Carey Callahan / Carrie Callahan-English and transgender people

Carey Callahan is an American therapist and prominent member of the ex-transgender movement. Despite being 30 years old when deciding to take hormones for nine months before stopping, Callahan was extensively featured in the 2018 Atlantic article, “When a Child Says She’s Trans” by Jesse Singal.

Callahan is also a founder of the Gender Care Consumer Advocacy Network (GCCAN), a group of activists with regrets about aspects of their gender transitions. GCCAN campaigns against current trans healthcare protocols, demanding more gatekeeping from therapists.

Callahan apparently does activism under the name Carey Callahan and works as a therapist under the names Carrie Maria Callahan, Carrie English, and Carrie Callahan-English.

Background

Carey Maria Callahan was born May 1, 1982. Callahan earned a bachelor’s degree from the The Ohio State University in 2004. After college, Callahan worked as a union field organizer, then as a counselor and educator at Marilyn G. Rabb Foundation, Lyon-Martin Health Services, and The Emily Program.

In June 2012, at age 30, Callahan came out as genderqueer and began therapy. In October 2012 Callahan began a course of bimonthly intramuscular testosterone injections. In March 2013, Callahan moved to San Francisco, but had trouble finding work. Callahan soon decided that the issue was “not a trans thing, but a trauma thing” related to past trauma, including a sexual assault in college. Callahan stopped testosterone in June 2013 and socially transitioned again about a year after that in 2014.

Callahan moved back to Ohio, earned a Master’s degree from the University of Akron in 2018, then worked at OhioGuidestone as a therapist from 2018 until May 2021. Callahan is married to lawyer James P. English (born 1977), and they are raising their child (born 2021).

In 2022 Callahan stated via email: “I sought out an affirming therapist when I should have been much more responsible about investigating the symptoms I was experiencing before seeking testosterone.”

Ex-trans activism

Callahan’s stated goal is “greater emphasis on and programming for those of us who explore but do not arrive at a trans identity.”

Callahan previously collaborated with Ky Schevers, another ex-trans activist who left the ex-trans movement because of “the role transphobic detrans communities play in organized transphobia.” In 2019 Callahan helped create Gender Care Consumer Advocacy Network (GCCAN). Callahan stated via email in part:

My focus when organizing GCCAN was on democratic decision making within the group and I wasn’t careful like I should have been about making sure Ky’s partner understood I was passing information on to the board for transparency’s sake, not trying to steer the group into supporting harmful legislation. I thought when we got the chance to vote against working with a ROGD parents group our decision making process was working. While I believe my intent and work was misunderstood, I can see how I was creating that risk.

Callahan’s email concluded, “It’s very sad to me that I wasn’t able to do more to steer detrans people away from being used as pawns.”

In 2019 Callahan spoke on a panel organized by anti-trans extremist organization Women’s Liberation Front (WoLF). The panel also included moderator Traci Nally and gender critical panelists Corinna Cohn and Nina Paley. Callahan discussed a 2017 USPATH presentation and a similar canceled presentation at Philadelphia Trans Wellness Conference. Callahan criticized informed consent and pediatric transition, promoted ex-trans media like Pique Resilience Project, and directed attendees to a since-deleted article titled “Advice for gender dysphoric teens” that contained links to other recommended ex-trans resources.

In 2023 Callahan testified in opposition to Ohio House Bill 68, a proposed law banning gender affirming healthcare for minors (the “Saving Adolescents from Experimentation (SAFE) Act”) and banning transgender athletes competing in sex-segregated sports in Ohio high schools, colleges, and universities (the “Save Women’s Sports Act”). Callahan’s testimony concluded:

“I am begging you to stop attacking trans healthcare and trans people. I am begging you to stop referencing detransitioners such as myself as a justification for attacking trans healthcare and trans people. You aren’t protecting children from becoming a detransitioner like me. You are exiling good people from our state, traumatizing kids and families, and working hard to make Ohio a less safe place to raise kids. You are doing real harm to me personally, to my neighbors who live a cul de sac up, to the lovely trans kids I know, to the lovely discerning kids I know, to the doctors and therapists who have put in the years of education and experience to improve people’s quality of life. Please drop this misguided experiment and use your elected positions to help Ohioans live good lives. Thank you.”

Ohio House Bill 68 passed in 2024, banning gender affirming care for minors.

References

Ford, Zack (February 7, 2018). ‘I was enraged to see my story distorted and used’: Detransitioners object to anti-transgender book. ThinkProgress https://archive.thinkprogress.org/detransitioner-ryan-anderson-transgender-25fad9803c2e/

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/

Callahan, Carey (December 18, 2018). Advice for gender dysphoric teens. [deleted – archive] https://mariacatt42.medium.com/advice-for-gender-dysphoric-teens-9a3e34a2e5ba Resources recommended:

Crash (crashchaoscats.wordpress.com) [deleted – archive] aka ex-trans whistleblower Ky Schevers
23 (twentythreetimes.tumblr.com) [deleted – archive]
Detransition Sister (detransitionsister.com) [deleted – archive]
Butch Coming Home (butchcominghome.wordpress.com) [deleted – archive]
Retransition / Joel Nowak (retransition.org) [abandoned – excluded from archives] [archive]
Detransition Info (detransinfo.tumblr.com) [inactive – archive]
Cari (guideonragingstars.tumblr.com) [inactive – archive]
Permutational (permutational.tumblr.com) [inactive – archive]
New Thought Crime (newthoughtcrime.com) [inactive – archive]
Redress (redressalert.tumblr.com) [private – archive]
Max (b0rnwr0ng.wordpress.com) [private, directs to gumroad.com/wearethecatfish]
Tejuina (tejuina.tumblr.com) [private – archive]

Callahan, Carey (December 3, 2019). Gender identity is hard but jumping to medical solutions is worse. The Economist https://www.economist.com/open-future/2019/12/03/gender-identity-is-hard-but-jumping-to-medical-solutions-is-worse

Callahan, Carey (May 24, 2023). Witness Testimony of Carey Callahan (Opponent). House Bill 68 Committee Activity (PDF) https://search-prod.lis.state.oh.us/cm_pub_api/api/unwrap/general_assembly_135/chamber/135th_ga/ready_for_publication/committee_docs/cmte_h_pub_health_policy_1/testimony/cmte_h_pub_health_policy_1_2023-05-24-0930_557/hb68_callahan_opponent.pdf

Parks, Casey (December 27, 2023). Her story fueled anti-trans bills. Now, she’s fighting them. Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/12/27/ohio-transgender-carey-callahan-detransitioner/

Media

Carey Callahan (June 6, 2013). Carey Callahan: Wanderlust. Bawdy Storytelling https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tS6sYGmkzQ

Nicolas Pollock, Brian Jimenez, Ashley Bloom Kenny, Kasia Ciepak-Mayr von Baldegg (2018). Detransitioned: The Lives of Carey Callahan. The Atlantic

[alt title] Reversing a Gender Transition
[alt title] ‘I Wanted to Take My Body Off’: Detransitioned

https://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/562988/detransitioned-film/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6V0p3_bd6w

Benjamin Boyce (December 2, 2018). On Transition, Activism, & Therapy, with Carey Callahan. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XJAyUiY_tM

WoLF, Carey Callahan, Traci Nally, Corinna Cohn, and Nina Paley (March 26, 2019). Does sex matter? Gender Identity vs Material Reality. WLRN Live Stream https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RguD61siLB8

Zachary Elwood (December 23, 2021). Could gender identity theory itself be creating more gender dysphoria?, with Carey Callahan. The People Who Read People psychology podcast https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dqabc-1VVPM

Tong, Scott (January 3, 2024). Why one Ohio therapist changed her mind about gender-affirming care for kids. Here & Now Anytime https://www.npr.org/2024/01/03/1196978922/here-now-anytime-draft-01-03-2024