Tina Traster vs. transgender people

Tina Traster is an American writer and anti-transgender activist. Traster’s company Broken Hearted Films produced the 2022 anti-trans propaganda piece Dead Name, which was removed from Vimeo for hateful content.

Background

Tina A. Traster was born on May 10, 1962. Traster earned a bachelor’s degree from Boston University in 1983.

Traster has written for numerous publications, including The Bergen Record, Crains New York Business, The New York Post, The New York Times, Huffington Post, The Daily Beast, The Atlantic, The Journal News, Nyack News & Views, Redbook, Family Circle, Parade, Time Out New York, Audubon, and Ski Magazine.

Traster is editor and publisher of the Rockland County Business Journal.

Traster owned the Pot Luck Tea Company, a play on the name Tina Traster Polak.

Traster was married to a British diamond dealer for about ten years before divorcing. Traster then married lawyer Richard D. “Rick” Tannenbaum (born 1961). They have children.

Traster is the author of the 2014 book Rescuing Julia Twice: A Mother’s Tale of Russian Adoption and Overcoming Reactive Attachment Disorder. Reviewer Grace Newton condemned the book:

Traster writes as if she deserves a plaque for doing simply what she promised to do through adoption – parent. The sadness of this situation is firstly for Julia, whose privacy has been completely violated. And she will never get it back. A second sadness exists for the families who are currently dealing with RAD and desperately looking for help. Stumbling on Rescuing Julia Twice in the Psychology or Childcare sections of bookstores, these families may be tempted to use Traster’s book as a handbook for their own situations instead of seeking appropriate help.
Newton (2014)

Prior to Dead Name, Traster produced the documentaries Catnip Nation and This House Matters.

Anti-transgender activism

Traster subscribes to the disputed disease “rapid onset gender dysphoria,” a controversial diagnosis favored by unaccepting parents of trans and gender diverse adolescents. Traster wrote in a piece deleted by Psychology Today: “there may be some parents who themselves are being rejected because they have not quickly or strongly supported their tween or teen through appearance and name changes, hormone-treatment, and, in some cases, life-altering surgeries.”

Traster spoke with anti-trans extremist Graham Linehan about the deleted piece.

References

Traster, Tina (November 20, 2020). Trans Kids May Reject Family, Not the Other Way Around. Psychology Today https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/against-all-odds/202011/trans-kids-may-reject-family-not-the-other-way-around [archive]

Traster, Tina (September 20, 2011). NYC Transplant Tina Traster Talks New York City Living, Marriage, and the Fear of Sleeping Alone in the Suburbs. Hudson Valley https://hvmag.com/life-style/nyc-transplant-tina-traster-talks-new-york-city-living-marriage-and-the-fear-of-sleeping-alone-in-the-suburbs/

Traster, Tina (February 3, 2017). A parent aims to decipher a teen’s transgender declaration. The Manifest Station https://www.themanifeststation.net/2017/02/03/parent-aims-decipher-teens-transgender-declaration/