Billy Burleigh is an American engineer and ex-transgender activist. Burleigh gets money and attention by making it more difficult for others to get trans healthcare.
Background
Clifton Francis “Billy” Burleigh, Jr. was born in November of 1966. Burleigh claims to have had several childhood issues, “including a speech impediment, a learning disability, and childhood sexual abuse.”
Burleigh attended Louisiana State University, earning a bachelor’s degree in 1991 and a master’s degree in 1993. After college, Burleigh had therapy for five to six years until “I told my therapist that I wanted to transition.”
Burleigh has worked as a hydraulic engineer at Motion Industries and transitioned on the job there. Around 1999, Burleigh started taking hormones, and about three years later had bottom surgery and facial surgery. During this time, Burleigh used the name Billie Frances Burleigh and worked at Belcan and Parker Hannifin.
Burleigh claims to have lived as a woman from ages 31 to 38. Around 2004, “After presenting myself as a woman for seven years, I detransitioned.” The process took about three years.
After making additional gender changes, Burleigh worked at Fluid Power Systems Consultants, Kemper Engineering Services, Teledyne Brown Engineering, Geocent, SpaceX, and ManTech.
Anti-trans activism
In 2017, Burleigh legally changed name and gender in Santa Barbara County Superior Courts.
Burleigh has gone on to be a key figure in testifying against trans healthcare at the state and federal levels:
Amicus Clifton Francis (“Billy”) Burleigh Jr.’s biography is brief, however, his personal background still brings a valuable perspective to this case. Mr. Burleigh was one of the many who contacted Mr. Heyer, regretting the decision to transition. Initially, when Mr. Burleigh first transitioned to identifying as a female, he was excited. Unfortunately, soon after the transition he felt discomfort identifying as a female, and states that, “I was better off as I was before the surgery, before the hormone treatment.” After six years of identifying as a woman, Mr. Burleigh started maturing in his relationship with Jesus and, as a result, learned the truth – that he was not female — and a desire grew in his heart to transition back to identifying as male. After seven years of identifying as a female, Mr. Burleigh underwent surgery to revert back to identifying as male.
Burleigh has been active in Lompoc Foursquare Church.
References
Astor, Maggie (May 16, 2023) How a Few Stories of Regret Fuel the Push to Restrict Gender Transition Care. New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/16/us/politics/transgender-care-detransitioners.html
Click to access gov.uscourts.ared.128159.45.27.pdf
-https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/18/18-107/113528/20190824011904782_18-107%20Amicus%20Brief%20of%20Walt%20Heyer%20et%20al..pdf
-https://trellis.law/case/17cv03328/matter-clifton-francis-burleigh-jr
-https://bels.alabama.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/2010-Agendas-Minutes.pdf
Resources
LinkedIn (linkedin.com)