Sarah Pedersen is professor of communications and media at Robert Gordon University. Pedersen has researched the rise of the “gender critical” movement and has espoused “gender critical” views.
Background
Sarah Pedersen was born in October 1965. Pedersen attended University of York, earning a bachelor’s degree in 1987 and a master’s degree in 1989. Pedersen has been affiliated with Robert Gordon University since 2008.
Gender critical activism
Pedersen has researched toxic online community Mumsnet, a key forum for anti-trans extremism.
The June 2019 event “Women’s Sex-Based Rights: What Does (& Should) the Future Hold?” featured a panel of “gender critical” speakers including Pedersen, Julie Bindel, Rosa Freedman, Louise Moody, Lucy Hunter Blackburn, and Claire Heuchan. There, Pedersen acknowledged a recent move into gender critical activism:
“I am often asked at these talks whether I would have been a militant suffragette or a constitutional suffragist. I have always answered that I saw myself very much as a suffragist, quietly writing letters and signing petitions, only dipping a toe in the public sphere of the day, and probably rather disapproving of the militant actions of the suffragettes. However, by coming here today and speaking so publicly, I think I am beginning to embrace my inner suffragette.”
Pedersen drew comparisons between suffragette protests against Scotland’s 1911 census and efforts by “gender critical” groups like For Women Scotland to confound sex data in the 2022 Scottish census.
‘Debates on sex and gender go back a long way, but recently theyâve become more contentiousâand for many people, more confusingâthan ever. This collection, covering a range of subjects from biology and neuroscience to law and public policy, is a welcome attempt to clarify whatâs at stake in current disputes about the significance of sex and gender both in theory and in everyday life. I hope the book will be read by the confused and the undecided as well as by those who are already inclined to agree with it.’
Pedersen S (2022). âItâs what the suffragettes would have wantedâ: the construction of the suffragists and suffragettes on Mumsnet. Feminist Media Studies https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2022.2032788
Pedersen, Sarah (February 18, 2022). The SNP wonât silence women.UnHerd https://unherd.com/2022/02/scotlands-women-wont-be-erased/
Pedersen, Sarah (2020). The Politicization of Mumsnet. Emerald Publishing, ISBN â9781839094712
Pedersen, Sarah (June 5, 2019). [speech at Women’s Sex-Based Rights panel] https://forwomen.scot/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Sarah-Pedersen-Edinburgh-Uni-speech.pdf
Andrew Sullivan is a conservative gay cultural critic and anti-transgender activist. Sullivan says Catholic upbringing and values inform this conservatism. Sullivan’s gender critical views include:
Criticizing legal protections based on gender identity
Criticizing affirmative care for gender diverse youth
In 1986, Sullivan took a role at The New Republic, rising to editor in 1991 before leaving in 1996.
Sullivan wrote for The New York Times Magazine from 1998 until getting fired in 2002. During that time Sullivan started a blog called The Dish that ran until 2015. From 2016 to 2020 Sullivan wrote for New York magazine, then moved to Substack.
Anti-trans activism
Sullivan frequently appears in the media to attack trans people, especially gender diverse children.
Belonsky, Andrew (October 12, 2007). Andrew Sullivan Supports Barney Frank.Queerty http://www.queerty.com/andrew-sullivan-supports-barney-frank-20071012/
Selected anti-trans writing by Sullivan
Sullivan, Andrew (June 2, 2014). Engaging The T.The Dish https://dish.andrewsullivan.com/threads/engaging-the-t/
Sullivan, Andrew (February 1, 2019). The Nature of Sex.Intelligencer https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/02/andrew-sullivan-the-nature-of-sex.html
Sullivan, Andrew (September 20, 2019). When the Ideologues Come for the Kids. Intelligencer https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/09/andrew-sullivan-when-the-ideologues-come-for-the-kids.html
Sullivan, Andrew (April 9, 2021). A Truce Proposal in the Trans Wars. Substack https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/a-truce-proposal-in-the-trans-wars-c49
Sullivan, Andrew (February 18, 2022). The Backlash Against Trans Extremism.Substack https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/the-backlash-against-trans-extremism
Sullivan, Andrew (April 8, 2022). Who Is Looking Out For Gay Kids?Substack https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/who-is-looking-out-for-gay-kids-a19
Sullivan, Andrew (May 19, 2023). The Queers Versus The Homosexuals.Substack https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/the-queers-versus-the-homosexuals-cfd
Sullivan, Andrew (February 2, 2024). The Meaningless Incoherence Of “LGBTQ+.”Substack https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/the-meaningless-incoherence-of-lgbtq-d47
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Lynn Conway was an American engineer and one of history’s most notable computer scientists. Conway was also a key figure in online transgender resources.
Background
Lynn Ann Conway was born on January 2, 1938 and grew up in White Plains, New York. Conway enrolled at MIT in 1955, but dropped out. After working as an electronics technician, Conway enrolled at Columbia University’s School of Engineering and Applied Science, earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in 1962 and 1963.
Conway began at IBM Research in 1964, helping to develop new supercomputer technology. After coming out as transgender in 1968, Conway was fired by IBM.
After making a gender transition, Conway worked at Computer Applications and Memorex before joining Xerox PARC in 1973 to develop new integrated circuits. Conway co-authored Introduction to VLSI Systems with Carver Mead in 1978. The book’s insights are widely considered one of the most important advances in microchip technology.
Conway left Xerox to join DARPA’s Strategic Computing Initiative. Conway joined the University of Michigan in 1985 as professor of electrical engineering and computer science, and associate dean of engineering. Conway was appointed Professor Emerita in 1998.
Conway and engineer Charlie Rogers began a relationship in 1987, marrying in 2002.
Conway died on June 9, 2024 following heart issues.
Transgender activism
After creating an academic page in 1997, Conway bought the domain lynnconway.com in 2000 and began building a large personal website that included information about gender transition. Conway’s Transsexual Women’s Successes pages were an important early source of community inspiration, later expanded with a similar page for notable trans men.
Conway was a key figure in the transgender community response to the 2003 publication of the anti-transgender book The Man Who Would Be Queen by J. Michael Bailey. Conway methodically documented events as they unfolded, creating an important archive. Gender studies professor K. Surkan said our work “represented one of the most organized and unified examples of transgender activism seen to date.”
Conway also performed in our first all-trans performance of The Vagina Monologues in 2004.
Conway was also among the first to question academia’s deliberate undercounting of trans and gender diverse people.
Olyslager F, Conway L (2007). On the calculation of the prevalence of transsexualism. WPATH 20th International Symposium http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/TS/Prevalence/Reports/Prevalence%20of%20Transsexualism.pdf
Surkan, K. Transsexuals protest academic exploitation. In Faderman, Lillian (ed). Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Events, 1848-2006. Salem Press, 2007, pp. 700â702.ISBN 9781587652653 [PDF]
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Rebecca Allison, aka “Dr. Becky,” was an American cardiologist who created one of the earliest and most important online resources for transgender medical information.
Allison was deeply involved in transgender activism and served in leadership roles at GLMA and AMA.
Background
Rebecca Anne “Becky” Allison was born in Greenwood, Mississippi on December 21, 1946. Allison’s parents were Errol Ward Atkinson and Mabel Blackwell Atkinson.
Allison earned a medical degree from the University of Mississippi Medical Center in 1971. After working as a general practitioner, Allison completed a specialty in cardiology in 1987, but lost that practice within a year of making a gender transition.
Allison served as chief of cardiology at CIGNA based in Arizona starting in 1998. Allison was named one of Phoenix Magazineâs Top Doctors in Phoenix for 2006, 2007, and 2008. In 2012 Allison went into private practice before retiring in 2018.
Allison died on August 11, 2024 following a long illness.
Activism
Allison was a frequent contributor to the Grace and Lace Letter, an evangelical publication for trans and gender diverse people founded and edited by Lee Frances Heller in 1990.
In 1998, Allison created drbecky.com, a resource site focusing on the medical, legal, and spiritual aspects of gender transition. Among Allison’s innovations were a state-by-state listing on how to update a birth certificate, criticism of “autogynephilia,” criticism of The Man Who Would Be Queen by J. Michael Bailey, a digital version of a brochure on facial feminization surgery by Douglas Ousterhout, and a section on spirituality that collected Allison’s writings for the Grace and Lace Letter.
Allison and partner Margaux Schaffer performed in our 2004 all-transgender performance of The Vagina Monologues and appear in the accompanying documentary Beautiful Daughters.
Allison was instrumental in the passage of the 2008 American Medical Association policy “Removing Financial Barriers to Care for Transgender Patients” H-185.950.
Inside the conference, Rebecca Allison, MD, a transsexual and cardiologist from Phoenix, who also chairs the American Medical Associationâs committee on LGBT issues, said that the ideal solution would be to remove GID from the DSM, but retain it in the International Classification of Diseases as a âgender variance.â
The reason? So that insurance companies continue to pay for expensive medical procedures, such as hormones and surgeries. âIn a perfect world,â Allison said, âpsychiatrists would treat patients with gender variance, but not for gender variance.â
Allison was also active in Soulforce and organized Phoenix Transgender Day of Remembrance with spouse Margaux Schaffer for many years.
Jackson NC, Berlew GK (2024). âThere is Not One Shred of Evidence That [Being Trans] is Not a Divine Giftâ: Grace and Lace Letter and the Rhetorical Construction of an Evangelical Transfeminine Identity. Rhetoric Review, 43(3), 187â200. https://doi.org/10.1080/07350198.2024.2349840
American Heart Association (June 2022). Pride With Heart Ambassadors. https://www.heart.org/en/about-us/diversity-inclusion/pride-with-heart
Deutsch MB, Green J, Keatley J, Mayer G, Hastings J, Hall AM, Allison R, Blumer O, Brown S, Cody MK, Fennie K, Moscoe G, St Claire R, Stone MR, Wilson A, Wolf-Gould C (2013). Electronic medical records and the transgender patient: recommendations from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health EMR Working Group. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, Volume 20, Issue 4, July 2013, Pages 700â703, https://doi.org/10.1136/amiajnl-2012-001472
Allison RA (2010). Aligning Bodies with Minds: The Case for Medical and Surgical Treatment of Gender Dysphoria. Journal of Gay & Lesbian Mental Health, 14(2), 139â144. https://doi.org/10.1080/19359701003609872
Allison RA (2007). Transsexualism. In Fink G (ed.) Encyclopedia of Stress (2nd Edition). Elsevier, ISBN 978-0-12-088503-9
Allison RA (2007). Transsexualism. In Pfaff D, Arnold A, Etgen A, Fahrbach S, Rubin R (eds.) Hormones, Brain, and Behavior (2nd Edition). Elsevier, ISBN 978-0-12-532104-4
Allison RA (April 13, 2003). The National Academy Meets The National Enquirer. Dr. Becky http://www.drbecky.com/blog05.html [archive]
Thomas Steensma is a Dutch clinician who works with gender diverse youth. Steensma’s research and clinical guidelines are frequently cited by anti-transgender extremists who reject affirmative models of care for young people seeking trans health services.
Steensma is popular with transphobes for reporting high rates of “desistance” and “detransition.”
Thomas D. Steensma, PhD works at the Department of Medical Psychology / Center of Expertise on Gender Dysphoria, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Steensma’s research is focused on people of all ages with gender incongruence. Steensma’s primary projects focus on treatment evaluation, psychosexual development and (gender) identity development (including non-binary gender identities). Steensma studied social and clinical psychology, and is trained as a child and adolescent health psychologist.
“Desistance” research
In a 2013 paper, Steensma and co-authors stated that 63% of adolescents included in the study “desisted”:
Between 2000 and 2008, 225 children (144 boys, 81 girls) were consecutively referred to the clinic. From this sample, 127 adolescents were selected who were 15 years of age or older during the 4-year period of follow-up between 2008 and 2012. Of these adolescents, 47 adolescents (37%, 23 boys, 24 girls) were identified as persisters.
Because this is one of the highest “desistance” rates reported, anti-trans activists frequently cite this study. Critics have discussed methodological issues, particularly how to count people lost to follow-up / non-responders.
Press coverage
In 2018 KQED reported:
In Amsterdam, clinicians at the Center of Expertise on Gender Dysphoria are much more cautious about recommending social transitions because of the statistics on desistance. Thomas Steensma, a researcher and clinician at the center, acknowledges these studies probably included some kids who would not be diagnosed with gender dysphoria today. Nevertheless, despite the problems with the way they classified children, “the only evidence I have from studies and reports in the literature … is that not all transgender children will persist in their transgender identity,” Steensma said.’Why are we asking a child to conform to something that is not them because society hasn’t done its learning yet?’
In 2013, Steensma co-authored an oft-cited study that examined 127 adolescents, all of whom had displayed various levels of gender dysphoria as children. The researchers found that 80 of the children had desisted by the ages of 15 and 16. That works out to 63 percent of kids who basically stopped being transgender — a lower rate than in previous studies, but still a majority.
Some clinicians criticize this study, however, on methodological grounds, because the researchers defined anyone who did not return to their clinic as desisting. Fifty-two of the children classified as desistors or their parents did send back questionnaires showing the subjects’ present lack of gender dysphoria. But 28 neither responded nor could be tracked down.
Lane, Bernard (March 17, 2021 ). Dutch expert warns on ‘blind adoption’ of puberty blockers. The Australian https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/dutch-expert-warns-on-blind-adoption-of-puberty-blockers/news-story/d235ce6ebe409e8efde979f1ae0739cc
Research
Steensma TD, McGuire JK, Kreukels BPC, Beekman AJ, Cohen-Kettenis P.T (2013). Factors Associated With Desistence and Persistence of Childhood Gender Dysphoria: A Quantitative Follow-Up Study. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (Vol. 52, Issue 6, pp. 582â590). Elsevier BV. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2013.03.016
Comparison of surgical outcomes and urinary functioning after phalloplasty with versus without urethral lengthening in transgender men FPW de Rooij, WB van der Sluis, BL Ronkes, TD Steensma, M Al-Tamimi, International Journal of Transgender Health, 1-12 2022
P-506 Reflecting on the Importance of Family Building and Fertility Preservation: Transgender Peopleâs Experiences with Starting Gender-affirming Treatment as Adolescent N Van Mello, I De Nie, J Asseler, M Arnoldussen, T Steensma, ⊠Human Reproduction 37 (Supplement_1), deac107. 469 2022
Gender-affirmation surgery and bariatric surgery in transgender individuals in The Netherlands: Considerations, surgical techniques and outcomes WB van der Sluis, RJM Bruin, TD Steensma, MB Bouman International Journal of Transgender Health 23 (3), 355-361 2022
Differences in self-perception and social gender status in children with gender incongruence LR van der Vaart, A Verveen, HMW Bos, FB van Rooij, TD Steensma Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 13591045221099394 2022
MP20-09 COMPARISON OF CLINICAL OUTCOMES AFTER PHALLOPLASTY WITH VERSUS WITHOUT URETHRAL LENGTHENING IN TRANSGENDER MEN FPW de Rooij, WB van der Sluis, BL Ronkes, TD Steensma, M Al-Tamimi, ⊠The Journal of Urology 207 (Supplement 5), e320 2022
Self-Perception of Transgender Adolescents after Gender-Affirming Treatment: A Follow-Up Study into Young Adulthood M Arnoldussen, AIR van der Miesen, WS Elzinga, AME Alberse, A Popma, ⊠LGBT health 1 2022
Tailored Gender-Affirming Hormone Treatment in Nonbinary Transgender Individuals: A Retrospective Study in a Referral Center Cohort JB van Dijken, TD Steensma, SA Wensing-Kruger, M Heijer, ⊠Transgender Health 2022
Talking About Sexuality With Youth: A Taboo in Psychiatry? SL Bungener, L Post, I Berends, TD Steensma, ALC de Vries, A Popma The Journal of Sexual Medicine 19 (3), 421-429 3 2022
Comparison of clinical outcomes after phalloplasty with versus without urethral lengthening in transgender men FPW de Rooij, WB Van der Sluis, BL Ronkes, TD Steensma, M Al-Tamimi, EUROPEAN UROLOGY 81, S1433-S1433 2022
Negative Media Coverage as a Barrier to Accessing Care for Transgender Children and Adolescents KC Pang, M Hoq, TD Steensma JAMA network open 5 (2), e2138623-e2138623 1 2022
Genderdysforie SA Wensing-Kruger, L Nes, TD Steensma Het lichaam en psychisch functioneren, 261-277 2022
Surgical and demographic trends in genital gender-affirming surgery in transgender women: 40 years of experience in Amsterdam WB van der Sluis, I de Nie, TD Steensma, NM van Mello, ⊠British Journal of Surgery 109 (1), 8-11 1 2022
Psychological Functioning in Non-binary Identifying Adolescents and Adults NM de Graaf, B Huisman, PT Cohen-Kettenis, J Twist, K Hage, ⊠Journal of sex & marital therapy 47 (8), 773-784 5 2021
Longitudinal Outcomes of Gender Identity in Children (LOGIC): study protocol for a retrospective analysis of the characteristics and outcomes of children referred to specialist ⊠E Kennedy, C Lane, H Stynes, V Ranieri, L Spinner, P Carmichael, ⊠BMJ open 11 (11), e054895 1 2021
Transgender specific problem situations experienced during transition: Development of a Transgender Coping Questionnaire part 1 MJA Verbeek, MA Hommes, TD Steensma, AER Bos, J van Lankveld 4th EPATH Hybrid Conference: Reconnecting and Redefining Transgender Healthcare 2021
Body image in children with gender incongruence A Verveen, BPC Kreukels, NM de Graaf, TD Steensma Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry 26 (3), 839-854 1 2021
Gender incongruence and gender dysphoria in childhood and adolescenceâcurrent insights in diagnostics, management, and follow-up H Claahsen-van der Grinten, C Verhaak, T Steensma, T Middelberg, ⊠European Journal of Pediatrics 180 (5), 1349-1357 21 2021
Psychopathology in adult transgender people G Castellini, J Ristori, T Steensma European Psychiatry 64 (S1), S47-S47 2021
Reliability and clinical utility of gender identity-related diagnoses: comparisons between the ICD-11, ICD-10, DSM-IV, and DSM-5 ALC De Vries, TF Beek, K Dhondt, HCW De Vet, PT Cohen-Kettenis, ⊠LGBT health 8 (2), 133-142 3 2021
Proportion of people identified as transgender and non-binary gender in Brazil G Spizzirri, R EufrĂĄsio, MCP Lima, HR de Carvalho Nunes, BPC Kreukels, Scientific reports 11 (1), 1-7 33 2021
Protocol: Longitudinal Outcomes of Gender Identity in Children (LOGIC): study protocol for a retrospective analysis of the characteristics and outcomes of children referred to ⊠E Kennedy, C Lane, H Stynes, V Ranieri, L Spinner, P Carmichael, ⊠BMJ Open 11 (11) 2021
Sexual experiences of young transgender persons during and after gender-affirmative treatment S Bungener, ALC de Vries, A Popma, TD Steensma Pediatrics 146 (6) 6 2020
Suicidality in clinic-referred transgender adolescents NM de Graaf, TD Steensma, P Carmichael, DP VanderLaan, M Aitken, ⊠European child & adolescent psychiatry, 1-17 15 2020 Timing of puberty suppression and surgic
Steensma TD, Kreukels BPC, de Vries ALC, Cohen-Kettenes PT (2013). Gender identity development in adolescence. Hormones and Behavior, July 2013, 64(2) pp. 288-297. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yhbeh.2013.02.020
Henriette A Delemarre-van de Waal, Peggy T Cohen-Kettenis (2006). Clinical management of gender identity disorder in adolescents: a protocol on psychological and paediatric endocrinology aspects. European Journal of Endocrinology, Volume 155, Issue Supplement_1, Nov 2006, Pages S131âS137, https://doi.org/10.1530/eje.1.02231 [archive]
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Robyn Kanner is an American marketing executive and graphic designer who has worked on several corporate and political projects. Kanner created a resource project for the trans community and has published several first-person essays.
Kanner is a favorite among anti-progressives for embracing “detransition” as a legitimate term.
Background
Robyn Grace Kanner was born July 9, 1987 and grew up in Fairfield, Maine. After initially studying history at a local college, Kanner took art classes at University of Maine at Farmington and University of Minnesota. Kanner then worked as a graphic designer at several companies in Portland, Maine before moving to Boston to do graphic design at Staples and New Balance. After working on user experience design at Amazon, Kanner moved to Brooklyn and did design work for Etsy.
In 2015 Kanner and The Betsy Community Fund crowdfunded $33,000 via Kickstarter for MyTransHealth, a website and app listing gender-supportive resources. The project included co-founders Kade Clark and Amelia Gapin, but at some point Gapin left the project for unstated reasons. Their service provider directory was updated for a couple of years, until around 2018.
After working on the creative for Beto O’Rourke’s presidential campaign, Kanner worked as a creative advisor on the 2020 Biden campaign. Kanner’s work included revising Aimee Brodbeck’s campaign logo to include Kamala Harris as well as various designs within the themes of the campaign and inauguration. In 2021 Kanner founded design firm Studio Gradients and serves as Vice President of Digital at STG.
Kanner has written about struggling with alcohol and drugs. In 2010 Kanner was arrested in Farmington, Maine for driving under the influence of drugs after crashing into parked cars and a sign. Kanner got sober in summer 2018 and has described how running helps in staying sober.
When a Child Says She’s Trans (2018)
Kanner has been critical of podcasters Katie Herzog and Jesse Singal for the ways in which they have covered trans issues, especially the ex-transgender movement. Kanner has written about struggling with gender identity and has unfortunately embraced the controversial term “detransition” to describe that gender expression. In fact, Kanner’s reification of the term is one reason Herzog and Singal are so keen to put Kanner forth as a representative of the trans community.
Kanner was one of the people who published responses to Singal’s widely-criticized 2018 Atlantic piece, “When a Child Says She’s Trans.” Below are some key passages:
Singal is eager throughout his piece to stress to his readers that young people who are exploring a trans identity might not be trans. Singal notes, âSome kids are dysphoric from a very young age, but in time become comfortable with their body.â With this, Singal is attempting to provide hope to parents that their child who says theyâre trans might not be. He leaves enough doubt for you to consider gatekeeping your childâs identity. This is irresponsible.
Singal goes on to express how investigating that identity could cause harm, if adolescents begin physical transitions: âSome of these interventions are irreversible. People respond differently to cross-sex hormones, but changes in vocal pitch, body hair, and other physical characteristics, such as the development of breast tissue, can become permanent.â Here, it sounds like Singal is essentially trying to scare readers into not letting young trans people be themselves.
He implies that if you are a parent of a child who is exploring a trans identity, then you should be in a state of panic. Moreover, it behooves you, as a parent, to draw a line in the sand, marking just how far you should let your child explore their identity.
When adults prevent young people from sifting through their identity, it leads to self-harm or worse.
Thereâs something so glaringly obvious about the people Singal interviewed for his feature on detransitioning. Did you catch it? Theyâre all alive.
Kanner became a darling of anti-progressives and members of the “intellectual dark web” after comments critical of online shaming. Kanner posted a personal phone number and invited critics to call. As part of this commitment to stopping the cycle of online shaming, Kanner has spoken directly with both Singal and Herzog on podcasts despite the criticisms of their work. Podcaster Dylan Marron described Kanner’s response to Herzog’s piece “The Detransitioners” for The Stranger:
In the summer of 2017 journalist Katie Herzog wrote a piece that was widely criticized. Ultimately she found herself at the bottom of a social media pile-on. 3,000 miles east of Katie, a woman named Robyn Kanner joined that pile-on tweeting âur just trash.â In this episode, taped live in front an audience, Katie and Robyn meet onstage for the first time to discuss what happened between them, and the unlikely twist that brought them closer than they would have ever guessed.
In 2019, Kanner appeared on Singal’s podcast to discuss online shaming, but they did not go into Singal’s work or Kanner’s criticism of it. Singal claimed, “I think it would be great to have a critic of my work on the subject on my podcast at some point, whether it’s Robyn or someone else, and I’m looking into possibilities on that front because I’d like that to happen.”
Anti-trans activist Meghan Daum also praised Kanner for defending writers who have been criticized for their views:
In February of this year, Kanner was on the receiving end of the same kind of Twitter invective. Her crime: writing a New York Timesop-ed expressing compassion for Ryan Morgan, a 17-year-old Wisconsin boy profiled in a much-maligned Esquirecover story about the difficulties of growing up white, male, middle-class, and conservative (his parents support President Trump) in the era of #MeToo, MAGA and and âtoxic masculinity.â The magazine itself was criticized for the story but Morgan himself also became a target of online invective.
Bryant, Ann (January 28, 2010). Driver arrested after crashing into two parked cars. Lewiston Sun Journal
Kanner, Robyn (June 22, 2018). I Detransitioned. But Not Because I Wasn’t Trans.The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2018/06/i-detransitioned-but-not-because-i-wasnt-trans/563396/
Marron, Dylan (January 26, 2020) Episode 32: Trash. Conversations with People Who Hate Me https://podbay.fm/p/conversations-with-people-who-hate-me/e/1580101260
Olcott, Mike (February 3, 2011). Making Noise: Designer making the seen with Portlandâs best bands. Portland Press Herald
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“Kiira Triea” aka Denise Magner was an American computer programmer, hoaxer, and troll. Magner was one of the worst transgender internet trolls of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, using many fake names and accounts to attack perceived enemies.
Like many âautogynephiliaâ activists, Magner was an eccentric hoarder living in desperate poverty. Dreger and Bailey are notorious for exploiting these kinds of people, who seek validation and attention from those they see as authority figures.
Magner falsely claimed to be born as late as 1964 in published interviews and writing. Magner was born September 2, 1951.
Magner claimed to have been a patient at Johns Hopkins Gender Identity Clinic in the mid-1970s, having genital surgery at age 14. Magner was not at Johns Hopkins at age 14. Magner did not have surgery at age 14. Magner did not know or interact with unethical sexologist John Moneyâs victim David Reimer in any way. There is no independent evidence that Magner was ever even at the Johns Hopkins clinic or the Psychohormonal Research Unit. Itâs entirely possible Magner cobbled together this biography from relative Nancy Henley, who earned a Ph.D. there. Magner made countless other bogus biographical claims. Magner later tried to scrub these from the internet when the lies piled up so deep they began to contradict each other.
Magner died of cancer on November 2, 2012 at age 61.
Kiira Triea (right) with a non-transgender woman.Kiira Triea posing by a swastika.
Trolling
Magner used a multitude of aliases and sockpuppet accounts during decades of trolling. The primary ones were:
Denise Magner
Deni
Denise Tree
Kiira Triea (pronounced âKEER-uh TREEâ)
Ariika Aeirt
Janelle Laren
Reykja Kirby Sigurdson
Stephanie Alexandra Velasquez
Gisle Benediktsson
Gender critical activism
Magner has been cited as evidence by those opposed to trans rights, including an amicus curiae brief submitted to the Supreme Court:
Transgender advocates seek to expand sex to include a host of subjective criteria, such as a personâs âbrain genderâ and the child-rearing they receive,42 âsocial activities,â43 and even â[w]ho one dates.â44 One amicus asserts that gender is âfluidâ with a âcontinuous dimension of masculinity/femininityâ45 But these ideological factors cannot define what it means to be male or female.46
This was submitted by anti-trans groups that include:
The American College of Pediatricians
The Austin Institute for the Study of Family and Culture
Bailey JM, [Magner D] (2007). What many transsexual activists don’t want you to know and why you should know it anyway. Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, 50, 521â534. https://doi.org/10.1353/pbm.2007.0041
Triea K, Diamond M, Reiner WG (2009). Results from a pediatric surgical center justify intervention in disorders of sex development. J Pediatr Surg 2009 Sep;44(9):1863; author reply 1863-4. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpedsurg.2009.04.038
Note: In 2025, this site phased out AI illustrations after artist feedback. The previous illustration is here.
John Gale Kenney is an American plastic surgeon and artist who served the transgender community.
Background
John Gale Kenney was born on January 13, 1950.
Kenney practiced with Milton Edgerton and focused on surgery to repair burns and traumatic injuries. In 1984, they wrote the influential article “The bladder flap for urethral reconstruction in total phalloplasty.”
After retiring from medicine, Kenney moved to South Carolina and focused on painting.
Publications
Kenney JG, DiMercurio S, Angel M. Tissue-expanded radial forearm free flap in neck burn contracture. J Burn Care Rehabil. 1990 Sep-Oct;11(5):443-5. PMID: 2246314
Stuart JD, Morgan RF, Kenney JG. Single-donor fibrin glue for hand burns. Ann Plast Surg. 1990 Jun;24(6):524-7. PMID: 2363566
Kenney JG, Fairbanks DW, Berman DE. The dartos musculocutaneous island flap in urethral reconstruction. Ann Plast Surg. 1990 Jan;24(1):63-7. PMID: 2301886
Stuart JD, Kenney JG, Lettieri J, Spotnitz W, Baker J. Application of single-donor fibrin glue to burns. J Burn Care Rehabil. 1988 Nov-Dec;9(6):619-22. PMID: 2464603
Bardakjian VB, Kenney JG, Edgerton MT, Morgan RF. Pulse oximetry for vascular monitoring in burned upper extremities. J Burn Care Rehabil. 1988 Jan-Feb;9(1):63-5. PMID: 2965708
Stuart JD, Kenney JG, Morgan RF. Pediatric burns. Am Fam Physician. 1987 Oct;36(4):139-46. PMID: 3673860
Silloway KA, Morgan RC, Kenney JG, Edlich RF. The arcuate skin staple: its influence on pain of staple penetration and removal. Am J Surg. 1985 Nov;150(5):612-4. PMID: 4061743
Silloway KA, Morgan RF, Kenney JG, Edlich RF. Innovations in skin suture removal. Am J Surg. 1985 Jun;149(6):799-801. PMID: 4014557
Cardany CR, Rodeheaver GT, Horowitz JH, Kenney JG, Edlich RF. Influence of hydrotherapy and antiseptic agents on burn wound bacterial contamination. J Burn Care Rehabil. 1985 May-Jun;6(3):230-2. PMID: 3855197
Morgan RF, Nichter LS, Haines PC, Kenney JG, Friedman HI, Edlich RF. Management of head and neck burns. JBurn Care Rehabil. 1985 Jan-Feb;6(1):20-38. Review. No abstract available. PMID: 3916420
Edgerton MT, Gillenwater JY, Kenney JG, Horowitz J. The bladder flap for urethral reconstruction in total phalloplasty. Plast Reconstr Surg. 1984 Aug;74(2):259-66. PMID: 6540460
Keenan KM, Rodeheaver GT, Kenney JG, Edlich RF. Surgical cautery revisited. Am J Surg. 1984 Jun;147(6):818-21. PMID: 6731701
Bryant CA, Rodeheaver GT, Reem EM, Nichter LS, Kenney JG, Edlich RF. Search for a nontoxic surgical scrub solution for periorbital lacerations. Ann Emerg Med. 1984 May;13(5):317-21. PMID: 6711927
Edlich RF, Nichter LS, Morgan RF, Persing JA, Van Meter CH Jr, Kenney JG. Burns of the head and neck. Otolaryngol Clin North Am. 1984 May;17(2):361-88. Review. No abstract available. PMID: 6377194
McIntire MR, Morgan RF, Kenney JG, Edgerton MT. Postoperative protection for the external ear. Ann Plast Surg. 1983 Sep;11(3):261-2. PMID: 6638828
Archival contact information
Address: 914 E Jefferson St # 202 Charlottesville, VA 22902-5376
Phone: (434) 296-3622
University of Virginia Medical Center, Gender Identity Clinic, P. O. Box 376 Charlottesville, VA 22908 USA
John Ronald Brown was an American surgeon who served the trans and gender diverse community. Brown’s career was dogged by legal troubles related to poor patient outcomes and deaths. Nicknamed “Butcher Brown” by the trans community, Brown was imprisoned for continuing to practice medicine after losing medical licensure.
Background
John Ronald Brown was born on July 14, 1922 and died in prison on May 16, 2010.
In the 1970s, Brown and partner James Spence were offering genital surgeries in San Francisco and planned a full-service clinic for medical gender transition, but those plans fell apart in 1973.
Transgender healthcare
Brown was one of the earliest surgeons to use an informed consent model, and many of Brown’s patients had been rejected by gender clinics with strict gatekeeping for trans healthcare. Brown also performed surgeries on patients seeking other kinds of body modification that colleagues would not perform. Many of Brown’s patients were desperate or poor, and they felt Brown was their best available option or only option.
Among other procedures, Brown offered orchiectomy, a crude vaginoplasty, and illegal silicone injections. Brown’s prices were often one-tenth of the cost of going elsewhere, and patients did not have to wait two years or more as was common at the time.
The quality of Brown’s results was generally considered unacceptable, earning Brown the nickname “Butcher Brown” among our community. Community-wide warnings about Brown’s dangerous practice were one of the most organized and unified examples of trans and gender diverse consumer activism in the 20th century.
Sanctions and convictions
In 1977, Brown’s medical license was revoked following the death of a patient, citing “gross negligence, incompetence and practicing unprofessional medicine in a manner which involved moral turpitude.” Brown then began illegally operating on patients in Mexico.
In 1990 Brown was convicted and imprisoned for practicing medicine without a license. Brown began performing illegal surgeries again following release.
In 1998, Brown performed an elective leg amputation for a patient who wished to have one leg removed. After the patient died from complications, Brown was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Brown died in prison from complications of pneumonia on May 16, 2010.
Cowan, Zagria (May 19, 2017) John Ronald Brown: part II. https://zagria.blogspot.com/2017/05/john-ronald-brown-part-ii.html
Moore, Michelle. (2003, October). TG in history: Butcher John Ronald Brown. TG Community News, 19-24. http://dallasdenny.com/Writing/2013/11/01/butcher-john-ronald-brown-2002/
Ciotti, Paul (December 15, 1999). Why did he cut off that man’s leg?LA Weekly https://www.laweekly.com/why-did-he-cut-off-that-mans-leg/
Peggy T. Cohen-Kettenis was born in 1948 in Jakarta, Indonesia. Indonesia declared independence from the Dutch on August 17, 1945, and the family left in 1951 when it became dangerous for Dutch colonialists to stay, since Cohen-Kettenis’ seminal parent was a police commissioner. After arriving at The Hague, they moved to Rotterdam, then Utrecht.
Cohen-Kettenis attended Stedelijk Gymnasium Utrecht and Johan de Witt Gymnasium Dordrecht and earned a doctorate fromUtrecht University in 1973.
Professor of Medical Psychology VUmcVUmc Sep 2002 – Jul 2013
Professor UMC Utrecht Sep 1987 – Sep 2002
Nederlands Instituut van Psychologen (NIP) logo Voorzitter Sector G 1997 – 2000
Cohen-Kettenis served as Professor of gender development and psychopathology at the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University Medical Center Utrecht.
Transgender research
In 1987, Cohen-Kettenis started the first outpatient clinic in Europe for children and adolescents with gender problems and intersex conditions.
Cohen-Kettenis was a member of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health’s Standards of Care Committee and of the Task Force of the Endocrine Society Clinical Practice Guideline on the endocrine treatment of gender-dysphoric/gender-incongruent persons. She was Chair of APA’s DSM-5 GID subcommittee and member of the WHO ICD-11 Working Group on Sexual Disorders and Sexual Health.
Psychologist Peggy Cohen-Kettenis reacts less negative. She is, after reading parts of the book not surprised about the row, but âwhen Bailey says that sexual preference and gender identity are not two entirely independent dimensions, he is not necessarily wrongâ, she says.
In contrast to Bailey, Cohen-Kettenis expresses herself very diplomatic. As no other she knows the sensitivity of this terrain and the ease with which a âconflict can be created around this issueâ. The psychologist agrees that not all transsexuals are heavily gender-dysphoric in youth. She attributes the dominance of âthe woman captured in a manâs bodyâ image, to itâs endless repetition by the media.
[…] Gooren is scathing about Blanchardâs work. […] Cohen-Kettenis shares Goorenâs objections to terms like homosexual and non-homosexual transsexuals. She would rather differentiate between early and late onset transsexuals. But apart from the terminology, these groups are very similar to those of Bailey and Blanchard. Primary TSs are more often homosexual while secondary TSs usually have had straight relationships before entering treatment, Cohen-Kettenis explains. âIn the second group, during puberty cross-dressing is often paired with sexual excitement â she says. âWhen they enter treatment however, the cross dressing is very restfulâ.
Cohen-Kettenis estimates half the number of TSs are secondary TSs. Whether all secondary TSs have had a autogynephile history she cannot say. âExtreme gender dysphoria can, I think, come to be in all sorts of ways. Secondary TSs are a very diverse group. We also see people who still are autogynephile.â
Cohen-Kettenis thinks that patient care will not be influenced by this theory. TSs do not have to fear that Cohen would see autogynophilia as a disqualification for treatment. The decisive factor is the suffering of the client, and whether treatment can indeed help to relieve the pain. In this, Blanchard and Bailey agree and mention that autogynophiliacs do not have a higher rate of post-treatment regrets.
Vermij, Peter (September 27, 2003). Een man gevangen in een mannenlichaam.NRC https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2003/09/27/een-man-gevangen-in-een-mannenlichaam-7655797-a1162822 Translation: Arianne van der Ven.
Selected publications by Cohen-Kettenis
Dan J. Stein, Peter Szatmari, Wolfgang Gaebel, Michael Berk, Eduard Vieta, Mario Maj, Ymkje Anna de Vries, Annelieke M. Roest, Peter de Jonge, Andreas Maercker, Chris R. Brewin, Kathleen M. Pike, Carlos M. Grilo, Naomi A. Fineberg, Peer Briken, Peggy T. Cohen-Kettenis & Geoffrey M. Reed (2020). Mental, behavioral and neurodevelopmental disorders in the ICD-11: an international perspective on key changes and controversies. BMC Med 18, 21 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-020-1495-2
