Gwendolyn Ann Smith is an American writer, designer, and transgender rights activist. Smith is a pioneer in online trans resources and created what became the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance.
Background
Gwendolyn Ann “Gwen” Smith was born July 22, 1967. Smith attended Pasadena City College, then began doing desktop publishing and digital design under the entity designstylestudios. Smith was an early adopter in online communities, rising to Programming Director at America Online’s onQ community, which later merged with PlanetOut.
Smith has been involved with the game Second Life since its release in 2003 and since 2019 has offered high-end professional support to the game’s power users.
Smith is married to Bonnie “Bon” Smith and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Transgender activism
Starting in 1992, Smith was the driving force behind making America Online (AOL) trans-friendly, lobbying them to change anti-trans policies. Smith developed and maintained a repository of information and resources on AOL and hosted many chats. Smith developed the Transgender Community Forum (TCF), which AOL forced to close.
In 1998, Smith founded the Remembering Our Dead Project to document anti-trans murders. That project evolved into the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance.
In 2000, Jamison Green, Dallas Denny, Jessica Xavier, Gwen Smith, Penni Ashe Matz, and Sandra Cole launched the nonprofit Gender Education and Advocacy (GEA) at the website gender.org.
Smith has written and edited for many publications, including LGBTQ Nation, The New Civil Rights Movement, and Genderfork. Smith has written a column titled “Transmisisons” for the Bay Area Reporter since 2000.
Smith designed the accompanying booklet and attended our 2004 all-transgender benefit performance of The Vagina Monologues.
Smith is subject of the 2017 book Trans/Active: A Biography of Gwendolyn Ann Smith.
This site (transgendermap.com) is dedicated to Smith and Melanie Anne Phillips for their key roles in early online resources for the community.
References
Leveque, Sophia Cecilia (2017). Trans/Active: A Biography of Gwendolyn Ann Smith. ISBN 9781618460448
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 Women’s 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/
Dan Savage is an American author and activist. Savage has been glitter-bombed many times for anti-transgender views. Some of Savage’s views have evolved following criticism.
Savage has written about sex and relationships since the 1990s and has supported the work of many gender critical and transphobic public figures. Savage has also been involved in a number of important projects that have improved the lives of sex and gender minorities, including trans people.
Background
Daniel Keenan “Dan” Savage (born October 7, 1964) grew up in a Catholic household in Chicago. Savage graduated with a theater degree from University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, then moved to Germany for two years before moving to Madison, Wisconsin.
In 1991 The Onion founder Tim Keck told friend Savage about a plan to start The Stranger, an alternative newspaper in Seattle. Savage suggested writing a sex and relationship advice column. The title was proposed as Hey Faggot!, but Keck refused to use that title, so they settled on Savage Love. For years, all answered letters started with “Hey Faggot!” as the greeting. The column was syndicated, and Savage dropped the greeting in 1999 when the column started accepting emailed questions.
Savage moved to Seattle for the job. Under the stage name “Keenan Hollahan,” Savage also founded Seattle’s Greek Active Theater, producing reimagined classics in the mid-1990s. Savage was active in the Seattle theater scene until around 2003.
Savage created the It Gets Better project in 2010 with spouse Terry Miller. They were married in Canada in 2005 and remarried in the US when it was legalized. They have one child. The nonprofit has helped many trans and gender diverse young people through its message. The nonprofit’s President Paul Dien and founding member Seth Levy have noted that Savage is no longer involved in the project day to day:
“I don’t agree with what he has said, and I think it’s important to call out our privileges,” said Dien. “I think in our communities, cisgender white folks do have that privilege, and it’s okay to talk about when people are wrong or offensive to other parts of our community. And I think it’s important to have those discussions.”
“I really can’t comment on whatever Dan’s relationship with the trans community is; that’s been a complicated one for a long time,” added Levy. “All I know is that as a co-founder with them and having done a lot of work with them over the years, he’s done a lot for that community, often through this project. And so I hope at the end of the day, that’s what people start to understand, is that we’ve all really been trying to fight the same fight, even if we don’t always get along along the way.”
Savage’s strong opinions and acerbic tone have been criticized by numerous groups.
Biphobia allegations
Savage’s support of transphobic psychologist J. Michael Bailey and like-minded sexologists has caused the greatest reputational harm. Savage uncritically repeated Bailey’s claims that bisexual men don’t exist, and Savage told gay men “DON’T MESS AROUND WITH BISEXUALS” and likened bisexuality to “incest and dog-fucking.”
It was “the way most gay men were at the time, and it was shitty,” Savage says now. “A lot of my hostility to bi guys early was because I dated bi guys who were gay closet cases who felt superior to the gay men that they were dating, because they weren’t 100 percent polluted by gayness.” Over the years, “pushback from my readers” and some new bi lovers helped change his mind.
Bailey and friends magically “discovered” bisexuality as soon as they got a payment from The American Institute of Bisexuality. Savage supported Bailey’s claims about that “discovery” as well.
Transphobia allegations
Then there are the transphobic slurs that frequently appeared in Savage Love over the first 20-odd years, along with some gender nonaffirming advice about trans people and cheap jokes about the appearance of trans women. Savage told me that he used those words in the same spirit as he invited readers to call him a “faggot.” He offered a similar explanation when, at a much-covered event at the University of Chicago in 2014, he was challenged by a trans student who objected to his continued use of the slurs while talking about the slurs, and wrote a scorched-earth takedown of the student in the Stranger. (Savage now uses the phrase “t-slur” instead of saying the word out loud.)
“How do you disprove a charge like you’re transphobic? I’m not afraid of trans people. […] I certainly have had a journey in the last 20 years — as have we all — on trans issues. When I started writing Savage Love 20 years ago, and you can yank quotes 15, 18 years ago and flat them up today and say, ‘You know, that’s transphobic,’ I’d probably agree with you. 15 years ago I didn’t know as much as I know now — nor did anybody.”
Savage is one of the few people to reify “autogynephilia,” writing in 2010: “You might want to google autogynephilia. Not saying that’s where you’re at or headed, don’t know enough about it to endorse it, but . . . it seemed relevant.” Gender critical and anti-trans people Savage has platformed and supported include:
Jesse Singal (ex-trans movement, withholding trans youth healthcare)
Anyway, I'm speaking up now because this bullshit @glaad is pulling is just appalling. Putting Singal on a list with people like Tony Perkins and Brian Brown and Keith Ablow is just fucking bullshit. It's defamatory.https://t.co/kTKAs3aFnH
Here Savage cites Singal’s promotion of conservative clinician Erica Anderson as evidence Singal is not transphobic.
I want to say, "I challenge anyone to listen to this interview @jessesingal did with youth-gender clinician Dr. Erica Anderson and tell me he's transphobic," but I know people will continue to insist he's transphobic. But he isn't.https://t.co/GnkNFG44kD
There is a tendency among this collection of people to back each other up and logroll for each other when accused of acting against the best interests of the trans community. Let’s hope that changes in the future, as their monopolization of media opportunities by shutting out trans critics is one of the key ways they perpetuate harm.
Badash, David (April 29, 2014). Dan Savage Does Not Hate You. The New Civil Rights Movement. https://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/2014/04/dan_savage_does_not_hate_you/
Savage, Dan (December 2, 1999). Gay Ol’ Time. Savage Love https://www.thestranger.com/seattle/SavageLove?oid=2686 [archive]
Abad-Santos, Alexander (November 3, 2011). Dan Savage: Queer-on-Queer Glitter-Bombing Victim. The Wire via The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/11/dan-savage-queer-queer-glitter-bombing-victim/335921/
Lowder, J. Bryan (November 4, 2011). Did Dan Savage Deserve to be Glitter-Bombed?. Slate. http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2011/11/04/did_dan_savage_deserve_to_be_glitter_bombed_.html
Hill-Meyer, Tobi (November 14, 2011). Dan Savage Glittered Again, Student Arrested. The Bilerico Project. http://www.bilerico.com/2011/11/dan_savage_glittered_again_student_arrested.php
Oommen, Isaac (January 21, 2012). Dan Savage Glitterbombed. Vancouver Media Co-op. http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/photo/dan-savage-glitterbombed/9681
Schmidt, Christine (May 30, 2014). Comments at IOP spark controversy. [archive] Chicago Maroon http://chicagomaroon.com/2014/05/30/comments-at-iop-spark-controversy/
Note: In 2025, this site phased out AI illustrations after artist feedback. The previous illustration is here.
Dylan Mulvaney is an American media personality who documented the first year of gender transition in a popular video series called “Days of Girlhood.”
Background
Mulvaney was born December 29, 1996 in San Diego, California, grew up in Southern California, and earned a bachelor’s degree from University of Cincinnati in 2019.
Mulvaney performed in the musical The Book of Mormon on its national tour, as well as in other musical theatre productions. Mulvaney also was brought up from the audience to dance with a friend at the Ellen show and appeared as a contestant on The Price Is Right.
“Days of Girlhood”
At the start of the pandemic, Mulvaney began posting comedy videos on social media. Mulvaney quickly amassed a large following after the “Day One of Being a Girl” post went viral on TikTok. Mulvaney was soon doing many endorsement deals and sponsored posts. Several of Mulvaney’s videos sparked criticism, including one about tampons, one about Ulta cosmetics, one about wearing tight clothing to “normalize the bulge,” and several where Mulvaney dressed up as a young girl.
In October 2022, Mulvaney was invited to speak with Joe Biden at the White House, which led to significant backlash from conservatives, including conservative trans people like Caitlyn Jenner.
Following 2022 facial feminization surgery, Mulvaney did a face reveal of the results in January 2023. At the 2023 Grammy Awards, Mulvaney talked over Laverne Cox while filming their first introduction. Though Mulvaney had solicited Cox’s advice, Mulvaney was clearly not listening, leading a number of prominent trans people to comment on the dynamics of the encounter.
In March 2023 Mulvaney held the live fundraising event Dylan Mulvaney’s Day 365 Live! to celebrate one year since starting transition. Those who showed Mulvaney support, including cisgender allies like Drew Barrymore, faced criticism.
In April 2023 Mulvaney made sponsored posts for Bud Light and Nike. The Nike post showed Mulvaney exercising in their sports bra and sparked more criticism from anti-trans people. The Bud Light posts promoted an NCAA March Madness giveaway and revealed the brand had made a customized Bud Light can with Mulvaney’s face on it.
Bud Light immediately faced bomb threats and boycotts after conservative demagogues like Tucker Carlson and anti-trans groups decided to make an example of the beer. Anti-trans troll Matt Walsh made such pointed and cruel personal attacks that Walsh’s YouTube channel was demonetized. In the first weeks, several conservative entertainers joined the boycott, Bud Light sales dropped about 25% year over year, two ABInBev marketing executives were ousted, the stock was downgraded by several firms, and Senator Ted Cruz announced a planned investigation into whether the brand was marketing to underage audiences. ABInBev released a noncommittal statement and a poorly received patriotic ad, announced they would buy back unsold beer, and hired conservative consultants to help with a rebrand. Bud Light lost its place as America’s favorite beer, ABInBev laid off hundreds of employees, and North American organic sales dropped $1.4 billion. The fiasco instantly became one of the worst marketing blunders in history and a setback for national brands supporting trans inclusion or offering brand endorsements to trans people.
Facing extreme overexposure, Mulvaney reduced the frequency of posting and announced an upcoming book. In June 2023 Mulvaney reflected on the first three months of the controversy:
“What transpired from that video was more bullying and transphobia than I could have ever imagined. For months now, I’ve been scared to leave my house. I have been ridiculed in public. I’ve been followed. And I have felt a loneliness that I wouldn’t wish on anyone. And I’m not telling you this because I want your pity. I am telling you this because if this is my experience, from a very privileged perspective, know that it is much much worse for other trans people.”
Jones (2023)
In 2023 Attitude magazine honored Mulvaney as Woman of the Year.
To mark the 2024 anniversary of starting transition, Mulvaney posed with Lady Gaga and shared several messages with fans. In 2025, Mulvaney released the book Paper Doll: Notes from a Late Bloomer and announced a podcast called The Dylan Hour.
References
Mulvaney, Dylan (2025). Paper Doll: Notes from a Late Bloomer. Harry N. Abrams, ISBN 978-1419770395
Lange, Maggie (February 18, 2025). Dylan Mulvaney Dreams of Privacy. Really.New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/18/style/dylan-mulvaney-paper-doll-book.html
Chris Elston is a Canadian anti-transgender activist. Elston is best known for purchasing or wearing signs with anti-transgender messages. Elston gets money and attention by trying to provoke responses from trans and gender-diverse people and their supporters. Elston has been arrested, banned from venues, and involved in numerous legal disputes.
Elston is one of several “parental rights” activists who appear in public holding or wearing anti-transgender signs, including January Littlejohn and “Sidewalk Steve.”
Background
Christopher David Elston was born in 1976. Elston has used a number of nicknames, including
Christoph Elston
Christophe Elston
Chris Elston
Billboard Chris
Elston’s spouse Sheree Lynn (Peacock) Elston earned a bachelor’s degree from Simon Fraser University in 2003, followed by a master’s degree in education from Simon Fraser in 2007. Sheree Elston was a schoolteacher before becoming an administrator at Semiahmoo Trail elementary school in South Surrey, British Columbia. The Elstons have been members of Village Church, an evangelical Christian church with a location in Surrey. Their older child Arya was born in 2010, followed by Mila. Both children are involved in the same local sport.
Scientology
Around age 20, Elston became involved in Scientology while traveling in Ireland. Elston joined the organization’s elite Sea Org, a group of Scientology’s most dedicated members, in March of 1996. Because of that zeal and fervor, Elston was soon assigned to the Church of Scientology’s Saint Hill Manor property in East Grinstead, West Sussex. The location is called Scientology’s Advanced Organization & Saint Hill United Kingdom. It is an 18th-century manor originally purchased by L. Ron Hubbard in 1959 and later renovated as a Scientology museum. Elston was reportedly assigned to run the Hubbard Communications Office (HCO) in the Continental Liaison Office (CLO).
In June 1997, Elston was a witness to the death of 17-year-old Sea Org member Russell Dienes. Elston was part of a car procession hurrying to work at Saint Hill. Dienes pulled in front of an oncoming truck, causing Dienes’ death and the serious injury of teen passengers Thilo Gnass and Frederik Zengel.
Elston remained with Scientology for almost two years:
I joined the Sea Org in March 96, worked their 100 hour weeks and escaped in the middle of the night Dec. 98 when I was told I couldn’t go home on a visit to see my parents. Passport and plane ticket had been seized.
Elston returned to Canada and reportedly was the subject of an “SP Declare,” a document outlining why Scientology designates Elston as a Suppressive Person, or Anti-Social Personality. Elston has been involved in anti-Scientology activism ever since.
Insurance career
After moving to Vancouver, British Columbia, Elston took a job as an investment advisor at Canaccord Capital (later named Canaccord Financial, now called Canaccord Genuity). Elston worked there from 2001 to 2008, then was a Financial Advisor at Raymond James from 2008 to 2014. After founding Elston Insurance Agency in 2014 and selling insurance, Elston began generating significant income and media coverage from anti-transgender activism. After Elston’s insurance license expired in 2022, Elston began doing anti-trans activism full-time.
Anti-transgender activism
Elston pivoted from anti-Scientology activism to anti-transgender activism following several controversies in the Vancouver area.
Jessica Yaniv aka Jessica Simpson
Elston got involved in several controversies related to Jessica Yaniv, now known as Jessica Simpson, a frequent litigant who used anti-discrimination laws to bring numerous complaints against local businesses. Simpson identifies as transgender and brought many complaints against waxing practitioners who would not wax Simpson’s genitals.
In December 2020, the Western Standard reported that the Langley Royal Canadian Mounted Police had charged Simpson with mischief and uttering threats in relation to an incident in October 2020 concerning Elston.
I ♥ JK ROWLING
Elston met nurse and anti-transgender extremist Amy Hamm at a Simpson hearing. They began purchasing billboards with the slogan “I ♥ JK ROWLING,” a reference to British author J. K. Rowling’s anti-transgender activism. British anti-trans extremist Posie Parker had purchased similar out-of-home ads. Elston’s first one was taken down following complaints. Elston got the nickname “Billboard Chris” soon after.
Elston has been arrested for disturbing the peace after showing up to pro-trans events wearing provocative anti-transgender messages like “Gender ideology does not belong in schools,” and “No child is born in the wrong body,” and “Children cannot consent to puberty blockers.” Elston is no longer allowed on the street around the Vancouver art gallery where Elston was arrested.
Elston’s goal is to be verbally or physically assaulted, which has happened several times. Elston then uses video of those encounters to get money and attention.
“Christophe Elston, the transphobic insurance agent who hangs out with known fascist “John Southern,” showed up to yesterday’s Mi’kmaw solidarity rally for some reason. He was briefly detained by the VPD, and had his “I ♥ JK Rowling” sandwich board taken away.”
Christophe Elston, the transphobic insurance agent who hangs out with known fascist "John Southern," showed up to yesterday's Mi'kmaw solidarity rally for some reason.
Naylor, Dave (December 31, 2020). Transgender activist Yaniv wanted by police in BC. The Western Standard. Wildrose Media Corp. [archive] https://www.westernstandardonline.com/2020/12/transgender-actvist-yaniv-wanted-by-police-in-bc/
Cupp, Anne Renner (March 26, 2018). [Scientology discussion page] https://www.facebook.com/groups/1097697983669219/posts/1407298826042465/?comment_id=1407325562706458&reply_comment_id=1408239902615024
“Chris Elston ingratiates himself to people to gather personal information on them and the moment they cross him, it gets splashed across the internet. He’s a known serial offender and it’s always women. Always. Ginger has been hoodwinked by a master at his craft. I was too, once. […] Maybe her new BFF who is a financial advisor should coach her on that, when he’s not too busy harassing other women.”
Hughes is from Cheshire, a rural county south of Liverpool and Manchester.
Hughes taught in Taiwan for almost ten years after college. Hughes met a Canadian citizen there, and they married there and had their first child there. Hughes and spouse moved to Ottawa in around 2011 and now have three children. Hughes was a stay-at-home parent who began homeschooling their children: “I got to spend a precious decade with my children while they were young.”
Hughes has published under several names, including:
Hughes was radicalized by a tweet by J.K. Rowling on December 19, 2019 that supported anti-trans activist Maya Forstater:
Dress however you please. Call yourself whatever you like. Sleep with any consenting adult who’ll have you. Live your best life in peace and security. But force women out of their jobs for stating that sex is real? #IStandWithMaya#ThisIsNotADrill
There were signs that I wasn’t truly woke, and then it was a very rapid change from the tweet, JK’s tweet. I read it and I just couldn’t understand what all the fuss was about. And I even asked woke friends, I went into it on Facebook: “I don’t see what the fuss is about.” And that was the first time that I experienced something of a pile-on, where they were all calling her a TERF and trying to show me why it was hateful, and I just couldn’t see why it was hateful at all. And so I plunged down a rabbit hole that possibly I wish I’d never gone down. Then I emerged as a fully fledged TERF. I was outraged about what I had learned and just started tweeting about it.
Hughes was soon suspended by Twitter for anti-transgender posts, then created a new ban evasion account.
Hughes writes for anti-trans extremist Michael Shellenberger. A profile at the non-profit Environmental Progress stated Hughes focused on “the controversy of pediatric medical transition and how trans rights collide with the rights of women and the LGB community.” Shellenberger retained Hughes to write at the for-profit Substack and podcast called Public. Hughes has contributed the majority of anti-trans content there. Hughes continues to do anti-trans work under the aegis of Environmental Progress, including The WPATH Files, a 2024 propaganda piece featuring Hughes’ distorted explanations of non-public communication by WPATH members.
Maëlys McArdle profiled Hughes in 2023:
Mia is a founding member of caWsbar, an advocacy group focused on one issue: denying trans people rights. It was part of a wave of anti-trans organizations using the sex-based rights dog whistle. She along with a local group of bigots are linked to multiple transphobic incidents in Ottawa, which I’ve previously covered here, here, here, and here.
Mia Ashton participated in the mob along with National Post columnist Rupa Subramanya and another active member of that local group, @MrsDrBee on Twitter.
Transgender Trend is a British anti-transgender pressure group founded by Stephanie Davies-Arai. It is an important hub for the “parental rights” faction of anti-transgender activists.
Background
Davies-Arai founded the group in 2015 after reading an article that recommended affirming children in their gender identities and expression.
Davies-Arai believes that children are being “groomed” and “brainwashed” into thinking they are transgender by “gender ideology.”
According to progressive publication Truthout:
“Groups like Transgender Trend, an organization that campaigns against LGBT-inclusive relationship and sex education to schools (and was allowed to contribute to the Keira Bell case as an expert witness), are now refocusing on targeting trans health care for anyone under 25.”
“As the number of children identifying as transgender has increased, schools have consulted trans charities such as Stonewall and Mermaids about how best to approach the topic. These charities have, however, come under criticism by campaigners, including Transgender Trend and Safe Schools Alliance, for reinforcing a rigid belief in gender roles, and for encouraging children who don’t conform to gender stereotypes to believe they might be trans.“
WPATH Global Board of Directors (4 September 2018). WPATH Position on “Rapid-Onset Gender Dysphoria (ROGD).” (PDF) https://www.wpath.org/media/cms/Documents/Public%20Policies/2018/9_Sept/WPATH%20Position%20on%20Rapid-Onset%20Gender%20Dysphoria_9-4-2018.pdf
Lisa Littman is an American public health researcher and anti-transgender activist.
Littman is involved in efforts to restrict gender affirming care for children and youth. Littman created the disputed diagnosis “rapid onset gender dysphoria” (ROGD) and is a key figure in the ex-transgender movement.
Littman contributed a chapter titled “Psychosocial factors and gender dysphoria: emerging theories” to the 2023 ant-trans book Sex and Gender: A Contemporary Reader.
References
Sullivan, Alice; Todd, Selina [Eds.] (2023). Sex and Gender: A Contemporary Reader. Taylor & Francis, ISBN 9781032261195
Littman, Lisa (2021). Individuals Treated for Gender Dysphoria with Medical and/or Surgical Transition Who Subsequently Detransitioned: A Survey of 100 Detransitioners. Archives of Sexual Behavior 50, pages3353–3369 (2021) https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-021-02163-w
RI Business Portal (January 15, 2o01). Fictitious name: ICGDR https://business.sos.ri.gov/CorpWeb/CorpSearch/CorpSummary.aspx?FEIN=001717167
According to self-reports, Thomas Scott Newgent was born in Tucson on November 6, 1972 to Scott and Cindy King (other sources give November 10). In several recent interviews, Newgent referred to previously living under the name Kellie Ellen King. Newgent attended Missouri State University before earning a bachelor’s degree from Middle Tennessee State University in 1994. Newgent worked in sales. Newgent is reportedly a parent to three, including giving birth to a set of twins; their names are Joshua, Julia, and Justice. Newgent has listed over 30 different places in eight states as residences:
Indiana: Kendallville, South Bend, Fort Wayne
Texas: Rockwall, Ben Wheeler, Fort Worth, Dallas, Denton
Kansas: Olathe, Overland Park
Washington: Spokane, Port Angeles
Idaho: Post Falls
Oregon: Deadwood
Tennessee: Murfreesboro, Antioch
California: San Diego, Jamul, El Cajon
As is common with people who move this frequently, Newgent has a criminal history that includes serving a sentence relating to a court order in 2019.
Gender transition
Newgent reportedly began transition in 2016 but applied for a legal name and gender change in Texas in 2015. This took longer than usual because the court needed Newgent’s certification of criminal history record information, which Newgent’s lawyer supplied on November 2, 2015.
Newgent is dissatisfied with the reported seven surgeries, claiming that medical complications include:
a massive pulmonary embolism
a helicopter life-flight ride
an emergency ambulance ride
a stress-induced heart attack
sepsis
a 17-month recurring infection due to “using the wrong skin during a (failed) phalloplasty”
16 rounds of antibiotics
three weeks of daily IV antibiotics
the loss of all my hair
(only partially successful) arm reconstructive surgery
permanent lung and heart damage
a cut bladder
insomnia-induced hallucinations
frequent loss of consciousness “due to pain from the hair on the inside of my urethra” (“six inches” of it)
a form of PTSD “that made me a prisoner in my apartment for a year”
Newgent would transition again, but differently. Newgent says transition came with many costs, including “home, car, savings, career, wife, medical insurance, and most importantly his faith within himself and God.”
TReVoices
During the COVID pandemic in 2020, Newgent founded Indiana for-profit company TRans Educational Voices (TReVoices), a group that opposes “radical gender activism.” Newgent claims the medical and pharmaceutical industries are pushing children to transition medically.
In 2023, Newgent briefly claimed to be done with anti-transgender activism and deleted some online presence. In 2024, Newgent self-published an autobiography titled THE LESBIAN DEVIL TO THE STRAIGHT MAN SAINT: – A trip through trans HELL & back!
Trans Regretters
In 2024 Newgent redirected the site TReVoices to a new site called Trans Regretters. The site listed several people with regret about aspects of their medical transitions:
Myers, Ashlyn (March 21, 2023). Emotions stir the House before committee’s approval of bill banning gender-affirming care. TheStatehouseFile.com https://www.thestatehousefile.com/politics/emotions-stir-the-house-before-committee-s-approval-of-bill-banning-gender-affirming-care/article_067d462c-c820-11ed-b589-0beadfab96ae.html
Newgent Scott (May 12, 2023). Scott Newgent, TReVoices [2023 Maine LD1735 (Summary) An Act to Safeguard Gender-affirming Health Care.] https://legislature.maine.gov/legis/bills/getTestimonyDoc.asp?id=10023409
Sandra Currie, Rose Medina (June 29, 2022) Scott Newgent Founder of TRevoices. An American Conversation Podcast™ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQMQ4VDiRZg
Scott Barry Kaufman is an American psychologist who frequently platforms anti-transgender activists and people associated with the intellectual dark web, a gateway to the far right. Kaufman also platforms academics who promote evolutionary psychology, an ideology frequently opposed to value-neutral scientific conceptualizations of trans and gender diverse people.
Ever since a graduate thesis on the subject, Kaufman been invested in misusing science to maintain and justify sex categories and sex segregation, in the way that race science has been misused to maintain and justify racial categories and segregation. Academic sex segregationists have staked their careers and legacies on defending the few remaining sex-segregated institutions.
Kaufman objects to being listed on this site, saying, “I try every day to do good in the world and have never done anything damaging to trans people.”
Background
Scott Barry Kaufman was born June 3, 1979 to Barbara Alpert (born ~1956), a professor of medicine, and Michael Stephen Kaufman (born ~1954), a lawyer specializing in mergers and acquisitions. Both parents went to Harvard and were from families of high social standing.
Kaufman earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Carnegie Mellon University, followed by a master’s degree from Cambridge. Kaufman’s 2007 master’s thesis was titled “Sex differences in mental rotation and spatial visualization ability: Can they be accounted for by differences in working memory capacity?” Kaufman then earned a doctorate in cognitive psychology from Yale, with a research focus on intelligence.
After personally experiencing challenges in early formal education, much of Kaufman’s work involves helping children realize their full potential. Kaufman has authored, co-authored, edited, and contributed to several books for a lay audience:
The Psychology of Creative Writing (2009)
Ungifted: Intelligence Redefined (2013)
Mating Intelligence Unleashed: The Role of the Mind in Sex, Dating, and Love (2013)
The Complexity of Greatness: Beyond Talent or Practice (2013)
The Philosophy of Creativity: New Essays (2014)
Wired to Create: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Creative Mind (2015)
Twice Exceptional: Supporting and Educating Bright and Creative Students with Learning Difficulties (2018)
Transcend: The New Science of Self-Actualization (2020)
Learned Hopefulness: The Power of Positivity to Overcome Depression (2020)
Choose Growth: A Workbook for Transcending Trauma, Fear, and Self-Doubt (2022)
The Psychology Podcast
Kaufman hosts The Psychology Podcast and has consistently platformed gender-critical and anti-transgender guests, including:
In December 2022, Kaufman outlined agreement with anti-trans activist Jesse Singal about disagreements:
My friend @jessesingal convinced me that the following is probably true: “People look at someone’s behavior, and then, based on how much it outrages them, they decide whether to attribute it to personal shortcomings (their fault) or mental illness (not their fault).”
In 2022, Kaufman expressed an interest in a “debate” on trans issues and trans rights.
Who would you like to see have a respectful, healthy debate about trans issues and trans rights? I'd love some suggestions of reputable evidence-based experts who have differing viewpoints. I will moderate this on @psychpodcast. Thanks!
Who would you like to see have a respectful, healthy debate about trans issues and trans rights? I’d love some suggestions of reputable evidence-based experts who have differing viewpoints. I will moderate this on @psychpodcast. Thanks!
When I asked Kaufman to provide more details on which rights for trans people should be debated, Kaufman said, “I’m afraid I don’t have the time to respond to your questions. I am extremely busy.”
If a podcaster consistently platformed antisemitic guests then suddenly wanted to have a “respectful healthy debate on Jewish issues and Jewish rights,” Kaufman would probably have a few questions. It’s also interesting that none of Kaufman’s gender critical guests appeared with someone who had opposing views.
Psychology is one of the key ways the state exerts social control on trans people. Academic exploitation of sex and gender minorities is well documented. People like Kaufman perpetuate these oppressive systems, probably unintentionally. It’s what biologist Julia Serano calls “trans unaware” and “trans suspicious” thinking.
In 2023, Kaufman released a series of podcast episodes on sex and gender. The episode titles reflect Kaufman’s anti-trans bias. Episodes Kaufman calls “science” are by gender critical people who have similar conservative views.
Kaufman chose not to use science to describe the episode with noted biologist/geneticist Anne Fausto-Sterling, even though Fausto-Sterling is by far the most notable and accomplished scientist Kaufman interviewed. That’s because Fausto-Sterling’s views are informed by the latest in scientific understanding of sex and gender and not Kaufman’s own biased views.
Episode list
“What we get wrong about transgender people” with Aaron Rabinowitz and Callie Wright
a decent introductory discussion about minutiae that ignores larger systemic issues
“The Science of Testosterone” with activist Carole Hooven
This one is just a bunch of conservative people agreeing with each other about evolutionary psychology
“Gender/Sex and the Body” with biologist/geneticist Anne Fausto-Sterling
This is the only one worth listening to
References
Kaufman SB (2007). Sex differences in mental rotation and spatial visualization ability: Can they be accounted for by differences in working memory capacity? Intelligencehttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.intell.2006.07.009
Kaufman says this quote exemplifies the psychologist’s views on trans people:
You tweeted something this morning that caught me. You were talking about a study that was showing how hard it must be to be a transgender person because you walk through the world and the entire world has evolved to really only see two gender identities in this. So it’s like a millisecond in our evolutionary perspective. We just don’t quite have the ability to see them they way they see themselves.
