“Christina Buttons” is the pen name of Christina Berry, an American writer, former sex worker, illustrator, and anti-transgender activist who wrote articles for anti-trans publication The Daily Wire until 2023. Berry joined the anti-trans Manhattan Institute in 2024.
Background
Christina “Tina” Berry is reportedly “from a small town in Alabama” and grew up in the San Diego area.
Berry stated, “I received many diagnoses throughout my life, the most recent being Asperger’s syndrome at age 30.” Starting in middle school, Berry felt ostracized and reported the following problems that required therapy:
body dysmorphia
dermatillomania
insomnia
obsessive-compulsive habits
self-cutting
anorexia
major depressive disorder
trips to “emergency rooms, psychiatric hospitals, outpatient programs, and group homes”
monotone voice
“limited eye contact”
“flat affect”
“stumbling while walking and almost falling”
âa large number of atypical perceptual experiencesâ
“social immaturity”
“significant inflexibility in her thinking”
“difficulty identifying feelings”
“tendency to express emotions indirectly and impulsively”
“emotionally disturbed”
drug and alcohol use
groomed and raped at age 15 by a 47 year old
“After running away from two lower-security residential treatment facilities, flunking out of a wilderness program in Idaho, and several more psychiatric hospital stays, I arrived at my final destination: a lockdown psychiatric residential treatment center in Utah called Provo Canyon School, where I would live for a year.”
After returning home and getting a GED, Berry moved in with a romantic partner and began doing sex work. As a young adult, Berry appeared in pornography as “Rita Lovely” and “Cute Courtney.”
Berry worked at Moonbow Publishing as a contract illustrator, which began a turning point away from some of these earlier self-destructive behaviors.
Anti-transgender activism
Berry stated, “I became a journalist after discovering the stories of detransitionersâstories that deeply resonated with my own struggles with mental health and identity.”
Berry plans to continue this anti-trans work with a book titled The Parent’s Survival Guide to Gender Ideology and a website genderdebunked.com.
In 2024, Berry joined the Manhattan Institute, which led to revelations about Berry’s work in hardcore pornography.
Over the course of this activism, Berry began a relationship with anti-trans activist Colin Wright.
2023 Daily Wire resignation
Berry covered transgender issues for The Daily Wire, switching to “Christina Buttons” after starting. In 2023, Berry resigned from The Daily Wire over its increasingly inflammatory anti-trans rhetoric, particularly that of Matt Walsh and Michael Knowles:
Iâm leaving The Daily Wire. I work hard getting the facts right and using precise language because of the heated nature of the gender debate, with so much at stake, while their pundits dump gasoline all over it for entertainment and clicks.
As an independent journalist I will continue my commitment to factual and rigorous reporting on gender ideology and pediatric gender medicine, with the goal of reaching people across the political spectrum. You can help support my journalism by donating.
Iâve already begun receiving inquiries from left-wing publications to see if Iâll give them dirt. As a company, The Daily Wire is a fantastic place to work, they treat their employees extremely well, their editorial team is top notch and everyone I have ever interacted with there is wonderful. I am leaving because I want to reach people on the center-left and lately Iâve felt there has been a distinct increase in inflammatory rhetoric from some of The Daily Wireâs personalities that make it more difficult to accomplish that.
Why? I didnât misrepresent their views. They made extremely controversial public statements, doubled down on them, and I left so that I could express my opinions on them. My loyalty is to the people who are trying to improve the situation with gender medicine, not inflame it.
I would never use the word transgenderism to describe gender ideology. It was either a sloppy choice from not having done enough research or it was intentionally meant to inflame. Most people believe that being transgender is the same as being gay. Thatâs why I expend so much energy trying to inform people on why âgender identityâ has no biological basis. Furthermore, âeradicatingâ gender ideology completely from all aspects of life is not realistic, nor attainable and amounts to conservative virtue signaling. We have to be specific about what âgender identityâ ideology is, where it came from, what the tenets are, where it should not be taught (K-12) or accommodated (sports, prisons, etc) otherwise you drive mass hysteria. Most reasonable people would agree with all of these points if they were given the opportunity to have them be explained.
I know her from college. This girl was and very likely still IS seriously troubled. She had a few break downs in front of us all at a classmates’ home, like people saw her do incredibly inappropriate shit that I will not repeat here out of respect for her. She then went on to do porn for a while (not kidding), then decided she wanted to move to Europe and got married to a Swiss dude only to dump him and run back home..THEN she reappeared wanting to be a microbiologist (or some kind of scientist) then moved on to illustration…my point with saying all of this is that she’s a lost grifter, clinging to anything that will get her love, admiration, and attention. I feel bad for her honestly, because she was always so sweet and kind… but not that bad anymore since she decided to align herself with fascists. I thought she was ok up til now. Bummer.
“Buttons, Christina” (March 12, 2025). The Tragedy of Yarden Silveira.City Journal https://www.city-journal.org/article/yarden-silveira-death-transgender-surgery-complications
“Buttons, Christina” (December 10, 2024). Crazy is You or Me, Amplified.Buttons Lives https://www.buttonslives.news/p/crazy-is-you-or-me-amplified
“Buttons, Christina” (March 7, 2023). Why Iâm Leaving The Daily Wire.Reality’s Last Stand https://www.realityslaststand.com/p/why-im-leaving-the-daily-wire
Berry, Christina (September 7, 2022). Alabama Nonprofit Fighting Underage Gender Treatments Says Theyâre Being Targeted By âUnprecedentedâ DOJ Subpoena. Daily Wire https://www.dailywire.com/news/alabama-nonprofit-fighting-underage-gender-treatments-says-theyre-being-targeted-by-unprecedented-doj-subpoena [archive]
Berry, Christina (September 6, 2022). Nearly 1 In 4 Democratic Voters Believe Men Can Get Pregnant: Poll. Daily Wire https://www.dailywire.com/news/nearly-1-in-4-democratic-voters-believe-men-can-get-pregnant-poll [archive]
Patrik Vankrunkelsven is a Belgian physician, politician, and anti-transgender activist.
Vankrunkelsven is affiliated with the Belgian Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine (CEBAM). Vankrunkelsven was an invited speaker at a 2023 conference organized by anti-trans hate group Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine.
Background
Patrik Jules Maria Vankrunkelsven was born on May 2, 1957. Vankrunkelsven earned a doctorate in 1982 and had been associated with Catholic research university Katholieke Universiteit Leuven [KU Leuven] ever since.
Vankrunkelsven was mayor of Laakdal from 1994 to 2006. During that time, Vankrunkelsven was president of the Volksunie [People’s Union] from 1998 until shortly before it was dissolved in 2001. After briefly aligning with Sociaal-Liberale Partijl [SPIRIT], Vankrunkelsven served as a senator from Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten [VLD] from 2007 until 2011.
Vankrunkelsven then left politics to focus on academia.
Anti-trans activism
Vankrunkelsven and spouse Marleen Finoulst are the driving force behind CEBAM, founded in 2013.
Vankrunkelsven is a prominent Belgian critic of gender affirming care for minors.
Vankrunkelsven believes that “Puberty blockers are a trap that traps children, preventing them from having a chance to change their minds.”
Vankrunkelsven P, Casteels K, De Vleminck J (2025). Opinion: How to Provide the Best Care for Young People with Gender Dysphoria [Hoe kunnen we de beste zorg geven aan jongeren die te maken hebben met genderincongruentie?]. Belgian Journal of Paediatrics, 27(1), 35â38. https://www.belgjpaediatrics.com/index.php/bjp/article/view/340
Patrick Healy is an American journalist involved in anti-transgender coverage at the New York Times. Healy served as Deputy Editor of the Opinion section during its anti-transgender coverage crisis of the 2020s.
No transgender journalist has appeared on the New York Times masthead since its founding in 1851. As of 2023 there were no trans journalists on staff, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. At the same time, Healy helped beef up anti-trans staff, including bringing in David French.
Background
Patrick Durham Healy was born on August 31, 1971 to Carol Ann Higginbotham Healy (1936â2023) and Gerald T. Healy, Jr. (1934â2021). Healy has an older sibling and grew up gay in a conservative Catholic household. Healy earned a bachelor’s degree from New York University in 1990, and a second bachelor’s degree from Tufts University in 1993.
After reporting in local New Hampshire papers, Healy wrote for the transphobic Chronicle of Higher Education from 1994 to 2000. From 2000 to 2004, Healy wrote for the Boston Globe, then joined the New York Times in 2005.
After about ten years as a political correspondent, Healy held editor roles in the Culture, Politics, and Opinion sections. Healy reports to anti-trans ringleader Kathleen Kingsbury as well as to Charlotte Greensit.
Healy has made television appearances as guest host of The New York Times Close Up with Sam Roberts on NY1 News and as an analyst on CNN.
Healy married physician assistant Raymond Alejandro “Ray” Delgado on October 1, 2022.
Schindler, Paul (July 26, 2006). That Darn New York Times.Gay City News https://gaycitynews.com/that-darn-new-york-times/
Staff report (April 8, 2005). The Mayor Gets Sound Advice, But Will He Pay Attention to It? The Quotidian / New York Civic http://www.nycivic.org/QLIST/050408.html [archive]
Scocca, Tom (January 24, 2005). Off the Record.New York Observer https://observer.com/2005/01/off-the-record-75/
Jennifer Block is an American writer and anti-transgender activist. Block is a central figure in 21st-century media attacks on trans healthcare.
Block is an embedded reporter with anti-trans hate groups like Genspect, attending their events and laundering their extremist views into mainstream media.
Overview
Block believes that US medical consensus about care for trans and gender diverse youth is a scandal in the making. As similar bigots in media did in the late 1970s, Block keeps rewriting the same FUD propaganda piece and selling it to different outlets. The 1979 backlash eliminated healthcare options for many trans people that took four decades to reverse, and Block is at the forefront of this new backlash against our children.
Block’s work focuses on several anti-transgender positions:
disease models of gender diversity, especially “gender dysphoria”
supporting strict gatekeeping of trans healthcare via centralized government control, developed under nationalized heath systems (so-called âgender clinicsâ) in the 20th century
the “rapid onset gender dysphoria” (ROGD) disease model: “More adolescents with no history of gender dysphoriaâpredominantly birth registered femalesâare presenting at gender clinics.”
disproportionately amplifying outliers and bad outcomes: Andrew Martinez (suicide) and Chloe Cole (ex-trans movement)
Jennifer Lori “Jen” Block was born on November 22, 1976 to surgeon Leonard Block (born 1948) and Roberta Block (born 1947). Block has two siblings. Block’s parents divorced, which may explain Block’s animosity toward the medical establishment.
Block earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Boston University in 1998. Block held editorial roles at Ms. magazine, Plenty, Our Bodies, Ourselves, and The OpEd Project.
Block’s articles and commentary have appeared in The BMJ, The Washington Post Magazine, Newsweek, The Cut, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, Pacific Standard, The Baffler, and Type Investigations (formerly The Investigative Fund at the Nation Institute).
Block is author of Pushed: The Painful Truth About Childbirth and Modern Maternity Care (2007) and Everything Below the Waist: Why Health Care Needs a Feminist Revolution (2019).
“Mommy bloggers” and their fans are especially susceptible to anti-transgender radicalization and social contagion. Block thanks fellow anti-trans extremist Lisa Selin Davis in the acknowledgements for Pushed.
BMJ article series, 2023â
In 2023, Block was commissioned to write an investigative piece for the BMJ. The resulting piece was deeply slanted toward the views of conservative clinicians and anti-transgender activists.
An accompanying video featured conservative therapists Laura Edwards-Leeper and Erica Anderson, and gender-affirming endocrinologist Joshua Safer.
Supporters
Anti-trans activist Helen Joycesaid of Block’s article: “Fantastic article, and so important that it appears in BMJ.” Anti-trans organization Rethink Identity Medicine Ethics also liked the piece.
It was also liked and shared by several of Block’s peers, including Sean CW Korsgaard, Liz Highleyman, Mark Tighe, Sonia Gallego, Michael Marshall (@m_c_marshall), Kevin Bass, Vinay Prassad, Dr. Dina McMillan, Milli Hill, Julia Mason, Moti Gorin, Charlotte Schubert, and Benjamin Ryan.
The staff at The BMJ issued a statement:
The BMJ believes in investigative journalism as a force for change. Over the past decade, our investigative journalism has unearthed research fraud and misconduct, prompted improvements in the transparency of clinical research, led to changes in guidelines and clinical practice, and triggered parliamentary inquiries.
High quality investigative journalism requires time to research, gather evidence, and ask questions. Developing in-depth stories is expensive, and we actively seek external funding to help expand our efforts. Current no-strings funding comes from Arnold Ventures and William McGuire. Past supporters include the European Commission and Open Society Foundations. In 2022, we hope to expand our impact through crowdfunding. If you would like to support us, please contact Head of Journalism Rebecca Coombes.
We retain editorial independenceâthe freedom of editors to make decisions without interference from any fundersâfor all content that is produced and published; all decisions are taken strictly within the editorial structures of the journal.
The Association of LGBTQ+ Doctors & Dentists (GLADD), Pride in Surgery Forum, and the British Medical Association all published criticisms of the piece.
British Medical Association deputy council chair Emma Runswick said:
We have recently written to the BMJ, which is editorially independent, to challenge its article âGender dysphoria in young people is risingâand so is professional disagreementâ and express our concern, that alongside criticisms made by LGTBQ+ organisations such as GLADD and neurodivergent doctors, in our view, it lacks equality, diversity and inclusion awareness and patient voice. That the article has been used by transphobic lobby groups around the world is of particular concern to us.
2023 Twitter responses
Block was very unhappy about being called out for bias, posting a number of times on Twitter about this alleged mistreatment, suggesting any criticism is an attack on journalism.
February 27
Since my @bmj_latest piece on care for gender dysphoria in minors, some are curious about my background. I’ve been reporting on contested areas of medicine for 20 years. I wrote a book about the gap between evidence and routine practice in maternity care (still quite large!).
Politicization gets people no closer to evidence-based maternity care either, and I’d argue it hampered work toward expanding rights and reducing maternal mortality. In states that have advanced birth justice, it’s the result of red/blue folks accepting they have a common goal.
I see dismissing any clinician or researcher who has concerns about the best treatment for kids/adolescents in the face of inconclusive evidence as “anti-trans” as an attempt to silence important conversation and debate. I hope my piece is contributing.
FWIW, the organizer of the AAP rally I spoke with, who directed me to video footage, is a lifelong coastal democrat. You can’t just smear every person with concerns RE treatments, or the concerns themselves, as “anti-trans.” At least I’m not going to be baited into that tautology
TLDR: Dear reporters, don’t report on transgender medicine. Don’t be curious about detransition or medical disagreement. Label the above anti-trans. Quote children of all ages rather than research. Cover “trans joy rather than the ‘difficult’ questions.”
March 5 [referring to anti-trans media figure Michael Knowles saying transgenderism must be eliminated.
THIS is anti-trans–and violent and inhumane. Reporting on disagreement and unknowns in medical practice for children with gender dysphoria is not. Both the trans community and journos can condemn such rhetoric and support open exchange of info & dialogue to support Rx decisions
This is in response to an opinion piece by trans journalist Katelyn Burns.
[referring to https://nbcuacademy.com/trans-kids-journalism/#.ZAIfHq868m8.twitter]
OK, this was a snarky tweet. But it’s a serious issue. A certain corner of journalism is conflating necessary, important reporting on the issue of medical treatment for kids with transphobia. I read this piece as saying “look over here, don’t look over there.” That’s advocacy.
Maybe @transscribe is not familiar with my recent piece looking into the evidence base for treatments like puberty blockers and hormones in minors. She can correct me if I’m wrong, but I read her how-to as discouraging such reporting.
“A story about trans health care should make clear all the facts… They should include that nearly every major medical association supports the current protocol of gender-affirming care for minors.” Well, as I report, consensus does not equal evidence-based practice.
Reviews in Sweden, Finland, and now UK have made clear the uncertainties and potential for harm, and those countries are pulling back on medicalization and focusing instead on mental health and social support. They are not denying anyone’s existence. It’s not political there.
For years, these labels of “anti-trans” “transphobe” and accusations of genocide have scared journalists who are obviously not those things from pursuing reasonable questions about benefit v. harm of medical treatment. This is regressive and I hope we’re moving past it.
Author Katelyn Burns replied “but you obscured the biases of the sources your piece depended upon. that’s advocacy.”
You haven’t pointed to any such thing. Everyone is ID’d with their relationship to professional orgs. The research methodologists who evaluated the guidelines/evidence base have no history with this issue whatsoever. Just hurling the label of “anti-trans” doesn’t make it so.
Free Press founder Bari Weiss is known for sustained attacks on trans rights. Weiss paid Block to continue these attacks by crticizing Planned Parenthood.
In 2024, Block employed the same rhetoric used in anti-abortion regret propaganda in a profile of Cristina Hineman, an ex-trans activist who reports regret about making a gender transition as a consenting adult. Block then approvingly describes the legal assault on Planned Parenthood initiated by Hineman. Block then tells a similar story about “Anna,” likely the plaintiff in a similar Jane Doe lawsuit. Throughout the piece, Block denigrates trans-supportive physicians and promotes anti-trans gatekeepers like Riittakerttu Kaltiala.
2025 short film
In July 2025, Block started a Substack titled Unpopular Science. Its first post was a short propaganda piece produced with Eric S. Vaughan titled “The Liberal Case for Rethinking Gender Medicine.” Block notes:
“The genesis for this film was the investigative feature I wrote for The BMJ, which came out in February 2023. My editors committed serious resources toward producing a high-quality video component. But my print piece drew the ire of the British Medical Association, which owns the journal, and ultimately the video and follow-up reporting were killed.”
Block J (October 2024). Dispute arises over World Professional Association for Transgender Healthâs involvement in WHOâs trans health guideline. BMJ, q2227. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.q2227
Block J (August 2023). US paediatric leaders back gender affirming approach while also ordering evidence review. BMJ, p1877. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.p1877
Block, Jennifer (March 6, 2023). Raft of US state laws restrict access to treatments for gender dysphoria. BMJ 2023; 380 https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.p533
Block, Jennifer (February 23, 2023). Gender dysphoria in young people is risingâand so is professional disagreement. BMJ 2023; 380 https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.p382
“her article contains several misleading statements and, crucially, fails to include the perspective of individuals from the trans and gender diverse (TGD) community”
“the mention of neurodivergence when speaking about transgender people is to imply that there is less capacity for making good choices about our bodies, evaluating risks and benefits.”
“Samira Khan,” Matthew Sellen, and Bethan Carey Jones [neurodivergent health professionals] (16 March 2023). Diversity in gender identity and neurotypes. https://www.bmj.com/content/380/bmj.p382/rr-8
Azeen Ghorayshi is an American writer and anti-transgender activist. Ghorayshi is a key historical figure in the oppression of trans and gender diverse youth.
Ghorayshi has written about transgender healthcare for youth and other trans topics in several publications. In 2021, Ghorayshi became the point person laundering anti-transgender extremism into the New York Times, similar to Times health reporter Jane Brody, whose consistently anti-trans coverage in the 1970s helped get adult care shut down as “experimental” by the end of that decade.
Ghorayshi believes that affirmative models of care for trans and gender diverse youth are an unfolding medical scandal, echoing Times colleagues and contributors in the late 1970s who helped set the trans rights movement back for 25 years. The real medical scandal is that trans and gender diverse youth have never been able to receive appropriate care, and Ghorayshi’s reporting is a major factor in making this care unavailable to hundreds of thousands of minors.
Each year, thousands of American cisgender youth receive gender-affirming treatments like surgeries for unwanted breast tissue, but Ghorayshi is focused exclusively on banning the same procedures for transgender youth.
Ghorayshi’s anti-trans views are colored by disease models of gender identity, particularly psychopathology models. Ghorayshi is a strong proponent of gatekeeping trans healthcare via psychology and psychiatry, especially for minors.
Background
Azeen M. Ghorayshi was born in October 1988 and earned an undergraduate degree in biology from University of California, Berkeley in 2010. While there, Ghorayshi interned in UC Berkeley’s notoriously conservative and transphobic psychology department and in the neurobiology department. Ghorayshi then earned a master’s degree in science communication from Imperial College London.
Ghorayshi began writing as an Editorial Fellow at Mother Jones, then worked at the weekly East Bay Express in the Bay Area. Ghorayshi freelanced from 2013 to 2015, placing stories in New Scientist, The Guardian, Newsweek, Wired UK, and other outlets.
Ghorayshi co-founded Method Quarterly, a publication about science with Christina Agapakis. Other personnel included:
Ellie Harmon (editor in 2014)
Rose Eveleth (editor – presence scrubbed from site)
Ghorayshi joined BuzzFeed in 2015 as a science reporter, rising to science editor prior to departing.
Ghorayshi joined the New York Times in 2021, brought in by former Buzzfeed colleague Virginia Hughes.
Shortly after expressing this love, Ghorayshi presented Dreger as a “liberal” academic instead of an inaugural member of the intellectual dark web, a gateway to the far right. In a “both sides” piece about trans healthcare for youth, Ghorayshi also presented transphobic psychologist J. Michael Bailey and geneticist Eric Vilain as objective or centrist scientists in the middle of the non-affirming coalition, and the transphobic American College of Pediatricians as “religious conservatives.” Ghorayshi also uncritically presented Jesse Singal’s false version of why Kenneth Zucker was fired (Zucker’s practices were outlawed in 2015 under Bill 77), and showcases Debra Soh’s claim that the affirmative model of care “reinforces outdated stereotypes.” Ghorayshi then cites a conservative Breitbart piece that quotes Zucker, summarizing their view that affirmative care is a dangerous new fad in parenting.
New York Times transgender articles
In the New York Times, Ghorayshi also published “cisgender person under siege” profiles featuring hospital CEO John Warner, surgeon Sidhbh Gallagher, and gender affirming healthcare critic Jamie Reed.
The Warner piece was about the closure of Genecis Childrenâs Medical Center in Dallas following abortion clinic protest tactics targeting practitioners and leaders. Ghorayshi had described Genecis in the 2016 BuzzFeed piece.
The Gallagher piece was favorably shared by many fascist, gender critical, and cis journalist accounts, including white nationalist Richard Spencer and Daily Wire writer Christina Buttons, as well as anti-trans activists Katie Herzog, Jesse Singal, Kenneth Zucker, Cathy Brennan, Julia Mason, and Helen Lewis. It was also shared by a number of Ghorayshi’s current and former colleagues, including Virginia Hughes, Cliff Levy, Christina Jewett, Jessica Silver-Greenberg, Ken Bensinger, Oliver Whang, Dan Saltzstein, Judy Rudin, Paul McLeod, Kadia Goba, Josh Barro, Ellie Hall, Derek Robertson, Alison Griffiths, Kinnon Ross MacKinnon, Tina S. Fondeles, Benjamin Goggin, Yeganeh Torbati, Steven Meiers, Jessica Garrison, Mark Yarm, Shannon Palus, Megan Twohey, and Michael Marshall.
In 2025, Ghorayshi promoted anti-trans groups Democrats for an Informed Approach to Gender and LGB Courage Coalition as being from the left: “In the United States, a coalition of critics of youth gender medicine from both the right and the lefthave argued for banning the treatments.” The first group is a coalition of parents who do not accept their gender diverse children, and the second is an LGB separatist organization led by anti-trans extremist Jamie Reed that purged all of its trans members in 2024.
“Low-quality evidence”
Ghorayshi wrote a piece about the American Academy of Pediatrics that prominently featured their critics, including anti-trans activist Julia Mason of the hate group Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine. Ghorayshi also parrots the “low-quality evidence” claim put forth by anti-trans activists, based on a scale devised by Gordon Guyatt. Federal judge Sarah E. Geraghty rejected these claims in a 2023 Georgia case where anti-trans activists Paul Hruz, Michael Laidlaw, and James Cantor testified against Yale University professor of pediatrics Meredithe McNamara:
The undisputed record shows that clinical medical decision-making, including in pediatric or adolescent medicine, often is not guided by evidence that would qualify as âhigh qualityâ on the scales used by Defendantsâ experts. 30 (Doc. 70-1, McNamara Decl. ¶¶ 23â28; Tr. 74:11â75:1 (McNamara Testimony); Tr. 133:614 (Hruz Testimony).) In fact, the record shows that less than 15 percent of medical treatments are supported by âhigh-quality evidence,â or in other words that 85 percent of evidence that guides clinical care, across all areas of medicine, would be classified as âlow-qualityâ under the scale used by Defendantsâ experts. (Doc. 70-1, McNamara Decl. ¶ 25; Tr. 74:11â75:1.) Defendants do not refute Dr. McNamaraâs testimony on this point, and indeed they âconcedeâ that âlow-qualityâ evidence âcan be considered.â 31
Geraghty also noted the obvious biases of Hruz, Laidlaw and Cantor:
Defendantsâ expertsâ insistence on a very high threshold of evidence in the context of claims about hormone therapyâs safety and benefits, and on the other hand their tolerance of a much lower threshold of evidence for claims about its risks, the likelihood of desistance and/or regret, and their notions about the ideological bias of a medical establishment that largely disagrees with them. That is cause for some concern about the weight to be assigned to their views, although the Court does not doubt that those they express are genuinely held.
(âDr. [Paul] Hruz fended and parried questions and generally testified as a deeply biased advocate, not as an expert sharing relevant evidence-based information and opinions. I do not credit his testimony.â); Eknes-Tucker v. Marshall, 603 F. Supp. 3d 1131, 1142â43 (M.D. Ala. 2022) (explaining that the court gave Dr. James Cantorâs âtestimony regarding the treatment of gender dysphoria in minors very little weightâ); C. P. by & through Pritchard v. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois, No. 3:20-CV-06145-RJB, 2022 WL 17092846, at *4 (W.D. Wash. Nov. 21, 2022) (noting that it was a âclose questionâ as to whether Dr. Michael Laidlaw was qualified to testify about the medical necessity of gender-affirming care because he has treated only two patients with gender dysphoria and has done no original research on gender identity).
Ghorayshi also wrote an article centered on Jamie Reed, an activist who supports “a national moratorium on the medicalization of kids.” Reed is represented by anti-trans lawyer Vernadette Broyles, who has stated the transgender rights movement poses an “existential threat to our culture.”
2025 podcast series
Ghorayshi and Austin Mitchell produced a six-part podcast series titled The Protocol, which rehashes Ghorayshi’s opinion that healthcare for trans and gender diverse youth has become too easy to obtain, is based on “uncertainty in the scientific evidence,” and needs to return to the rigid gatekeeping that was practiced decades ago.
Francis, Matthew R. (June 5, 2025). Open Letter to Anti-Trans Science Journalists.Galileo’s Pendulum https://galileospendulum.org/2025/06/05/open-letter-to-anti-trans-science-journalists/
Urquhart, Evan (September 3, 2023). âYou Betrayed Us, Azeenâ: A story on the allegations of former St. Louis gender clinic staffer Jamie Reed left parents who spoke with NYT reporter Azeen Ghorayshi crushed. Assigned https://www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-news/you-betrayed-us-azeen-parents-of-trans-youth-reeling-after-speaking-to-the-nyt
Sapir Leor (August 25, 2023). A Slow Trek Back to Truth?City Journal https://www.city-journal.org/article/a-slow-trek-back-to-truth
Clark-Callender, Rebecca (August 11, 2023). How the Times Covers Trans Rights. On the Media https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/segments/what-we-missed-how-press-covers-trans-rights-on-the-media
Ghorayshi, Azeen (November 2015). Conversations With Anne Fausto-Sterling.Method Quarterly http://www.methodquarterly.com/2015/11/conversations-with-anne-fausto-sterling/
“I speak in support of legislation to limit access to so-called âgender affirmativeâ medical and surgical treatments which are unproven to reduce mental suffering in minors experiencing gender discordance.”
Jamie Reed is an American anti-transgender activist who wants to eliminate gender affirming healthcare for adolescents and young adults. Reed is also part of the LGB separatist movement, founding the anti-trans organization LGB Courage Coalition in 2023.
Jamie Lynn Smith was born in June 1980. After marrying Joshua David Rickly (born 1982), Jamie began using the name Jamie Lynn Smith-Rickly. During this time, Jamie was apparently using the email [email protected].
In 2009, Jamie Smith-Rickly, Zachary Smith, and Byron Case founded the Midwestern Liberty Foundation, but it was dissolved by the state of Missouri the following year for failure to submit required documents.
The couple had two children and later divorced.
Jamie then married librarian Tiger Reed, who at the time identified as a transgender man. They have Jamie’s two children from the first marriage as well as three foster children. In 2024, after announing a “detransition,” Tiger Reed began using the name Roxxanne Reed.
Reed earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Missouri St. Louis and a master’s degree from Washington University in St. Louis. Reed began working at Washington in 2016.
Anti-trans activism
From 2018 until late 2022, Reed was a case manager at the Washington University Pediatric Transgender Center at St. Louis Childrenâs Hospital.
Reed became increasingly upset that the clinic was not doing more psychological and psychiatric gatekeeping. As with many providers, Washington relied on patients to find a local therapist who would recommend them for treatment to reduce backlogs and improve patient care.
Reed was against prescribing hormone options for minors. Like many other people opposed to youth gender affirming care, Reed considers puberty blockers less problematic than hormones, but opposes those as well. Puberty blockers are a rarely-used short-term option prior to prescribing hormones. Some people opposed to gender affirming care would prefer trans youth to stay on puberty blockers until they are adults, rather than start hormones.
Like many other people opposed to gender affirming care, Reed cites the conservative “Dutch protocol” that used extensive gatekeeping under a nationalized healthcare system.
In an affidavit presented to anti-trans Attorney General Andrew Bailey dated February 7, 2023, Reed stated:
I witnessed staff at the Center provide puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to children without complete informed parental consent and without an appropriate or accurate assessment of the needs of the child. I witnessed children experience shocking injuries from the medication the Center prescribed. And I saw the Center make no attempt or effort to track adverse outcomes of patients after they left the Center.
[…]
One patient came to the Center identifying as a âcommunist, attack helicopter, human, female, maybe non binary.â The child was in very poor mental health and early on reported that they had no idea their gender identity.
[…]
Most children who come into the Center were assigned female at birth. Nearly all of them have serious comorbidities including, autism, ADHD, depression, anxiety, PTSD, trauma histories, OCD, and serious eating disorders.
[…]
last year Dr. [Chris] Lewis and Dr. [Sarah] Garwood told the Missouri legislature, âat no point are surgeries on the table for anyone under 18â and also, âsurgeries are not an option for anyone under 18 years of age.â This was a lie. The Center regularly refers minors for gender transition surgery. The Center routinely gives out the names and contact information of surgeons to those under the age of 18. At least one gender transition surgery was performed by Dr. Allison Snyder-Warwick at St. Louis Childrenâs Hospital in the last few years.
[…]
The Center had two in-house psychologists. They were Dr. Alex Maixner and Dr. Sarah Girresch-Ward as well as several outside therapists.
[…]
Doctors knew that many of our former patients had stopped taking cross-sex hormones and were detransitioning. Doctors did not share this information with parents or children.
[…]
Children come into the clinic using pronouns of inanimate objects like âmushroom,â ârock,â or âhelicopter.â Children come into the clinic saying they want hormones because they do not want to be gay. Children come in changing their identities on a day-to-day basis. Children come in under clear pressure by a parent to identify in a way inconsistent with the childâs actual identity.
[…]
I created a âred flagâ list of children where other staff and I had concerns. The doctors told me I had to stop raising these concerns. I was not allowed to maintain the red flag list after that. During the time I was creating the red flag list, noting my concern that these children were not good candidates for permanent, irreversible medication treatment, the doctors would simply send these children to our in-house therapists. Those therapists would inevitably provide letters to the doctors, and then the doctors would say there canât be any concern over these children because another therapist was fine with prescribing puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones.
[…]
One doctor at the Center, Dr. Chris Lewis, is giving patients a drug called Bicalutamide. I know of at least one patient at the Center who was advised by the renal department to stop taking Bicalutamide because the child was experiencing liver damage. The childâs parent reported this to the Center through the patientâs online self-reporting medical chart (MyChart). The parent said they were not the type to sue, but âthis could be a huge PR problem for you.â
[…]
the Center has prescribed puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones hundreds of times where they should not have.
Particularly upsetting to Reed are young people whose identities are fluid:
Patient was on hormones and had decompensating mental health, outlandish name changes, self-diagnosis of multiple personalities (DID).
[…]
Patient has desisted in male identity to a vague non binary with their own self-diagnosis of autism. Patient has changed their name numerous times and is clearly struggling with thoughts about desistence,
[..]
Patient changed to non-binary identity, then changed preferred name and stated that their identity was shifting day to day.
Reed gave several other vivid anecdotes, including one about a youth sex offender, and others about youths with history of self-harm, sexual trauma, forced cross-dressing, factitious blindness, and “gender identities that were likely the result of social contagion.”
2023 Free Press piece
Two days after the affidavit was signed, Reed repeated these allegations for anti-trans activist Bari Weiss.
“clinics like the one where I worked are creating a whole cohort of kids with atypical genitalsâand most of these teens havenât even had sex yet.”
“Some weeks it felt as though almost our entire caseload was nothing but disturbed young people.”
“Another disturbing aspect of the center was its lack of regard for the rights of parents.”
“In 2019, a new group of people appeared on my radar: desisters and detransitioners.”
“I believe that to ensure the safety of American children, we need a moratorium on the hormonal and surgical treatment of young people with gender dysphoria.”
Reed and the clinicâs nurse, Karen Hamon, kept a private spreadsheet, which they called the âred flag list.â Following a 2021 review that contained criticisms and a 2022 retreat where Reed was allegedly told âGet on board, or get out,â Reed transferred to a different department.
Jamie Reed on what needs to be done: no gender affirming care for people until we figure out how to tell which mice should transition pic.twitter.com/1Go2vJtNTo
Azeen Ghorayshi of the New York Times presented Reed as part of a long-running “cisgender person under siege” series the paper has been running since the early 2000s.
Ghorayshi mentioned the following people:
Jamie Reed, former case manager at a youth gender clinic at Washington University in St. Louis
Bari Weiss, anti-trans activist who first published Reed’s allegations
Andrew Bailey, Missouri’s anti-trans Attorney General
Colleen Schrappen, reporter at St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Annelise Hanshaw, reporter at Missouri Independent
Andrew D. Martin, Washington University in St. Louis Chancellor
Reporter Evan Urquhart wrote, “unlike other stories covering these allegations, the Times downplays the falsehoods and seeks to make a case that despite Reedâs lies thereâs something to be taken seriously in her attacks on a highly-regarded, University-linked clinic serving transgender youth.”
Lawsuits
In 2024 a subpoena was issued to Reed in the matter of Noe v. Parson (Missouri case # 23AC-CC04530). In it, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc. and ACLU of Missouri Foundation requested communication between Reed and Karen Hamon, as well as any communication with Missouri officials and families at Washington University Pediatric Transgender Center at St. Louis Childrenâs Hospital.
The subpoena also requested “All communications, including any documents exchanged, concerning Gender-Affirming Care involving media or between you and any media outlet or any member of the media,” as well as specifically requesting communications with Jesse Singal. Those requests were later removed.
The subpoena also requested any communication with the following organizations:
Lovelace, Eric (September 30, 2024). St. Louis gender clinic whistleblower testifies in Noe v. Parson.KOMU https://www.komu.com/news/midmissourinews/st-louis-gender-clinic-whistleblower-testifies-in-noe-v-parson/article_2f612e3c-7f53-11ef-ad63-abba11ecb77e.html
Christopher Rufo is an American professional anti-transgender activist. Attacking trans rights is part of Rufo’s conservative activism at the Manhattan Institute and elsewhere.
Christopher Ferguson “Chris” Rufo was born August 26, 1984 and grew up in Sacramento, California. Both parents are attorneys.
Rufo earned a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University in 2006 and a master’s degree from Harvard Extension School in 2022. Rufo has worked at The Heritage Foundation, Claremont Institute, and Discovery Institute.
Rufo has produced documentaries and has run for public office in Seattle.
Rufo is best known for conservative activism around critical race theory, intersectionality, diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI), and homelessness.
Rufo and spouse Suphatra “Kip” Paravichai live in Gig Harbor, Washington with their three children.
Intellectual dark web
Rufo was considered part of the intellectual dark web (IDW), a loose alliance described as a âgateway to the far right.â Many people involved are prominent opponents of transgender rights. IDW members typically get money and attention by claiming to be âcanceledâ or silenced by the minorities and progressive movements they criticize (called DARVO in general; see also the Dregerian Narrative in relation to trans issues, named after IDW inaugural member Alice Dreger).
The coalition did not hold together long, and Rufo chalked up the collapse to these events that splintered the IDW:
The presidency of Donald Trump
COVID and response to it
The George Floyd protests
Rufo also correctly noted that the alliance collapsed because it was a reactionary movement with no political will. They stood against many things, but as a group, they did not stand for anything.
Most IDW members craved money and/or attention, and once that became more elusive, the alliance began to dissipate.
Anti-transgender activism
As part of a push to end public libraries and public education, Rufo has heavily promoted the idea that LGBTQ people are “groomers,” echoing similar efforts in the 1970s. As part of these “save the children” initiatives, Rufo seeks to stop schools from discussing LGBTQ people and their role in American history and culture (so-called “Don’t Say Gay” activism). Rufo is a major force behind threats and protests at Drag Queen Story Hour events.
In 2023, Florida’s anti-trans governor Ron DeSantis named Rufo to the board of trustees of New College of Florida, part of an attempt to turn the school conservative.
In May 2023, Rufo published an article about gender affirming care at Texas Childrenâs Hospital. In May 2024, surgeon Eithan Haim was charged with illegally obtaining the private medical records of pediatric patients receiving gender transition care at Texas Childrenâs Hospital and providing them to Rufo. In 2025, the Trump administration dropped the charges against Haim.
References
Dreher, Rod (October 25, 2022). Chris Rufo Vs Drag Queen Story Hour Groomers.The American Conservative https://www.theamericanconservative.com/chris-rufo-vs-drag-queen-story-hour-groomers/
Lynn Meagher is an American anti-transgender extremist and unsupportive parent to two adult transgender children, both of whom are estranged from Meagher.
Meagher also uses the alias “Lynn Chadwick.” As Chadwick, Meagher is associated with anti-trans hate group Genspect and the affiliated Themis Resource Fund.
Background
Lynn Frances Meagher was born on January 26, 1962. Meagher worked in nursing in Washington State from 1985 to 2021.
According to a social media account, in 2022 Chadwick was in a relationship with biology professor Arla Hile (born 1962).
Anti-transgender activism
Meagher has appeared on religious and conservative programs. Meagher reportedly lost both children to the “transgender cult.”
Meagher’s children disagree:
âShe didnât lose me to a cult,â her eldest daughter said, clarifying that she is estranged from her mum because Meagher is âracistâ, âabusiveâ, âtransphobicâ, âgreedyâ, âcruelâ and âreligiously intolerantâ.
âShe lost me because sheâs a piece of s**t,â she added. âItâs true, we wonât speak to her, although her TERF-ness was only the tip of the iceberg. She was extremely emotionally and physically abusive growing up.â
Meagher frequently appears at anti-trans events and was part of the group blog Compassion Coalition. On that blog, Meagher’s self-written bio states:
Lynn works as an advocate for parents of Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria (ROGD) kids and as a spokesperson for the Kelsey Coalition. She feels honored to work with many gifted and talented women through the Hands Across the Aisle coalition.
Lynn has recently become involved in activism against Drag Queen Story Hours at public libraries and helped to start Ask Moms on Facebook to inform and equip ordinary people everywhere to stand against the sexualization of children. She worked as a nurse in Neonatal Intensive Care for 28 years.
Zuby is the stage name of Nzube Olisaebuka Udezue, a British rapper and anti-transgender activist.
Background
Nzube Olisaebuka Udezue was born on August 19, 1986. Udezue has four siblings and split time between the UK and Saudi Arabia while growing up. Udezue earned a bachelor’s degree from Oxford in 2007. Between 2006 and 2016, Udezue released several songs and albums while working as a consultant.
Podcast
In 2019, Udezue started a podcast, Real Talk with Zuby. Anti-trans guests include:
In 2019, Udezue performed an anti-trans stunt involving a women’s deadlifting record. Udezue claimed to have broken it while identifying as a female as a way to mock transgender athletes.
In 2020, Udezue signed a letter supporting anti-trans activist JK Rowling.
