Kinnon MacKinnon and transgender people

Kinnon MacKinnon is a Canadian researcher in public health and social work who specializes in “examining how gender-affirming healthcare is delivered and experienced by gender-diverse populations.”

MacKinnon is a favored source among anti-transgender activists for publishing articles on “detransition” that suggest recent regret rates are higher than previously reported rates around 1%.

Background

Kinnon Ross MacKinnon was born April 30, 1985. MacKinnon earned bachelor’s degrees at Saint Mary’s University in 2007 and at York University in 2009, a master’s degree at Ryerson University in 2011, and a doctorate at the University of Toronto in 2019, followed by postdoctorate work there.

MacKinnon began a gender transition in 2009.

In 2021, MacKinnon was appointed as Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work at York University. MacKinnon is a member of WPATH.

MacKinnon competes in powerlifting and coaches athletes with developmental disabilities. A supporter of transgender athletes, MacKinnon was the first out trans man to win a gold medal in powerlifting at the 2014 Gay Games.

“Detransition” research

MacKinnon is one of several trans people whose role in the media is to validate cisgender fantasies and beliefs about gender identity. MacKinnon gets disproportionate media coverage in anti-trans outlets that present potential regret as a reason to restrict or ban trans healthcare.

Myth: Trans activists claim that “detransition” doesn’t happen.

Cisgender belief: MacKinnon used to think regret “wasn’t a thing” but bravely broke with trans activists after reviewing data and anecdotes.

Myth: Making additional gender changes after transition is a “taboo” topic.

Cisgender belief: MacKinnon is one of the few brave trans people unafraid to tell “the truth” about this taboo topic.

Myth: Most trans people shun, abandon, and mock those who make additional gender changes after transition.

Cisgender belief: MacKinnon is one of the few brave trans people who offers empathy and support.

Myth: Science is in conflict with activism.

Cisgender belief: MacKinnon is one the the few brave scientists willing to stand up to trans activists.

Myth: Reported detransition rates can’t be as low as researchers say.

Cisgender belief: MacKinnon is one of the view brave trans people who rejects previous data as a relic. MacKinnon’s higher reported rates reflect new and better science.

Myth: Gender affirming healthcare has too little gatekeeping.

Cisgender belief: MacKinnon’s fearless research implies that the regret rate is increasing due to lowered barriers to care.

MacKinnon made news in 2022 after publishing research that found 22% of the 28 detransitioners surveyed wished they had not made gender changes. The majority (67%) of the detransitioners did not have regrets.

In 2024, MacKinnon and Pablo Expósito-Campos launched a Substack called The One Percent, to coincide with a puff piece by anti-trans activist Azeen Ghorayshi in the New York Times. The title is a reference to the published regret rate data for transgender medical transition, which MacKinnon disputes:

For decades, proponents of gender-affirming healthcare have reassured skeptics by arguing that only 1%—or less—ever regret medical interventions, turning this figure into a relic that persists into the present. Or that if it does happen (spoiler: it does), studying it risks distracting from the more important conversation about transgender rights. Or that if you do study it, you should avoid talking about what you’ve learned to the public—especially not to the New York Times!

The 1% regret rate is based on a 2018 Cornell University literature review of 27 studies totaling 7,928 surgery patients: “Pooling data from numerous studies demonstrates a regret rate ranging from .3 percent to 3.8 percent,” averaging to about 1% (or 77 patients) who reported regret. This finding was in line with a 2023 study on surgical regret which concluded: “evidence suggests that less than 1% of [trans and gender diverse] individuals who receive [gender affirming surgery] report surgical regret.”

On October 16, 2024, Lee Leveille, a whistleblower exposing the ex-trans movement, posted the following request:

Hi folks! I’m looking to hear from people – whether you id as trans, detrans, retrans or something else entirely – about their experiences and concerns surrounding Kinnon MacKinnon, the prominent trans studies researcher known for his media appearances in anti-trans pieces in Reuters, the Atlantic and the New York Times.

After fielding many private conversations I’m finally writing up how my experiences working with him as a retrans community organizer has destroyed my trust in him, and thus “detrans studies” as a whole. His public appearance on TikTok is misleading: he is not the approachable, balanced and understanding advocate he claims he is. He’s just another shitty, exploitative academic building up his career with no regard for how it impacts trans and detrans people. I know I’m not the only one who feels this way.

Got something to share? Drop me a line at thatweirdolee@proton.me. Can be completely anonymous. I am especially interested in hearing from study participants or other organizers who have worked with him directly and tried to call him in to no avail.

Selected publications by MacKinnon

MacKinnon, Kinnon (March 12, 2024). Detransition and gender fluidity: Deeper understanding can improve care and acceptance. The Conversation https://theconversation.com/detransition-and-gender-fluidity-deeper-understanding-can-improve-care-and-acceptance-225543

MacKinnon, Kinnon (February 13, 2024). The real threat to gender-diverse children is the politicization of care issues like puberty blockers and detransition. The Conversation https://theconversation.com/the-real-threat-to-gender-diverse-children-is-the-politicization-of-care-issues-like-puberty-blockers-and-detransition-223170

MacKinnon KR, Expósito-Campos P, Kinitz DJ, Bonifacio J (2024). Affirming Everyone in the Rainbow: Is Gender-Affirming Healthcare “Gay Conversion Therapy?” In HealthcarePapers (Vol. 22, Issue 1, pp. 55–62). Longwoods Publishing. https://doi.org/10.12927/hcpap.2024.27385

Valdes, Daniela; MacKinnon, Kinnon (January 18, 2023). Take Detransitioners Seriously. The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/01/detransition-transgender-nonbinary-gender-affirming-care/672745/

MacKinnon KR, Kia H, Gould WA, Ross LE, Abramovich A, Enxuga G, Lam JSH (2023). A typology of pathways to detransition: Considerations for care practice with transgender and gender diverse people who stop or reverse their gender transition. Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity. https://doi.org/10.1037/sgd0000678

MacKinnon KR, Expósito-Campos P, Gould WA (2023). Detransition needs further understanding, not controversy. BMJ (p. e073584). BMJ. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj-2022-073584

MacKinnon KR, Gould WA, Enxuga G, Kia H, Abramovich A, Lam JSH, Ross LE (2023). Exploring the gender care experiences and perspectives of individuals who discontinued their transition or detransitioned in Canada. In J. Hönekopp (Ed.), PLOS ONE (Vol. 18, Issue 11, p. e0293868). Public Library of Science (PLoS). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0293868

MacKinnon KR, Gould WA, Ashley F, Enxuga G Kia H, Ross LE 2022. (De)Transphobia: Examining the Socio-Politically Driven Gender Minority Stressors Experienced by People Who Detransitioned. Bulletin of Applied Transgender Studies 1 (3-4): 235-259. https://doi.org/10.57814/8nd4-6a89

MacKinnon KR, Kia H, Salway T, Ashley F, Lacombe-Duncan A, Abramovich A, Enxuga G, Ross LE (2022). Health Care Experiences of Patients Discontinuing or Reversing Prior Gender-Affirming Treatments. In JAMA Network Open (Vol. 5, Issue 7, p. e2224717). American Medical Association (AMA). https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.24717

MacKinnon KR, Grace D, Ng SL, Sicchia SR, Ross LE (2020). “I don’t think they thought I was ready”: How pre-transition assessments create care inequities for trans people with complex mental health in Canada. International Journal of Mental Health (Vol. 49, Issue 1, pp. 56–80). https://doi.org/10.1080/00207411.2019.1711328

MacKinnon, Kinnon (December 26, 2019). Not All Trans People Have Access To Freezing Embryos. I Am One Of The Lucky Ones. Huffington Post Canada https://www.huffpost.com/archive/ca/entry/fertility-treatment-trans_ca_5ddeebdce4b00149f728e7c0

MacKinnon KR, Ng SL, Grace D, Sicchia SR, Ross LE (2019). Protocols as curriculum? Learning health advocacy skills by working with transgender patients in the context of gender-affirming medicine. In Advances in Health Sciences Education (Vol. 25, Issue 1, pp. 7–18). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10459-019-09899-0

MacKinnon K (2018). Pathologising trans people: Exploring the roles of patients and medical personnel. Theory in Action (Vol. 11, Issue 4, pp. 74–96). Theory in Action https://doi.org/10.3798/tia.1937-0237.1826

MacKinnon, Kinnon (April 20, 2016). How Fitness Can Help Us Overcome Collective Trauma. The Advocate https://www.advocate.com/health/2016/4/20/how-fitness-can-help-us-overcome-collective-trauma

MacKinnon, Kinnon (January 29, 2016). New IOC Rules Completely Change the Game for Trans Athletes. The Advocate https://www.advocate.com/commentary/2016/1/29/new-ioc-rules-completely-change-game-trans-athletes

References

Ghorayshi, Azeen (October 26, 2024). A Trans Researcher’s Pursuit of Better Data on Detransition. New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/26/health/kinnon-mackinnon-detransition-research.html

Kirkey, Sharon (October 1, 2024). ‘How will I come back from this?’: Detransitioners abandoned by medical and trans communities. National Post https://nationalpost.com/news/young-detransitioners-abandoned

Urquhart, Evan (July 2, 2024). New Study Shows Stopping Medical Transition is Not the Same as Detransition. Assigned Media https://www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-news/research-shows-discontinuation-not-same-detransition

Urquhart, Evan (December 1, 2023). What It Actually Means to Li s ten to Detransitioners. Slate https://slate.com/technology/2023/12/trans-health-care-detransition-research-studies-new.html

Mcnaughton, Spencer; Pisoni, Hope (September 28, 2024). How the Far-Right Leverages Detransitioners Against Transgender Healthcare. Uncloseted Media https://www.unclosetedmedia.com/p/how-the-far-right-leverages-detransitioners

Serano, Julia (July 24, 2023). Spotting Anti-Trans Media Bias on Detransition. Medium https://juliaserano.medium.com/spotting-anti-trans-media-bias-on-detransition-a9a782a46894

Pomeroy, Ross (June 20, 2023). Transgender detransition is a taboo topic, but data shows it’s on the rise. Big Think https://bigthink.com/health/transgender-detransition/

Hansford, Amelia (April 12, 2023). Most detransitioners don’t stop HRT out of regret, study suggests. PinkNews https://www.msn.com/en-gb/health/mindandbody/most-detransitioners-don-t-stop-hrt-out-of-regret-study-suggests/ar-AA1kXzzv?ocid=UE12DHP

Blackwell, Tom (March 07, 2023). Canadians who reverse gender transition need better care, advocates say. National Post https://nationalpost.com/health/canada-transgender-detransitioners

Respaut, Robin; Terhune, Chad; Conlin, Michelle (December 22, 2022). Why detransitioners are crucial to the science of gender care Reuters https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-transyouth-outcomes/

Davis, Lisa Selin (September 6, 2022). The Cooptation of Detransition. Broadview https://www.broadview.news/p/the-cooptation-of-detransition

daisyf1a873efbd8 (July 29, 2024). Interview With Wren Ariel Gould and Kinnon Ross MacKinnon. Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry https://culturemedicinepsychiatry.com/2024/07/29/interview-with-wren-ariel-gould-and-kinnon-ross-mackinnon/

Mitch Kellaway (November 17, 2015). PHOTOS: Meet the First Trans Man to Win a Gay Games Gold in Powerlifting. The Advocate https://www.advocate.com/politics/transgender/2014/09/17/photos-meet-first-trans-man-win-gay-games-gold-powerlifting

University of Tornto Dalla Lana School of Public Health (August 2015). Featured Student: Kinnon Ross MacKinnon. https://www.dlsph.utoronto.ca/student-profile/mackinnon-kinnon-ross/