Genspect is a group of conservative and anti-transgender activists primarily opposed to medical consensus on healthcare for gender diverse youth. Founder Stella O’Malley is a global ringleader in anti-transgender extremism. Genspect is designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Genspect is part of an anti-trans web farm that includes:
- Genspect
- Beyond Trans
- Themis Resource Fund
- The Killarney Group
- Society for Evidence-based Gender Medicine
- Stats for Gender
- Genspect Unheard
Team
- Stella O’Malley
- Michelle Alleva
- Pamela Buffone
- Joseph Burgo
- Patrick Clarke
- Saoirse Connolly
- Vincent Deboni
- Kathleen H. Dooley
- Claire Graham
- Kathleen Goonan
- Alasdair Gunn
- Helena Kerschner
- Jessie Mannisto
- Julia Mason
- Avi Ring
- Marit RĂžnstad
- Sarah Vaci
- Sinéad Watson
- “The Anonymous Parent”
Advisors
- Sasha Ayad
- Keira Bell
- Roberto DâAngelo
- Stephanie Davies-Arai
- Marcus Evans
- Susan Evans
- Sophie Frost
- Az Hakeem
- Milli Hill
- Aaron Kimberly
- Stephen Levine
- Lisa Littman
- Michelle Mackness
- Lisa Marchiano
- Sarah Phillimore
- Rachel Rooney
- Abigail Shrier
- Jane Wheeler
2022 Wall Street Journal response
The president of the 67,000-member American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) countered a Wall Street Journal opinion piece by anti-trans activists Julia Mason and Leor Sapir:
AAP advises pediatricians to offer developmentally appropriate care that is oriented toward understanding and appreciating the youthâs gender experience. This care is nonjudgmental, includes families and allows questions and concerns to be raised in a supportive environment. This is what it means to âaffirmâ a child or teen; it means destigmatizing gender variance and promoting a childâs self-worth.
O’Malley responded to their response:
I am encouraged by the American Academy of Pediatricsâ statement in its letter that gender-affirming care âdoesnât push medical treatments or surgery; for the vast majority of children, it recommends the opposite.â Unfortunately, this is not the experience of families of gender-distressed children.
Genspect represents thousands of parents of gender-questioning children and young people around the world. We are not aware of any cases in the U.S. or Canada in which children seeking âgender-affirming careâ were not given the option of puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones.
The AAP should recognizes this fundamental point: There is no consensus and no evidence base on which to confidently declare what is âmedically appropriateâ for gender transitioning of children.
Media Matters for America has noted how writer Katie J. M. Baker of the New York Times has laundered Genspect’s anti-trans views into their publication:
The latest piece â another entry in the genre of New York Times articles that start from the premise that trans people are perhaps too accepted in society â covers âa network of internet support groups for âskepticalâ parents of transgender children, some with thousands of registered membersâ without noting that the groups are run by Genspect, an organization that opposes bans on conversion therapy and has numerous members who support banning gender-affirming care for trans people under 25.
April 2023 Ireland conference
O’Malley organized a conference in Ireland on April 27-29 2023 and featuring many anti-transgender activists.
- “Henry Wimbush” aka Michael Biggs
- Estelle Birdy
- Benjamin Boyce
- Heather Brunskell-Evans
- Joe Burgo
- Colette Colfer
- Stephanie Davies-Arai
- Laoise UĂ Aodha de BrĂșn
- Sue Evans
- Maya Forstater
- “Angus Fox” aka Alasdair Gunn
- Ritchie Herron
- Sarah Holmes
- “Jet” / eternalsamo
- Helen Joyce
- Helena Kerschner
- Lisa Littman
- Julia Mason
- Lisa Marchiano
- “Eliza Mondegreen”
- Stella O’Malley
- Lori Regenstreif
- Leonore Tiefer
- Iseult White
- Miranda Yardley
- “Michelle Alleva” aka Michelle Zacchinga
- Kenneth Zucker
Attendees included Malcolm Clark, Laura Becker, Colin Wright, Wesley Yang, Jo Bartosch, Camille Kiefel, Robin Ion, Sarah Vaci, Corinna Cohn, RĂłisĂn Michaux
November 2023 Denver conference
Scheduled participants included:
- Ben Appel
- Linda Blade
- Vernadette Ramirez Broyles
- Joseph Burgo
- Alex Byrne
- Denise Caignon
- Corinna Cohn
- Chloe Cole
- Erin Friday
- Heather Heying
- Carole Hooven
- Stephen Levine
- James Lindsay
- January Littlejohn
- Carrie D. Mendoza
- Prisha Mosley
- Stella OâMalley
- Nina Paley
- Jamie Reed
- Wilfred Reilly
- Michael Shellenberger
- Jesse Singal
- Sammy Stagg
- Shannon Thrace
- Colin Wright
- Wesley Yang
Attendees also included “in_detransit,” “Phil Illy,” “Shape Shifter,” Luka Hein, David Boettger, Julia Malott, Laura Becker, Christina Buttons, Jennifer Block, Pamela Garfield-Jaeger, Jennifer Lahl, Lisa Marchiano, Soren Aldaco, Jessie Mannisto, Leslie Elliott Boyce, and Elliot Kaminetzky.
Australia/New Zealand online event
- “An anonymous NZ doctor”
- Joe Burgo
- Margaret Curnow
- Alasdair Gunn
- Sue Middleton
- Jan Rivers
- Linde Rose
- Jillian Spencer
- Ngahuia te Awekotuku
- Simon Tegg
September 2024 Lisbon event
Scheduled speakers include
- “Eliza Mondegreen”
- “Shannon Thrace”
- Laura Becker
- Julie Bindel
- Peter Boghossian
- Andrew Doyle
- Chris Elston
- Marcus Evans
- Sue Evans
- Frank Furedi
- Andrew Gold
- Mia Hughes
- Louise Irvine
- ââBev Jackson
- Helen Joyce
- Graham Linehan
- Carrie Mendoza
- Sarah Phillimore
- Michael Shellenberger
- Lionel Shriver
- Kathleen Stock
- Bob Withers
References
Piper, Ernie (July 25, 2023). âFocus relentlessly on under 25â: Leaked chats reveal influential gender-critical groupâs plan to use children to push for bans on transitioning. Daily Dot https://www.dailydot.com/debug/genspect/
Szilagyi, Moira (August 21, 2022). Academy of Pediatrics Responds on Trans Treatment for Kids. Wall Street Journal https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/trans-gender-pediatric-aap-kids-children-care-surgery-affirm-treatment-11660942086
Drennen, Ari (February 8, 2023). The New York Times helped fuel an anti-trans panic in 2022. Will 2023 be any better? Media Matters for America https://www.mediamatters.org/new-york-times/new-york-times-helped-fuel-anti-trans-panic-2022-will-2023-be-any-better
Baker, Katie J. M. (January 23, 2023). When Students Change Gender Identity, and Parents Donât Know. New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/22/us/gender-identity-students-parents.html
-https://genspect.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Conference-Schedule-Denver.pdf https://genspect.org/the-bigger-picture-continues-denver-colorado/
Resources
Trans Data Library (transdatalibrary.org)
- Genspect
- transdatalibrary.org/organization/genspect
Genspect (genspect.org)
Genspect Unheard (genspectunheard.org)
Stats for Gender (statsforgender.org)
Beyond Trans (beyondtrans.org)
LinkedIn (linkedin.com)
Twitter (twitter.com)
YouTube (youtube.com)
Facebook (facebook.com)
Instagram (instagram.com)