plus, as things would turn out, Ms. Pope didnât leave the area after I had left nor did any other visitors enter the areaâŠ).
Anyways, by now Ms. Pope was standing in the middle of the office a few yards away from me, and she started to turn back towards her desk.
I turned towards the office door and said âHi Barbara, Iâm Lynn Conwayâ.
Ms. Pope turned back slightly towards me, but was silent.
I then said, âIâd like to introduce myselfâŠâ
Thinking that she would at least briefly invite me into her office, I started to bring my right hand up to invite a friendly handshake.
However, she cut me short by saying âI know who you are!â in a rather firm tone and with heavy emphasis on the âyouâ. This response stunned me, since Iâd never met or communicated with her, but had only criticized one of the books she had published.
I then said in as nice and calm a voice as possible: âIâm in a board meeting here and thought Iâd stop by and see if Stephen and Robin were here ÂI thought it might be helpful to put names on faces so weâd all feel we knew each other a bit better, and itâs nice to have this chance to see you while Iâm here, tooâ.
Ms. Pope was expressionless and silent, and made no move whatsoever to greet me or respond to me, much less invite me into her office. This was a long and awkward silence.
At this point I decided to shift gears and ask some questions while I had Ms. Popeâs attention. After all, sheâd set the tone for the interaction by her odd refusal to acknowledge my initial gesture of openness towards her.
âYou are aware of what a horror you folks have caused out there?â I asked, as politely and calmly as possible.
âWeâve learned a lotâ, Ms. Pope responded rather quickly, blankly and off-handedly.
âThen why are you continuing to so heavily promote Baileyâs book?â I asked.
âBecause we have a responsibility to the author!â she asserted very strongly.
I was absolutely stunned by this response, and stood silent for a while.
Recalling the Southern Poverty Law Centerâs expose of the violence against young trans women in D.C. and the role of hate science in fueling such violence, I asked her:
âBut didnât you feel any responsibility towards a very large, endangered community?â
This led to another, very awkward silence.
Ms. Pope stared blankly at me for quite a while, clearly not knowing what to say Âand possibly oblivious to what I was even referring to.
I didnât know what to say to break the silence either.
Sensing that the interaction was over, I simply said, âWell, good luck to you.â
She then turned away. The interaction was over.
Olive had been right there during all this, and seemed quite taken aback that Ms. Pope had not greeted me, had not shaken my hand and had acted so strangely during the interaction. I felt sorry about Olive being put in this unexpected position, especially since sheâd been so polite and welcoming to me as a member of the Academies.
Not wanting Olive to think that she had somehow done something wrong, I mentioned to her that the NAP/JHP had published a book that is causing lots of angst in an endangered social community, and that was probably why Ms. Pope was uncomfortable, i.e., that Ms. Pope was likely feeling a bit on the defensive about that book. Olive didnât appear to have heard of the controversy, but now sensed Ms. Popeâs uneasiness was simply due to some kind of ideological problem with a publication, and I think this made her feel better. I thanked her for her help and left the NAP office area.
Although I was running late returning from my board-meeting break, I took my time heading back through the atrium towards the elevators. Sitting down in the cafeteria, I jotted down key details of these interactions while they were fresh in my mind.
Meanwhile, I kept an eye out for possible visitors going into the NAP office area to meet with Ms. Pope. No one went into that area while I was sitting there, and at around 11:25 I headed back downstairs to the board meeting.
And so the âsilent treatmentâ continues at the National AcademiesâŠ
Lynn Conway September 19, 2004
References
Pope BK (2004). Conference biography. http://www.rhsmith.umd.edu/netconference/chairs.html [archive]
Pope BK (1999). How to Succeed in Online Markets: National Academy Press: A Case Study. Journal of Online Publishing, 4;4 (May 1999). https://doi.org/10.3998/3336451.0004.408
Bailey JM (2003). The Man Who Would Be Queen: The Science of Gender-Bending and Transsexualism. Joseph Henry Press. ISBN 978-0309084185 http://www.nap.edu/books/0309084180/html/ [archive]
Jeannette Cooper is an American anti-transgender activist. After losing parental custody, Cooper co-founded anti-trans front group Partners for Ethical Care. Cooper is known as Jeannette Srivastava outside of anti-trans activism.
Background
Jeannette Michelle Cooper was born on November 6, 1977 and grew up in southeastern Ohio. Cooper earned a bachelor’s degree in 2000 from Kalamazoo College and a master’s degree from Michigan State University in 2005. Cooper then taught English and did technical writing. Cooper married Prashant Srivastava (born 1978), and they had one child together.
Cooper founded an organization called Immigrants to Women Empowered Chicago in 2008 and ran it until 2014. Since 2013 Cooper has been involved in homeschooling. In 2015 Cooper enrolled in a doctorate program at DePaul University.
Cooper and Srivastava divorced in 2015. In 2019, when their 12-year-old child began going by Ash and using xe/xyr pronouns, Cooper’s ex-spouse filed for full custody, stating that Ash was âno longer mentally or emotionally safeâ around Cooper.
Despite group family therapy sessions, Cooper still opposed any medical transition steps for Ash, stating:
âBut the thing that I clearly am not complying with is this concept that good parenting means that you affirm a childâs claim that there is something wrong with their body. Iâm not willing to do that. I donât think thatâs good parenting.â
Cooper runs a private anti-trans Facebook group called Parents of Transgender/Non-binary Kids, Teens, and Young Adults.
Cooper has provided testimony in several states supporting anti-trans legislation, including Florida, Ohio, and Kentucky.
Cooper, Jeannette (March 14, 2023). 03 14 2023 Jeannette Cooper Testimony for KY HB470. https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/CommitteeDocuments/362/22848/03%2014%202023%20Jeannette%20Cooper%20Testimony%20for%20KY%20HB470.pdf
Ana Valens is an American journalist who frequently writes about gaming and sexuality from a progressive and pro-transgender perspective.
Background
Valens earned a bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University in 2016.
Valens has written and edited at New Brunswick Today, TRIM Magazine, Gamemoir, The Anthologist, Kill Screen Media, Inc., CGMagazine, PRIDE, Now Loading, Dot Esports, The Toast, Bitch Media, Fanbyte, Kill Screen, Waypoint, Glixel, Daily Dot, and The Mary Sue.
Valens has also worked with gaming companies Sekai Project and FemHype.
Scott Leibowitz is an American pediatric psychiatrist best known for working with gender diverse youth and with anti-trans journalists.
Like many psychologists and psychiatrists who get paid to do them, Leibowitz promotes “comprehensive psychological assessments,” a form of gatekeeping used for over a century to delay or deny medical transition options for trans and gender diverse people.
Leibowitz is a key source for journalists who feel it has become too easy for adolescents and young adults to get hormones and surgery, covering trans healthcare like an unfolding medical scandal. Leibowitz participated in numerous articles about the ex-transgender movement, most notably pieces by anti-trans activists Jesse Singal in The Atlantic and Emily Bazelon in the New York Times. Those pieces have been cited in proposed legislation banning trans healthcare.
Leibowitz believes that science, medicine, and journalism can somehow be separated from politics. In 2024, despite Leibowitz’s objections, Ohio passed HB 68 banning the care that Leibowitz offers in that state.
Background
Scott Farrell Leibowitz was born on May 20, 1978 in Smithtown, New York. Leibowitz earned a bachelorâs degree from Cornell University and a medical degree from the Tel Aviv University Sackler School of Medicine New York State/American Program. Leibowitz completed residencies at the Zucker Hillside Hospital in Queens and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine’s Long Island Jewish Health System. Leibowitz then did a Fellowship at the children’s gender clinic at Boston Childrenâs Hospital with colleague Laura Edwards-Leeper. In 2013 Leibowitz took a similar position at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Childrenâs Hospital in Chicago. In 2015 Leibowitz was recruited to Nationwide Childrenâs in Columbus, Ohio.
2018 Atlantic article
Leibowitz was quoted throughout a 2018 Atlantic article by Jesse Singal on the ex-transgender movement. Similar to the ex-gay movement, the people who promote the medicalized concepts of “desistance” and “detransition” believe that interest in gender transition is a disease that can resolve on its own or through medical intervention. Proponents of these loaded terms make several assumptions that are not value-neutral and therefore not scientific.
[Laura] Edwards-Leeper is hoping to promote a concept of affirming care that takes into account the developmental nuances that so often come up in her clinical work. In this effort, she is joined by Scott Leibowitz, a psychiatrist who treats children and adolescents. He is the medical director of behavioral health for the THRIVE program at Nationwide Childrenâs Hospital, in Columbus. Leibowitz has a long history of working with and supporting TGNC youthâhe served as an expert witness for the Department of Justice in 2016, when President Barack Obamaâs administration challenged state-level âbathroom billsâ that sought to prevent trans people from using the public bathroom associated with their gender identity. Edwards-Leeper and Leibowitz met at Boston Childrenâs, where Leibowitz did his psychiatry fellowship, and the two have been close friends and collaborators ever since.
While itâs understandable, for historical reasons, why some people associate comprehensive psychological assessments with denial of access to care, that isnât how Leibowitz and Edwards-Leeper view their approach. Yes, they want to discern whether a patient actually has gender dysphoria. But comprehensive assessments and ongoing mental-health work are also means of ensuring that transitioningâwhich can be a physically and emotionally taxing process for adolescents even under the best of circumstancesâgoes smoothly.
[…]
Scottâs assessment process centered mostly on the basic readiness questions Edwards-Leeper and Leibowitz are convinced should be asked of any young person considering hormones.
[…]
But progressive-minded parents can sometimes be a problem for their kids as well. Several of the clinicians I spoke with, including Nate Sharon, Laura Edwards-Leeper, and Scott Leibowitz, recounted new patientsâ arriving at their clinics, their parents having already developed detailed plans for them to transition. âIâve actually had patients with parents pressuring me to recommend their kids start hormones,â Sharon said.
[…]
Leibowitz noted that a relationship with a caring therapist may itself be an important prophylactic against suicidal ideation for TGNC youth: âOften for the first time having a medical or mental-health professional tell them that they are going to take them seriously and really listen to them and hear their story often helps them feel better than theyâve ever felt.â
[…]
âWould you rather have a live daughter or a dead son?â is a common response to such questions. âThis type of narrative takes an already fearful parent and makes them even more afraid, which is hardly the type of mind-set one would want a parent to be in when making a complex lifelong decision for their adolescent,â Leibowitz said.
Johanna Olson-Kennedy, a physician who specializes in pediatric and adolescent medicine at Childrenâs Hospital Los Angeles and who is the medical director of the Center for Transyouth Health and Development, is one of the most sought-out voices on these issues, and has significant differences with Edwards-Leeper and Leibowitz. In âMental Health Disparities Among Transgender Youth: Rethinking the Role of Professionals,â a 2016 JAMAPediatrics article, she wrote that âestablishing a therapeutic relationship entails honesty and a sense of safety that can be compromised if young people believe that what they need and deserve (potentially blockers, hormones, or surgery) can be denied them according to the information they provide to the therapist.â
[…]
Perhaps a first step is to recognize detransitioners and desisters as being on the same âsideâ as happily transitioned trans people. Members of each of these groups have experienced gender dysphoria at some point, and all have a right to compassionate, comprehensive care, whether or not that includes hormones or surgery. âThe detransitioner is probably just as scarred by the system as the transitioner who didnât have access to transition,â Leibowitz told me. The best way to build a system that fails fewer people is to acknowledge the staggering complexity of gender dysphoriaâand to acknowledge just how early we are in the process of understanding it.
The story is about the editing of the WPATH Standards of Care 8 chapter on youth.
Leibowitz, [Annelou] de Vries and their co-authors held their ground on assessments. The final version of their chapter said that because of the limited long-term research, treatment without a comprehensive diagnostic assessment âhas no empirical support and therefore carries the risk that the decision to start gender-affirming medical interventions may not be in the long-term best interest of the young person at that time.â
Publications
Simons LK, Leibowitz SF, Hidalgo MA (2014). Understanding gender variance in children and adolescents. Pediatr Ann. 2014 Jun;43(6):e126-31. https://doi.org/10.3928/00904481-20140522-07
Edwards-Leeper L, Leibowitz SF, Sangganjanavanich VF (2016). Affirmative practice with transgender and gender nonconforming youth: Expanding the model. Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity 3(2):165-172 https://doi.org/10.1037/sgd0000167
Calzo JP, Melchiono M, Richmond TK, Leibowitz SF, Argenal RL, Goncalves A, Pitts S, Gooding HC, Burke P (2017). Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Adolescent Health: An Interprofessional Case Discussion. MedEdPORTAL. 2017 Aug 9;13:10615. https://doi.org/10.15766/mep_2374-8265.10615
Janssen A, Scott Leibowitz SF, eds. (2018). Affirmative Mental Health Care for Transgender and Gender Diverse Youth: A Clinical Guide. ISBN 9783319783079
The research term for this is desistance. This has become a rather controversial discussion because the studies themselves vary in the populations they included and how they handled the children that were lost to follow up.
Strang JF, Powers MD, Knauss M, Sibarium E, Leibowitz SF, Kenworthy L, Sadikova E, Wyss S, Willing L, Caplan R, Pervez N, Nowak J, Gohari D, Gomez-Lobo V, Call D, Anthony LG (2018). “They Thought It Was an Obsession”: Trajectories and Perspectives of Autistic Transgender and Gender-Diverse Adolescents. J Autism Dev Disord. 2018 Dec;48(12):4039-4055. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-018-3723-6
Strang JF, Janssen A, Tishelman A, Leibowitz SF, Kenworthy L, McGuire JK, Edwards-Leeper L, Mazefsky CA, Rofey D, Bascom J, Caplan R, Gomez-Lobo V, Berg D, Zaks Z, Wallace GL, Wimms H, Pine-Twaddell E, Shumer D, Register-Brown K, Sadikova E, Anthony LG (2018). Revisiting the Link: Evidence of the Rates of Autism in Studies of Gender Diverse Individuals. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2018 Nov;57(11):885-887. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2018.04.023
Leibowitz SF, Lantos JD (2019). Affirming, Balanced, and Comprehensive Care for Transgender Teenagers. Pediatrics. June 2019, 143 (6) e20190995 https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2019-0995
Exhibit 37: Expert Declaration of Scott F. Leibowitz, MD. United States of America v. State of North Carolina, et al. (2017). No. 1:16-cv-00425 [PDF] https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/field_document/de_076-37_-_leibowitz_decl_iso_mot_for_pi_us_07-06-2016.pdf
Leibowitz SF, Telingator C (2012). Assessing gender identity concerns in children and adolescents: evaluation, treatments, and outcomes. Curr Psychiatry Rep. 2012 Apr;14(2):111-20. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-012-0259-x
Leibowitz SF, Spack NP (2011). The development of a gender identity psychosocial clinic: treatment issues, logistical considerations, interdisciplinary cooperation, and future initiatives. Child Adolesc Psychiatr Clin N Am. 2011 Oct;20(4):701-24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chc.2011.07.004
Stoddard J, Leibowitz SF, Ton H, Snowdon S (2011). Improving medical education about gender-variant youth and transgender adolescents. Child Adolesc Psychiatr Clin N Am. 2011 Oct;20(4):779-91. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chc.2011.07.008
[from original version] In his Atlantic story, Singal also justified his skepticism of letting kids transition by relying heavily on two care providers, Scott Leibowitz and Laura Edwards-Leeper, who believe in the desistance myth, and whom Singal has cited in the past. Despite the fact that their views are shared by few other experts, Singal has suggested in the past that their theory is mainstream.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article referenced child and adolescent psychiatrist Scott Leibowitz and his colleague Laura Edwards-Leeper in a context that misrepresented their work. It has been updated to remove reference to them.
Singal, Jesse (July 2018). When a child says she’s trans. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/07/when-a-child-says-shes-trans/561749/
Elon Musk is an entrepreneur, investor, and one of the world’s most prominent anti-transgender extremists. Musk’s adult trans child Vivian Wilson filed legal papers to end being “related to my biological father in any way, shape or form.”
Since then. Musk has made many anti-trans comments and has supported other anti-trans extremists and their positions.
Examples include:
“Any parent or doctor who sterilizes a child before they are a consenting adult should go to prison for life.”
“Every child goes through an identity crisis before their personality/identity crystallizes. Therefore, we shouldnât allow severe, irreversible surgery or sterilizing drugs that they may regret until at least age 18.”
Platformed transphobic film What Is a Woman? on Twitter, saying “Every parent should watch this.”
“I will be actively lobbying to criminalize making severe, irreversible changes to children below the age of consent.”
Background
Elon Reeve Musk was born June 28, 1971 into a wealthy South African family that supported apartheid. In 1989 Musk moved to Canada as part of a plan to obtain American citizenship.
After studying in Canada, Musk transferred to University of Pennsylvania. Musk’s year of undergraduate degree date is a matter of dispute. Musk claimed a graduation date on 1995 on several occasions. According to Snopes, the University of Pennsylvania released this statement: “Elon Musk earned a B.A. in physics and a B.S. in economics (concentrations: finance and entrepreneurial management) from the University of Pennsylvania. The degrees were awarded on May 19, 1997.”
In 1995, Musk co-founded city guide Zip2. In 1999, Musk co-founded online payment company X.com, which through mergers became PayPal, which then sold to eBay. Musk used the earnings to found SpaceX in 2002. In 2004 Musk became the major shareholder in Tesla Motors. In 2006 Musk provided seed funding for SolarCity, which was later acquired by Tesla. In 2015 Musk founded satellite ISP Starlink, and in 2016 Musk co-founded Neuralink. Musk founded The Boring Company in 2017.
Trans child
In June 2022, Musk’s child legally changed name and gender, to end being “related to my biological father in any way, shape or form.”
Musk has a dystopian view of the leftâs influence on America, which helps explain his wild pursuit of Twitter to liberate free speech. He blames the fact that his teenage daughter no longer wants to be associated with him on the supposed takeover of elite schools and universities by neo-Marxists. âItâs full-on communismâ.â.â.âand a general sentiment that if youâre rich, youâre evil,â says Musk. âIt [the relationship] may change, but I have very good relationships with all the others [children]. Canât win them all.â
Around the same time, the parent of two of Musk’s children, singer Grimes, was reportedly dating trans whistleblower Chelsea Manning after Grimes and Musk split up.
Twitter
In 2022, Musk purchased Twitter for about $44 billion and quickly began rolling back policies that protected trans and gender diverse people from abuse on the platform. Musk also began unbanning nearly all users suspended for anti-transgender activity.
Musk has made a number of anti-transgender statements, claiming that gender diverse youth are “fed propaganda by adults,” stating “we shouldnât allow severe, irreversible surgery or sterilizing drugs that they may regret until at least age 18.”
Not when theyâre fed propaganda by adults.
Moreover, every child goes through an identity crisis before their personality/identity crystallizes.
Therefore, we shouldnât allow severe, irreversible surgery or sterilizing drugs that they may regret until at least age 18.
In April 2023, Musk followed the transphobic account Libs of TikTok, referred to anti-trans activist Matt Walsh’s work in asking “Whatâs a woman?” and said “Any parent or doctor who sterilizes a child before they are a consenting adult should go to prison for life.”
Suzy Weiss is an American cultural critic and anti-transgender activist. Weiss’ work focuses on maintaining sex segregation and attacking healthcare for gender diverse youth.
Background
Suzanne Lee “Suzy” Weiss was born July 6, 1995. Parents Lou and Amy Weiss run Weisslines, a flooring retailer. Weiss’ sibling is intellectual dark web promoter Bari Weiss. Weiss grew up in Pittsburgh and graduated from Taylor Allderdice High School in 2013.
In 2013, Weiss wrote a piece for Bari’s former employer The Wall Street Journal about being rejected from colleges for being a straight white person with normal abilities and habits. The piece received widespread negative attention, and Weiss later claimed it was “satire.”
Weiss then earned a bachelor’s degree from University of Michigan in 2018.
While in high school, Weiss served as a US Senate page, followed by college internships at STATE Bags, Zola.com, Funny or Die, The Heymann Brothers, and Ogilvy & Mather.
Weiss was a reporter for the New York Post from 2018 to 2023, then joined Bari Weiss’ publication in 2021.
Weiss, Suzy Lee (March 29, 2013). To (All) the Colleges That Rejected Me.Wall Street Journal https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324000704578390340064578654
Gachman, Dina (April 3, 2013). Suzy Lee Weiss and the Age of Entitlement.Forbes https://www.forbes.com/sites/dinagachman/2013/04/03/suzy-lee-weiss-and-the-age-of-entitlement/?sh=4e1c0b2e2bbc
Bari Weiss (March 6, 2022). Watching Lia Thomas Win.Honestly with Bari Weiss https://podcasts.apple.com/hu/podcast/watching-lia-thomas-win/id1570872415?i=1000553066075