Skip to content

Brianna Wu biography

Conservative transgender media figure Brianna Wu began getting actively involved in transgender politics in late 2024. This biography supplements an overviewr of Wu’s life and career, and it focuses on Wu’s personal life in childhood through young adulthood.

Wu grew up in a wealthy conservative family. Wu has described a painful and traumatic childhood filled with deeply internalized shame and feelings of inadequacy about being trans. Those feelings have continued into adulthood. In 2024, Wu said, “There is no one that understands what a surgically hacked-together Target knock-off version of womanhood I am more than me.”

After making a gender transition between 2006 and 2008, Wu was not forthcoming about being trans for the next 15+ years, “talking around” the subject rather than acknowledging it. In September 2024, Wu finally acknowledged being trans due to concerns about the political climate in the United States. Wu was motivated to come out to promote transmedicalism and transsexual separatism: “Those of us who are medically transitioning need a smarter, more pragmatic voice in public policy.”

Birth and family

Brianna Walker Flynt was born on July 6, 1977, according to University of Mississippi records obtained through the National Student Clearinghouse. A 2015 self-published biography states Wu was “born in West Virginia,” a statement repeated in The Nation in 2019. On , Wu posted a redacted image of a Virginia birth certificate:

  • Name of registrant: Brianna Walker Flynt
  • Date of birth: [redacted]
  • Sex: Female
  • Maiden name of mother: [redacted]
  • Age of mother: 27
  • Mother’s place of birth: Mississippi
  • Name of father: [redacted]
  • Age of father: 28
  • Father’s place of birth: Mississippi
  • Date record filed: [redacted]

Adoptive parent Joel Ray Flynt, a Navy veteran, OG/GYN, and entrepreneur, was born in October 1948. Adoptive parent Laura W. Flynt was born in September 1949 and earned a bachelor’s degree in microbiology from University of Southern Mississippi in 1973. At the time of Wu’s birth, Joel Flynt was serving in the Navy at Naval Regional Medical Center in Portsmouth, Virginia. In 1980 Flynt’s adoptive parents returned to Hattiesburg, Mississippi, where Joel Flynt opened The Women’s Clinic of Hattiesburg that year with a friend. Brianna Wu grew up with two younger siblings, Margie and Warren, who are biological children of Wu’s adoptive parents. Wu reportedly does not have information about either birth parent.

Wu has described both parents as “conservative religious extremists.” In 2019, Wu said, :I was adopted into a family of extremely right-wing republicans who were hyper-political. I grew up on a diet of Rush Limbaugh, Fox and others to a ridiculous degree. My father was a lieutenant commander in the navy — he used that career to break away from a life of poverty in Mississippi — and so my family had the kind of politics you would expect of someone from Mississippi of that generation. Therefore, I always had that interest in politics, but it was around the time that, frankly, George Bush started sending my friends off to die in Iraq — that really changed me.”

Wu became intensely interested in Japanese comics, animation, and video games in adolescence. Wu was especially interested in Sailor Moon, later creating a website dedicated to villains from the series. Wu’s parents also indulged Wu’s interest in LEGO blocks, cars, and computers with lavish gifts and state-of-the-art devices:

One Christmas, my mother gave me $1,000 to buy a PS1 Net Yaroze development kit. My deeply religious parents rarely understood my interests, but they always supported them financially. I became obsessed with uncovering the secrets of developing a game, trying to figure out how to bring the girls I had been drawing since I was eight into the digital worlds of Terra, Celes, and Rydia.

Coming out revelations

In a lengthy 2024 coming out video, Wu describes a painful and traumatic childhood filled with deeply internalized shame:

  • as a child, Wu reportedly knew something “was deeply wrong with me”
  • reportedly screamed at barbershop over haircuts
  • reportedly tried to commit suicide by electrocution at age 5
  • reportedly ashamed when separated by gender in kindergarten
  • mother reportedly would say “boys don’t do that” about feminine interests like cooking, makeup, high heels
  • reportedly mocked for speech and gestures: mom said “don’t do that”
  • Wu’s childhood takeaway: “I get the message: I’m a freak”
  • reportedly would try out for girl’s part in plays at Bible school
  • reportedly would sing pop songs quietly in room
  • reportedly at a playdate with a boy, the boy’s sibling had Barbies, and Wu played with sister instead. next day, the boy tells everyone at school
  • Wu reportedly decided “the only way to be safe is to be alone”
  • Wu said, “I was sullen, I had anger issues, I was weird, I was undersocialized. […] It didn’t just damage me, it damaged my relationships with everyone around me”
  • Wu was reportedly especially unpleasant to sister out of jealously
  • Wu describes the effect of “male socialization”: “I leaned into every bit of it: anger, arrogance… I’m sure I was entirely unpleasant to be around. […] I played a big part in the loneliness I felt”
  • art was reportedly a big coping mechanism – Wu would reportedly erase all the art after drawing it
  • reportedly kept Barbie comics under bed, with a favorite of a wedding dress
  • Wu said, “when I was 12, suicidal feeling really got to me” – reportedly made practice cuts on wrist
  • at age 12 Wu reportedly found 1969 book Transsexualism and Sex Reassignment by transphobic psychologists John Money and Richard Green at University of Southern Mississippi, and was “relieved to finally know what I am”
  • Wu said, “When I hit puberty, I could not make any sense at all out of my sexuality. I thought girls were the prettiest thing in the entire world, but the thought of being with them sexually, just felt – I don’t have a better workd for this – it felt really gay: ‘Hi Elizabeth. Your hair looks so pretty tosay. Would you like to go on a heterosexual date with me?'”
  • Wu recalled a formative moment at age 17 watching a 1994 My So-Called Life episode featuring Angela and Jordan’s first kiss: “fireworks exploded in me. […] I started to get these really intense crushes on boys… I was so ashamed of how badly I wanted those things.”
  • Wu described suicidal thoughts: “It’s so hard to overstate how much I wanted to die in those years… I can still taste the gun oil from by dad’s .38 pistol, which I stole one time and put in my mouth”
  • Wu reportedly “started stealing my mom’s hrt”
  • Wu said, “I never really crossdressed after puberty because it just made me sad at how disgusting my body was. It made gender dysphoria like a billion times worse”
  • “I was in so much pain I couldn’t function academically”
  • Wu reportedly went to therapists but did not bring up trans issues, and therapists did not explore it
  • Wu said, “An older guy at church was interested in me and was very touchy. One day he corners me in the back of the church and just starts touching me. I did manage to run away. Nothing more happened, but it was very traumatizing.”
  • Got first “girlfriend” at 14 years old – more like friend
  • Wu said, “In college I made a world class attempt to drink myself to death and do every drug I could get my hands on. […] When I was doing drugs, I didn’t have to think about the men I was experimenting with.” Wu reportedly overdosed and nearly died, then went to rehab and got clean: “With that clarity, I finally got the courage to transition.”
  • Wu explained not being forthcoming about being trans: “I never wanted my career focus to be on that, one of the hardest things I’ve ever gone through.”
  • Wu said, “There is no one that understands what a surgically hacked-together Target knock-off version of womanhood I am more than me. I don’t need you to tell that to me all the time. As incomplete and painful as this feels, it is the best life I’m ever going to have for myself. So I would ask you to have compassion for people like me.”
  • Wu added, “I’m not certain I am a woman. That’s more of a philosophical question where I don’t do very well. But I am really certain that I can’t function in life as a man.”
  • Wu addressed trans viewers: “To all trans people out there, and especially my sisters: I love you. We share an experience and a profound pain we don’t even need words to see and recognize in one another.”
  • Why she came out now: “Those of us who are medically transitioning need a smarter, more pragmatic voice in public policy.”

Education

Main article: Education

Wu falsely claimed to have a college degree on many occasions. Wu sporadically attended college at University of Mississippi and Millsaps College between 1996 and 2006. Although students typically earn a bachelor’s degree after 8 semesters, Wu dropped out without earning a degree from either school after attending college for 12 or 13 semesters over the course of a decade.

  • Wu attended K-12 schools in the Hattiesburg Public School District
  • Wu reportedly had to repeat 7th grade
  • Wu attended Hattiesburg High School, graduating in 1995
  • Wu took over a year off before first attending University of Mississippi on August 19, 1996
  • Wu left University of Mississippi in 1997 after two or three semesters
  • Wu transferred to Millsaps College in Spring 1998
  • Wu left Millsaps College after two semesters, following the Fall 1998 semester
  • Wu founded animation studio Socially Unconscious Productions in early 1999
  • Wu attempted to produce an animated feature titled The Cracker based on the masculine self-insert from the Socially Unconscious comic
  • Socially Unconscious Productions ceased all operations in early 2000
  • Wu returned to Millsaps College for two semesters in Spring and Fall 2000
  • Wu dropped out again and moved to Washington, DC to work in Republican fundraising
  • Wu’s parents dissolved Socially Unconscious Productions in 2002 after receiving no payments on $170,000 in loans
  • Both parents sent Wu to rehab for drug addiction in 2002
  • Wu returned to University of Mississippi in Fall 2003, attending for six semesters
  • Wu was listed as a senior in the 2006 Ole Miss Yearbook
  • Wu dropped out of University of Mississippi for the second time without earning a degree on July 29, 2006

Pre-transition career

Wu reportedly worked for several Republicans between 1997 and 2002, either as an intern or as a fundraiser.

Wu founded Socially Unconscious Productions in 1999, which failed in a year and defaulted on $170,000 in loans from Wu’s parents.

Wu reportedly experienced a head injury in 2002 (some claim state 2003) while living in Washington, D.C. Wu has described this as a bike accident and as a mugging and said resulted in being “handicapped” and led to memory issues.

Gender transition

Wu discovered the transgender erotic fiction site FictionMania in 1998 and consumed its content for 8 years. Wu has stated the site led to a delay in transition. Wu was also active on Susan’s Place, a site with forum, chat, and blog options. Wu was removed as a Susan’s Place chat moderator following conflicts with other members.

Wu began taking steps toward a gender transition in the mid-1990s and started hormones on February 14, 2006. After dropping out of college for good later that year, Wu was reportedly estranged from both parents. After losing their financial support, Wu moved to Colorado and reportedly lived with a group of other trans people at the home of Connie Place (1946–2007).

A May 25, 2008 Blogspot entry said:

I’ve been arranging this surgery for the better part of a year. I’d rather not talk about my medical health in direct terms on LJ, but I will say it’s major, involves internal invasive surgery and is going to hurt like hell. It will take me at least 8 weeks to get back to work, and at least 12 to feel close to normal.

So, that’s been the last week of my life – an emotional rocketship to the moon.

I want to thank everyone that responded to Frank Wu’s calls for donations for this. The finances have been my biggest worry, and thanks to the help of family and friends I’ve gotten the better part of things arranged. I can’t begin to communicate how much the support means to me.

A June 6, 2008 Blogspot entry said:

I’ve just suffered the worst 3 days of my life recuperating from this radical surgery to correct a long-standing birth defect to my urinary tract. I imagined that the pain would be a 7 out of 10, but it’s definitely been a 10 out of 10. It’s been constant stabbing pain all through my pelvic structure all day long for days now. There’s been persistent 101 degree fever, but that seems to have broken for good now.

Following transition, Wu was involved in many media projects and podcasts and made many media appearances while maintaining an extensive digital footprint.

After getting involved in the Gamergate controversy, Wu got involved in politics, running for Congress twice, founding Rebellion PAC, and working for Progressive Victory. In April 2025, Wu expressed interest in another bid for political office pending results of voice surgery.

For many years, Wu was not forthcoming about being trans, eventually explicitly coming out in late 2024.

References

Wu, Brianna (October 29, 2024). “My birth certificate says female…” https://x.com/BriannaWu/status/1851295051860574314/ [includes redacted Virginia birth certificate image showing birthplace as Portsmouth, Virginia] [archive]

Schofield, Austin J, (December 5, 2019). Brianna Wu challenges Lynch in primary. Whitman-Hanson Express https://whitmanhansonexpress.com/brianna-wu-challenges-lynch-in-primary/

Knibbs, Katie (March 13, 2017). Brianna Wu Wants to Play a New Game. The Ringer https://www.theringer.com/2017/03/13/tech/brianna-wu-running-for-congress-in-2018-gamergate-8c824275f4c8

Obituary (August 27, 2010). Chrysteen Flynt. https://www.colonialchapelmageemendenhall.com/obituary/693975

Colonial Chapel (August 2010). Chrysteen Flynt, November 26, 1910 – August 27, 2010. https://www.colonialchapelmageemendenhall.com/obituary/693975

White, Joe (2003). An Oral History with Chrysteen Warren Flynt. Mississippi Oral History Program https://www.schgs.net/uploads/7/1/5/1/71512201/flynt_chrysteen_1217_part_5_..pdf [archive] children: Sandra Kay Flynt (born 1944) Evelyn Diane Flynt (born 1946), Joel Ray Flynt (born 1948)

Simpson County Historical and Genealogical Oral History Project (April 13, 2003). https://www.schgs.net/uploads/7/1/5/1/71512201/flynt_chrysteen_1217_part_5_..pdf