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Chiara Caignon-Lewis and transgender people

Chiara Caignon-Lewis is an American “ex-transgender” activist and a founder of ex-trans website Pique Resilience Project. Anti-trans activism is a family business: Chiara’s parent Denise Caignon is also heavily involved in anti-transgender extremism as owner of the website 4thWaveNow.

Aliases include:

  • “Chiara Canaan”
  • “Rachel Miller”

Caignon-Lewis claims the transgender rights movement is “nothing more than misogyny disguised as progressive feminism.”

Background

Chiara Lucia Marie Caignon-Lewis was born August 12, 1997 in Santa Cruz, California to Denise Caignon and Tim Lewis. Caignon-Lewis stated, “I was dysphoric because my father sexually abused me as a child” and because of “my internalized homophobia.”

Denise and Chiara Caignon-Lewis moved to North Carolina. In 2013, at age 16, Caignon-Lewis became an ordained youth minister, then came out as transgender shortly after turning 17. Caignon-Lewis had already come out as lesbian and was dating as one, but an incident at school resulted in few friends in real life. Caignon-Lewis turned to online communities, claiming that popular trans users on Tumblr and YouTube led to a multi-year obsession with transition:

Had I not been exposed to the cultish mindset of Tumblrā€™s transactivists at a vulnerable phase of my life, I would not have become absorbed by a desire to permanently change my body.

Caignon-Lewis’ coming out involved texting a link to a gender clinic with no other details. Being forbidden to take medical transition steps caused Caignon-Lewis to have many family fights. At the height of the fighting, Denise Caignon got heavily involved with posting anti-transgender materials online at 4thWaveNow and elsewhere.

In 2015, Caignon-Lewis graduated from Chapel Hill High School and was sent to a Florida horse farm for nine months. Caignon-Lewis says the desire to transition subsided after that without taking any legal or medical steps. Denise and Chiara have since teamed up to be the most high-profile family in the modern ex-trans movement.

Caignon-Lewis sometimes performs music locally and has had a string of service jobs in the Triangle area, including at insightsoftware, bartaco, Orangetheory Fitness, Stoney River Steakhouse, and Perry’s Steakhouse & Grille.

Caignon-Lewis has been riding horses since age two, got a Selle FranƧais cross mare named Tupelo Honey in 2011, and has been involved in competitive jumping and dressage with Honey in North Carolina and at FenRidge Farm in Florida. A self-described “huge horse nerd,” Caignon-Lewis was active on several online platforms, posting about horses and dressage in addition to identity issues (most of which was deleted). Since 2016, Caignon-Lewis has operated a part-time business called Novation Sporthorse, offering training, lessons, and marketing of sales horses.

Caignon-Lewis and three other ex-trans activists created the Pique Resilience Project in 2019 and disbanded in 2020, allegedly because two of the members stopped dating each other.

References

Kennedy, Dana (May 11, 2022). Anguished parents of trans kids fight back against ā€˜gender cultā€™ trying to silence them. New York Post https://nypost.com/2022/05/11/meet-the-parents-of-trans-kids-fighting-gender-cult/

“Williams, Grace” (February 27, 2019). A grand conspiracy to tell the truth: An interview with 4thWaveNow founder & her daughter Chiara of the Pique Resilience Project. 4thWaveNow https://4thwavenow.com/2019/02/27/a-grand-conspiracy-to-tell-the-truth-an-interview-with-4thwavenow-founder-her-daughter-chiara-of-the-pique-resilience-project/

Williams, Grace (February 19, 2019). A grand conspiracy to tell the truth: An interview with 4thWaveNow founder & her daughter Chiara of the Pique Resilience Project. 4thWaveNow https://4thwavenow.com/2019/02/27/a-grand-conspiracy-to-tell-the-truth-an-interview-with-4thwavenow-founder-her-daughter-chiara-of-the-pique-resilience-project/

[McCann, Charlie] (1 September 2018). Why are so many teenage girls appearing in gender clinics? The Economist https://www.economist.com/united-states/2018/09/01/why-are-so-many-teenage-girls-appearing-in-gender-clinics

  • Canaan, Chiara (2018). [response to Economist piece] https://chiaracanaan.tumblr.com/post/177791904093/why-are-so-many-teenage-girls-appearing-in-gender

Buddhist Peace Fellowship (1997). Turning Wheel. “Born on August 21, to TW associate editor Denise Caignon and her husband Tim Lewis: Chiara Lucia (Clear Light!)”

Media appearances

Caignon-Lewis and parent Denise Caignon have both spoken with Benjamin Boyce about their anti-trans activism.

Benjamin Boyce (February 22, 2019). Detransition & Self Acceptance | with Chiara. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fCOVjhZ3VI

Benjamin Boyce (August 14, 2020). Detrans Stories: Taking the Reins | with Chiara. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B05NuuduPro

Pique Resilience Project (September 27, 2019). Dagny & Helena Interview Chiara. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQPQ191LbSQ

Resources

Open Ministry (oministry.com)

LinkedIn (linkedin.com)

Pique Resilience Project (piqueresproject.com)

YouTube (youtube.com)

X/Twitter (x.com)

Tumblr (tumblr.com)

chiaracanaan

https://chiaracanaan.tumblr.com/post/177791904093

I was interviewed for this magazine recently (Iā€™m ā€œRachelā€), and have been pleasantly surprised at the positive response so far.

I was dysphoric because my father sexually abused me as a child until I learned to associate womanhood with fear and shame, and I was dysphoric because I am a lesbian, but my internalized homophobia jumped at the option of being a straight man instead.

Had I not been exposed to the cultish mindset of Tumblrā€™s transactivists at a vulnerable phase of my life, I would not have become absorbed by a desire to permanently change my body.

Reverb Nation (reverbnation.com)

WordPress (wordpress.com)

Soundcloud (soundcloud.com)

Quora (quora.com)

Myspace (myspace.com)

Pinterest (pinterest.com)

Novation Sporthorse (novationsporthorse.com)

YouTube (youtube.com)

Facebook (facebook.com)