Gerald Posner is an American writer, plagiarist, and anti-transgender activist.
Anti-transgender activism is a family business; Posner’s spouse Patricia Denise Levene “Trisha” Posner (born March 10, 1951) is also involved in the anti-transgender movement.
Background and plagiarism
Gerald Leo Posner was born May 20, 1954 in San Francisco. Posner’s parent Jerry was raised Jewish and was a shipping executive. Posner’s parent Gloria L. Posner was Catholic, and Posner was raised Catholic.
Posner attended St. Ignatius College Preparatory and earned a bachelor’s degree from University of California, Berkeley in 1975. Posner earned a law degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 1978. Posner practiced law until 1986.
Posner’s books include:
Mengele: The Complete Story (1986)
Warlords of Crime: Chinese Secret Societies: The New Mafia (1988)
Hitler’s Children: Sons and Daughters of Leaders of the Third Reich Talk About Their Fathers and Themselves (1991)
Case Closed: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Assassination of JFK (1993)
Killing the Dream: James Earl Ray and the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. (1998)
Motown: Music, Money, Sex and Power (2003)
Why America Slept: The Failure to Prevent 9/11 (2003)
Secrets of the Kingdom: The Inside Story of the Secret Saudi-U.S. Connection (2005)
Miami Babylon: Crime, Wealth, and Power–A Dispatch from the Beach (2009)
God’s Bankers: A History of Money and Power at the Vatican (2015)
Pharma: Greed, Lies, and the Poisoning of America (2020)
Posner was Chief Investigative Reporter for The Daily Beast, until resigning over serial plagiarism charges in 2010. Posner’s excuse at the time was:
in the quick turnaround I then obviously lost sight of the fact that it belonged to a published source instead of being something I wrote.
Posner (2010)
It later emerged that The Daily Beast was the tip of the iceberg. Posner’s books also had extensive instances of plagiarism, most notably Miami Babylon. Author Frank Owen demonstrated in court filings that Posner plagiarized liberally from Owen’s 2003 book Clubland. Via the Miami Herald, a publication that was also one of Posner’s many plagiarism victims:
Earlier this week, Posner, who holds a law degree, told The Associated Press that a flawed research methodology caused him to put passages from Clubland in Miami Babylon without proper credit. Last month, Posner quit as chief investigative reporter of The Daily Beast after a Slate.com writer noted several instances in which Posner used material from Miami Herald articles.
In 2013, Posner was named in a complex federal lawsuit brought by Harper Lee, author of To Kill A Mockingbird, against Posner’s book agent Samuel Pinkus. Via Vanity Fair:
Filed in New York District Court, the suit names Pinkus, his wife, former TV-news writer Leigh Ann Winick, and Gerald Posner, a Miami-based attorney and investigative journalist with a questionable reputation, as defendants. […]
When Posner filed the incorporation papers of Philologus Procurator, Inc., [PPI] in 2011, he was digging out from a journalism scandal. In February of the previous year, he had resigned as chief investigative reporter of the Daily Beast Web site following allegations of serial plagiarism. Later that same year, he was sued for copyright infringement by the Miami writer Frank Owen, who charged Posner with such pervasive plagiarism in his book Miami Babylon from Owen’s book about Miami, Clubland, that, as Owen said in his lawsuit at the time, Posner should be “eligible for the Guinness Book of World Records for copyright infringement.” (The lawsuit was settled out of court.)
By the end of 2012 it seemed Posner wanted out. He filed an amendment stating that he was no longer associated with PPI: “As of December 31, 2012, Sam Pinkus is the full and only owner of all shares of this corporation.”
Posner was later dismissed with prejudice from Lee’s suit, and the case was ultimately settled.
Posner and spouse are officers of the non-profit Antisemitism Watch, Inc, a Florida Domestic Non-Profit Corporation filed on November 22, 2022. Miami DJ Oren Nizri is also an officer.
Anti-trans activism
In 2023, Posner joined his wife in attacking healthcare for transgender children and adolescents. In a Wall Street Journal opinion piece about “transgenderism,” he criticized the legal off-label use of puberty blockers to halt unwanted puberty.
As an example of how Posner spins things, he mentions that puberty blockers are FDA approved to delay puberty, but he claims it is only for “a rare childhood disease caused by a genetic mutation.” He deliberately avoids saying “precocious puberty” because it undermines his entire thesis.
Delaying puberty, including in trans children and adolescents, is usually done to appease parents in addition to helping young people experiencing unwanted puberty. Most gender diverse youth (at least 19 in 20 in one study) continue transition, and many would prefer to go directly to hormones without delay. Posner concludes:
Ignoring the long-term dangers posed by unrestricted off-label dispensing of powerful puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, combined with the large overdiagnosis of minors as gender dysphoric, borders on child abuse.
If a minor wants to halt unwanted puberty for whatever reason, and their family and healthcare provider agree after weighing the potential risks and benefits, that option should be available to all Americans.
Shafer, Jack (February 5, 2010). Plagiarism at the Daily Beast.Slate https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2010/02/plagiarism-at-the-daily-beast-gerald-posner-concedes-lifting-from-the-miami-herald.html
Shafer, Jack (February 8, 2010). More Posner Plagiarism.Slate https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2010/02/case-reopened-reviewing-new-examples-of-plagiarism-by-the-daily-beast-s-gerald-posner.html
Shafer, Jack (February 11, 2010). The Posner Plagiarism Perplex.Slate https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2010/02/making-sense-of-the-blog-statement-by-former-daily-beast-reporter-gerald-posner.html
Rothaus, Steve (Mar 20, 2010 ). Authors confront each other amid book scandal. Miami Herald https://www.miamiherald.com/living/article1935676.html [archive]
Staff report (February 28, 2010). Gloria Posner. San Francisco Chronicle https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/sfgate/name/gloria-posner-obituary?id=21926876
Elfrink, Tim (May 10, 2020). Posner Plagiarizes Again. Miami New Times https://www.miaminewtimes.com/2010-05-20/news/posner-plagiarizes-again/ [archive]
Seal, Mark (August 2013). To Steal* a Mockingbird*?Vanity Fair https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2013/08/harper-lee-dispute-royalties
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (2013). Lee v. Pinkus et al. (1:2013-cv-03000) https://dockets.justia.com/docket/new-york/nysdce/1:2013cv03000/411469 https://www.sdnyblog.com/files/2013/07/13-Civ.-3000-2013.05.03-Complaint.pdf
Posner, Gerald (June 7, 2023). Opinion: The Truth About ‘Puberty Blockers.’Wall Street Journal https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-truth-about-puberty-blockers-overdiagnosis-gender-dysphoria-children-933cd8fb
Louise Perry is a British writer and anti-transgender activist.
Background
Louise M. “Lulu” Perry is based in London. Perry grew up in a left-leaning household with a younger sibling. Perry studied anthropology and women’s studies at the SOAS University of London [School of Oriental and African Studies]. Perry published a fashion blog called Make Do On Trend. Perry’s early career involved working in a rape crisis center.
Perry has written for the New Statesman, the Daily Mail, The Critic, UnHerd, and Quillette.
Perry’s debut book, The Case Against the Sexual Revolution: A New Guide to Sex in the 21st Century, was published by Polity.
Perry is the Press Officer for the campaign group We Can’t Consent To This, documenting women allegedly killed during “rough sex.” Perry is also the Research Director and Co-founder of think tank The Other Half.
Perry is married and has one child.
Anti-transgender activism
Perry frequently promotes anti-transgender views in publications. Perry came to believe in college that “it was completely impossible to say anything critical about trans activism in public.” That was the “first domino” that led Perry to radical feminism.
Perry left the rape crisis center after they began serving all people who had experienced sexual assault.
References
Balls, Katy (September 23, 2022). The Louise Perry Edition. The Spectator https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcast/the-louise-perry-edition/
Perry, Louise (June 22, 2022). Why the gender wars become so extreme.New Statesman https://www.newstatesman.com/quickfire/2022/06/gender-wars-trans-critical-activists-become-extreme
Perry, Louise (October 2020). The real facts of life.The Critic https://thecritic.co.uk/issues/october-2020/the-real-facts-of-life/
Perry, Louise (September 18, 2020). The Dishonest and Misogynistic Hate Campaign Against J.K. Rowling. Quillette https://quillette.com/2020/09/18/the-dishonest-and-misogynistic-hate-campaign-against-j-k-rowling/
Perry, Louise (November 6, 2019). What Is Autogynephilia? An Interview with Dr Ray Blanchard. Quillette https://quillette.com/2019/11/06/what-is-autogynephilia-an-interview-with-dr-ray-blanchard/
Sall Grover is an Australian writer, app developer, and anti-transgender activist. Grover founded giggle, a networking app designed to exclude transgender women.
Background
Sally “Sall” Grover was born on October 11, 1984. Parent Rob Grover is a real estate agent. After attending Bond University, Grover then moved to Hollywood.
In 2011, Emma “Em” Jensen and Sall “Face” Grover published a blog called The LA Team, chronicling their experiences in Los Angeles. Their story was optioned by Gold Circle Films and developed as Sex on the First Date. It was never produced.
For eight years, Grover lived in Los Angeles, writing and pitching: “It was a horrible life.” Grover then moved to Brooklyn and lived with a group of women.
Grover has since returned to Australia as a freelance copywriter and screenwriter for Screen Queensland and Be Media. Grover operates Wadd Holdings Pty Ltd.
Grover had a child in 2022 named Isabelle Lily.
Anti-transgender activism
In 2019, Grover set up Giggle For Girls Ltd Pty. Grover then fundraised and developed a networking app “for females.” The app used facial recognition and other techniques to exclude people, including trans woman Roxanne Tickle:
On 3 March 2022, Giggle’s lawyers at the Feminist Legal Clinic responded to the complaint, saying Tickle was “considered male” based on her appearance in the selfie and that this was why she had been removed.
Grover described Tickle as a “trans identified male” in a social media post less than three weeks later. Grover was represented by Katherine Deves.
In 2022, Grover protested a Medicare form that used the term “birthing parent.”
Podcast
In 2022, Grover released 15 episodes of The Giggle Podcast. Guests included many key anti-trans activists in Australia.
Anonymous guests
“UPenn Swimmer”
Twitter account NoSelfIDinQLD
Critic of gender-affirming group acon (AIDS Council of New South Wales)
Patten, Dominic (February 7, 2013). Walt Becker To Direct ‘Sex On The First Date.’Deadline Hollywood https://deadline.com/2013/02/walt-becker-sex-on-the-first-date-wild-hogs-directing-424849/
John McWhorter is an American linguist and anti-transgender activist. McWhorter’s first public foray into discussing trans issues was banned by YouTube for violations of their hate speech policies.
Background
John Hamilton McWhorter V was born on October 6, 1965 in Philadelphia. McWhorter’s parents were both educators. McWhorter earned a bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University in 1985, a master’s degree from New York University, and a doctorate from Stanford University in 1993. McWhorter taught at Cornell University from 1993 to 1995 and at University of California, Berkeley from 1995 to 2003. McWhorter then joined the conservative Manhattan Institute. In 2008 McWhorter took a teaching position at Columbia University.
Views on trans issues
McWhorter has made a case for singular they as a gender neutral pronoun.
In 2023, McWhorter and Glenn Loury had anti-transgender activist Mark Goldblatt on to discuss Goldblatt’s transphobic book I Feel, Therefore I Am: The Triumph of Woke Subjectivism. YouTube removed the episode for violation of their terms of service.
McWhorter stated:
We are supposed to reform our sense of what a man and a woman are. And I think any idiot knows that there is a biological business with the chromosomes. Nobody’s going to deny that.
When Loury asked about transgender youth, McWhorter said:
My gut sense is that we’re allowing people to make decisions like that too early. I haven’t thought deeply about it because the topic is so disturbing and frightening and doesn’t apply to me just yet, but my sense is that we need to consider that people are not mentally mature until they’re about 25.
And of course the counter argument is that, “Yes, but by then certain things are already irreversible.” And I would say, “Well maybe that’s the way it has to be.” That’s my gut sense of it.
And in general, the recreational ease with which one can be called “transphobic” these days is something that I am radically opposed to, as one might predict.
Regarding evolving use of the terms man and woman, McWhorter differed from Goldblatt:
But I must admit, once again I’m the weird one here because I can’t… maybe it’s probably because I’m a linguist and I study language change… I can’t quite get what’s wrong with the fluidity of those terms in our modern times.
McWhorter later related a story about speaking with a trans woman:
About eight years ago, I was at a thing, and there was somebody who was talking to me at a certain length, knew some of my work. This was somebody who was certainly born with a Y chromosome, and needed a bit of a shave, and was speaking in a voice higher than what would be normal, and I’m sure this person was used to speaking that way, but that’s not how their voice would have come out if you woke them up in the middle of the night. And this person had long hair and was wearing a nice summer dress and high heels, and this person thought of themselves as a woman. And of course, a part of me, being somebody born in 1965, was thinking, “This is a man acting like a woman.” I can’t help thinking it. But this person thought of themselves as a woman. And I thought my job is to open my mind to the idea that this person is a woman, although this person shaves, this person– the past is clearly obvious, but this is a woman. You’re saying that I should’ve thought. “This person on that score needs help.”
Goldblatt made a case that trans people are deluded and mentally ill, and that refining and updating terms like man and woman involve forcing others to “deny reality.”
Loury reuploaded the episode to Substack after the hate speech violation.
References
McWhorter, John (April 30, 2013). The Royal They.The New Republic https://newrepublic.com/article/112896/tyranny-pronouns-fighting-singular-they
McWhorter, John (September 4, 2018). Call Them What They Wants. The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/09/the-new-they/568993/
Peter Gajdics is a Canadian writer and anti-transgender activist.
Background
Peter Gajdics was born and raised in Vancouver. After undergoing “conversion therapy” in his 20s, he became a vocal opponent of the practice. He is the author of the 2017 book The Inheritance of Shame: A Memoir.
Anti-transgender activism
Rather than acknowledge that we all face the same coercive “therapies” from hateful psychologists, Gajdics complained in Quillette that the “trans rights lobby” had co-opted the movement to end conversion therapy.
Kathleen Hayes is an American writer and anti-transgender activist. Hayes believes the trans community is a “cult.”
Background
Hayes bas born in ~1968 and attended University of California, Berkeley. While there she joined the Spartacus Youth League, a revolutionary communist organization that espoused Trotskyist philosophies. Via Washington Post:
Kathleen Hayes, a Berkeley alum now working with the Spartacus Youth League, pauses from her task of passing out copies of the Workers Vanguard newspaper. She finds the disc disgusting: “The idea that the university that tried to squelch free speech is now putting up a monument to free speech is priceless. This is hypocritical. We know they can run anyone whose views they don’t like off campus.”
She said in 2022,”Since quitting in 2016, I’ve devoted myself to trying to better understand how and why so many leftists—including myself all those years—imbibe and express antisemitism.”
Hayes earned a master’s degree at Birkbeck, University of London, in 2020. Her thesis was ‘Marxism, the “Jewish Question” and the Holocaust: The Spectre Behind Contemporary Left Antisemitism.’
Her essay ‘Antisemitism and the Left: A Memoir,’ was published in Fathom in 2021. At the time, she planned to work toward a doctorate.
Anti-transgender activism
In 2022 she presented a paper titled ‘Punch a TERF’ and ‘Smash the Zionists’: Misogyny and Antisemitism in the Contemporary Western Left:
Authoritarianism thrives on a dialectic of love and hate. Lonely, spiritually thirsty people in a fragmented modern world turn to authoritarian groups and movements not only for a sense of belonging and meaning, but what they experience as love. The exquisite comradeship the authoritarian group provides can only be enjoyed against another group, one deemed righteous to hate. That authoritarianism invariably fosters prejudice was best understood by the Frankfurt School, who noted that ‘the authoritarian must [their emphasis], out of an inner necessity, turn his aggression against out groups’. They also found authoritarians hated predictable clusters of groups: their typical rightwing antisemitic subject also hated black people, foreigners and gays and had retrograde views about women.
Today many of the same illiberal, authoritarian ‘progressives’ who spew antisemitism support a misogynist rampage in the form of transactivism. Much as anti-Zionist vitriol is really directed against all Jews, transactivists’ threats against ‘TERFs’ implicitly target all women. Both campaigns are driven by perverse claims about ‘privilege’. For the authoritarian left, (‘Zionist’) Jews and (‘cisgender’) women are ‘oppressors’, so hating them is not only just, but obligatory. Race—the suggestion that both groups are ‘white’—plays an essential role. The contemporary struggle against antisemitism therefore calls for also grappling with the threatening, bizarre, overtly anti-materialist offensive occurring on the terrain of gender.
She posted a similar piece in Quillette titled “Gender Ideology’s True Believers.”
Boudreau, John (July 28, 1992). Up against the scrawl.Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1992/07/28/up-against-the-scrawl/1d731e33-1992-486c-b299-d60786510ada/
Bernard Lane is an Australian writer and anti-transgender activist. Lane has written for anti-trans platforms including The Australian, MercatorNet, Quillette, and Substack.
Background
Lane earned a bachelor’s degree from UNSW in 1984.
Anti-transgender activism
Lane worked at The Australian from 1991 to 2022. While there, Lane created a dedicated section to attack transgender people.
In 2022 Lane began self-publishing the anti-transgender Substack Gender Clinic News.
In 2024 anti-trans psychiatrist Mikael Landén leaked a pre-publication paper by Sallie Baxendale to Lane. Baxendale’s academic literature review reflected Landén’s view that puberty blockade should be strictly controlled because of unknown risks, particularly cognitive effects. Baxendale then complained in anti-trans publication UnHerd, including a piece about how the literature review written by Baxendale was rejected by three journals as well as accepted by Acta Paediatrica. Baxendale claimed, “it wasn’t the methods they objected to, it was the actual findings.” Of the rejection reasons that Baxendale shared, all were about the obvious bias of the author and the stigmatizing potential from how the material is tendentiously presented.
References
Lane, Bernard (March 15, 2022). New media outlet examines the evidence for ‘gender medicine.’ MercatorNet https://mercatornet.com/new-media-outlet-examines-the-evidence-for-gender-medicine/78051/ [archive]
Konstantin Kisin is a Russian-British podcaster and anti-transgender activist. Kisin gets money and attention by attacking the trans community, especially gender diverse children.
Konstantin Vadimovich Kisin was born on December 25, 1982 in the former Soviet Union and grew up in the United Kingdom after Kisin’s family emigrated there in 1994.
Beginning around 2016, Kisin began performing on stage at numerous venues. In 2018, Kisin was invited to perform at a Unicef fundraiser at London’s School of African and Oriental Studies. Kisin refused to sign a behavioural agreement requiring that controversial topics be covered in a respectful and non-abusive way.
Kisin’s 2019 show Orwell That Ends Well played at Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Kisin and Alina Kisina (born January 21, 1983 in Ukraine) were married on November 28, 2003. They have a child, Nikolai Kisin, born May 12, 2022.
Kisin is author of the 2022 book An Immigrant’s Love Letter to the West.
Anti-trans activism
Kisin and Foster founded the hard-right podcast TRIGGERnometry in 2018. In 2020 they co-founded Avian Appreciation Limited in the UK.
Kisin and Foster have platformed over 100 of the world’s most notable anti-trans activists and gender critical public figures.
In anti-trans publication Quillette, Kisin complained about alleged mistreatment due to the podcast:
Even though my co-host is an old school leftie and I’m a centrist with a strong libertarian bent, we’ve been banned from comedy clubs and lost friendships in the industry over our “right-wing podcast.”
We’ve interviewed people about the evolutionary origins of racism, the biological differences between men and women, the gender pay gap, populism, capitalism, socialism, communism and much else besides, but nothing has made us pariahs quite like defending free speech.
I have probably met and interviewed more transgender people, gender-critical feminists, detransitioners and people engaged in the “trans debate” than almost anyone. In preparation for these conversations, I’ve read extensively about the origins of gender ideology, the medical realities of transition and the ideological underpinnings of this emerging phenomenon.
There is no such thing as 'gender-affirming care for minors'.
The correct term is 'cutting bits off confused children'.
— Konstantin Kisin (@KonstantinKisin) May 29, 2023
References
McCubbin, Kelly (February 11, 2023). Konstantin Kisin Is Taking You for a Ride.Medium https://medium.com/@MightyMicroscope/konstantin-kisin-is-taking-you-for-a-ride-8796ec59ff11
“Vera Lindner” is the stage name of Penka Kouneva, a Bulgarian-American composer and anti-transgender activist. Kouneva is a producer of the 2023 anti-trans film No Way Back, directed by Laura VanZee-Taylor. As producer, Kouneva is responsible for including convicted sex offender David Arthur Kendall as one of the ex-trans activists featured.
Prior to engaging in anti-trans activism, Kouneva worked on the trans-created Matrix franchise and has done orchestration for the Oscars, many video games, and many science fiction media projects.
Background
Penka Dinkova Kouneva (Пенка Динкова Кунев) was born February 25, 1967 in Sofia, Bulgaria. Kouneva came to the US in 1990 to attend Duke University, earning a doctorate in 1997. In 2000 Kouneva moved to Los Angeles and brought several family members over.
Kouneva married musician Daniel M. Schweiger on August 29, 2004. Schweiger is a writer for assignmentx.com, buzzine.com, filmmusicmag.com, and Venice Magazine. Schweiger writes liner notes and has a composer podcast called On the Score.
They have one child born in 2006. Kouneva has stated, “The defining experience of my early 40’s was the birth of my daughter,” which came at a creative crossroads.
Kouneva is sometimes credited as Penka Kouneva-Schweiger. Because their child is likely a beneficiary of the Schweiger & Kouneva Living Trust, it’s likely not possible for their child to share any opinions that contradict Kouneva’s.
Kouneva has released several albums and has been involved in composing and orchestrating many projects. Kouneva frequently collaborates on orchestration with composers who include Steve Jablonsky, Nathan Barr, Don Davis, and Hans Zimmer.
Selected video games
Kouneva has created work for Atari, Activision, Blizzard, EA, Microsoft, Sony, Steam, Ubisoft, among others.
Enter the Matrix (2002)
World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria (2005) & Legion (2016)
Call of Duty 3 (2006)
Transformers: The Game (2007) & Revenge of the Fallen (2009)
Gears of War 2 & 3 (2008 & 2011)
The Sims 3 (2009)
Prince Of Persia: The Forgotten Sands (2010)
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty (2010) & Heart of the Swarm (2013)
Dragon Age II (2011)
Kinect Disneyland Adventures (2011)
Diablo III (2012)
Overwatch 1 & 2 (2016 & 2022)
Selected film and television
Kouneva has created work for Disney, DreamWorks, Lionsgate, New Line, Paramount, Regent, Sony Pictures, and Warner Bros., among others.
The Matrix Reloaded (2003)
Hostel (2005 & 2007)
Transformers (2007)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (2016)
The Oscars (2020)
Anti-transgender activism
Kourneva became an anti-trans activist at the height of the 2020 pandemic lockdowns. Kouneva’s teenage child, who had previously come out as lesbian, came out as trans and asked to be referred to by a new name and masculine pronouns.
Kourneva was radicalized after reading the anti-trans book Irreversible Damage by Abigail Shrier.
Kourneva found a lesbian therapist, who affirmed the teen, much to Kourneva’s dismay. Kourneva refused their child’s requests for a binder and dietary supplements. Kourneva learned that the therapist suggested that Kourneva’s child speak with the family’s health insurance company about coverage for trans healthcare. That is when Kourneva pulled their child from therapy and left Los Angeles to have their child to volunteer on a farm. Concerned about losing custody because of these anti-trans views, Kourneva came up with a strategy:
What I had to do is show love, support, and kindness without affirming the delusion. Without affirming the ideology, and drawing a very clear boundary that you’re loved, you’re safe, but we will do absolutely nothing medical until you are 18.
In order to engage in anti-trans activism without having it connected to a lucrative career, Kouneva created the alias “Vera Lindner.”
Kouneva also uses the fictitious business name “Panacol Productions dba PKS, Inc.” PKS stands for “Penka Kouneva Studios, Inc.,” a California corporation Kouneva created in 2018. Under the Panacol banner, Kouneva produced the 2023 anti-trans film No Way Back.
The press release for the film was put out by Panacol and lists Kouneva as contact:
Eckerling, Debra L (August 3, 2018). Penka Kouneva Scores With Video Games.Jewish Journal https://jewishjournal.com/culture/arts/236837/penka-kouneva-scores-video-games/
American Federation of Musicians Local 47 (afm47.org)
Stephanie Winn is a conservative American therapist and anti-transgender activist associated with the ex-transgender movement. Winn collaborated with sex offender David Arthur Kendall on promoting the 2023 anti-trans propaganda project No Way Back. Winn is an associate producer on the project.
This close association with someone convicted of sex crimes against minors makes Winn a poor therapeutic choice for parents with minor children.
If you are trans or gender diverse, do not go to Winn under any circumstances at any age. If you are a minor forced to see Winn, try to end the sessions and find supportive local resources. Your parent or guardian will want to know about Winn’s poor judgment and unsavory associations.
Stephanie Winn and convicted sex offender David Arthur Kendall discussing their anti-trans propaganda project, later renamed No Way Back
Background
Winn earned a diploma in Ayurveda from the Ayurveda Institute of America in 2005. In 2007 Winn earned a teaching certification from Yoga Works and took courses at Santa Monica College. Winn earned a bachelor’s degree from University of California, Santa Cruz in 2009 and a master’s degree from California Institute of Integral Studies in 2013. While studying, Winn worked as a tutor and an administrative assistant.
Winn was a counselor for Albany Unified School District in 2012 to 2013, then did intakes at Casa de la Vida in Oakland from 2013 to 2014. In 2015 and 2016 Winn was a therapist at Native American Rehabilitation Association of the Northwest, Inc. (NARA). In 2016 Winn joined Western Psychological & Counseling Services as a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT). Since 2020, Winn has been a LMFT at Real Talk Therapy PDX in Portland, Oregon.
Winn also hosts the podcast You Must Be Some Kind of Therapist.
