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Naomi Salama is a Finnish civil engineer and “autogynephilia” activist.

Naomi Salama on suomalainen rakennusinsinööri ja “autogynefilia”-aktivisti.

Background

Salama was born on July 7, 1998 and grew up in Espoo.

Under the name Janus Syndrome, Salama released an electronic dance music album titled MMXIV in 2014.

Salama attended Aalto University, earning a bachelor’s degree in 2020 before continuing on to a master’s degree. In May 2022, Salama began medical transition.

“Autogynephilia” activism

Like a few other neurodiverse trans people with poor social skills, Salama became fixated on an obscure disease model of gender identity and expression created in 1989 by Ray Blanchard. It classifies transgender women into two types: gay men (homosexual transsexuals) and paraphilic men (“autogynephilic” transsexuals). Salama claims to be the “autogynephilic” (AGP) type, which according to Blanchard means Naomi Salama is more likely to be sexually attracted to children, corpses, feces, animals, or have other “paraphilias.”

Most experts and trans people consider this fringe terminology to be scientifically biased and unfalsifiable, but a few isolated activists with personality problems embrace the idea.

“Autogynephilia” as a taxonomy appeals to a very specific type of person: neurodiverse, fixated on collecting and categorizing, socially isolated/eccentric, rigid thinking.

In June 2023 Salama sent me a message titled “add me to your stupid agp activist list you hack.”

hello!

I demand an explanation! why am I overlooked for your ridiculous agp activist list? after all, I seem to be an activist in this in the very literal word — very different to for example the researchers on the list.

I have repeatedly defended Blanchard, Bailey and Hsu and interact with all of them quite frequently. I am also friends with multiple other people on the list — such as Phil Illy or Naxela (why you would add him before me is beyond my comprehension, for example my twitter account @Naozymandias is way larger and I speak of agp way more and more publicly — even being retweetes by Blanchard occasionally)

as an academic myself, tho of different field of study, some of the researchers have urges me to do study into agp myself too, perhaps informally. I plan to do this after first finishing my thesis relating to urban economics.

I am also known to have created multiple “memes” relating to autogynephilia, folder of these has also been shared with multiple people on your list.

as you can clearly tell, I am invested in the subject and certainly should be considered an activist of sorts. this baffles me, why am I not on your list??? that feels rather insulting 

thus, I demand to be added immediately ?
regards
undoubtedly in some sense of the word your enemy,
autogynephilic transsexual,
and student of urban planning and economics
Naomi Salama

Salama spoke with romantic partner Alice Chizita about these bizarre beliefs, then sent a second message clarifying:

while *I* would be glad to be added, my girlfriend hopes I am not, as she would feel bad of that — because she is not in agreement with the typology and “Blanchardism” makes her feel bad and dysphoric. 

Hopefully Alice can explain why this ideology is an unhealthy fixation and get Salama professional help. Perhaps Alice can also guide this person toward a better understanding of science. If that is not possible, perhaps Alice can get far away from this toxic person.

References

Salama, [Naomi] (May 3, 2020). Hämeenlinna Skylines: Cities Skylines osallistavan kaupunkisuunnittelun välineenä. Aalto-yliopisto https://aaltodoc.aalto.fi/handle/123456789/47289

Resources

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“Layla Jane” is the stage name of Kayla Lovdahl, an American ex-transgender activist. Lovdahl gets money and attention by making it more difficult for others to get trans healthcare.

Background

Kayla Michelle Lovdahl was born August 20, 2004. Lovdahl’s parents are Desiree M. Baggett Lovdahl (born July 11, 1984) and Kevin Allen Lovdahl (born September 30, 1976). Desiree got pregnant at age 19, and they married during the pregnancy on January 28, 2004.

Kayla Lovdahl grew up in the Lodi, California area, and has these problems according to a lawsuit filed by Lovdahl’s lawyers against Kaiser Permanente:

  • recurrent intense anxiety and panic
  • extreme mood fluctuations
  • self-harm
  • problems at school resulting in suspensions
  • oppositional behavior
  • defiant behavior
  • interpersonal peer relationship problems
  • anger
  • depression
  • crying spells
  • significant appetite changes
  • irritability
  • agitation
  • decreased energy
  • panic with hyperventilation
  • confusion
  • nausea
  • nightmares
  • explosive temper outbursts
  • poor concentration
  • gender dysphoria
  • symptoms “compatible with undiagnosed and untreated bipolar disorder”
  • “erroneous belief that she was transgender”
  • mood swings
  • sadness
  • lack of known triggers
  • would write sad notes at age 6-7
  • does not get much sleep
  • sleep has been irregular since being a baby
  • sees figures or things passing on the side when she doesn’t get enough sleep
  • strange reoccurring nightmares
  • symptoms of depression
  • mania
  • abuse from peers
  • obesity
  • poor social skills
  • few friends

2023 lawsuit

The same conservative activists representing Chloe Cole/Brockman are also representing Lovdahl.

Defendants:

  • Lisa Kristine Taylor, MD, pediatric endocrinologist
  • Winnie Mao Yiu Tong, MD, plastic surgeon
  • Susanne E. Watson, PhD, gender therapist
  • Mirna Escalante, MD, pediatric endocrinologist

The lawyers claim Lovdahl “now has deep physical and emotional wounds and severe regrets” and “has suffered physically, socially, neurologically, and psychologically.” They describe it as:

  • “mutilation to her body”
  • “fertility risks”
  • “health risks”
  • “lost opportunities for social and physical development along with her peers, and at key developmental milestones that can never be regained”

The complaint alleges in part:

When Kayla was 11, on or around April 26, 2016, Dr. Meridee Loomer saw Kayla and reviewed her file. Dr. Loomer noted that Kayla’s mother had been requesting mental health services beginning in 2011, when Kayla was around 6 years old, due to school issues and because Kayla had written on her papers about wanting to die. Dr. Loomer also noted that there had not been any consistent psychotherapy services for Kayla.  She informed Dr. Loomer privately at her April 26, 2016, visit that she was a boy and that she preferred to be named “Kyle.” 

Around September 14, 2016, Kayla had a visit with Dr. Doreen Samelson, who counseled them that since Kayla was past Tanner Stage II (the first stage of puberty), she was not a candidate for puberty blockers and was not ready for cross-sex hormones. Kayla received a contraceptive shortly thereafter to reduce her periods. 

The lawsuit cites treatment notes from Lovdahl’s doctor:

[Patient] is currently at maternal grandmother’s home, and Mom intends to pick him up to bring him directly into the Stk Cpy office to be seen today. When asked about concerns re: self/other harm, she states that he has made statements such as “what’s the point,” or “I should just drink bleach” recently but not today. 

“Patient presented to urgent services after his mother called Kaiser Psychiatry Triage yesterday and today reporting concerns over her son’s agitation/labile behavior, mood fluctuations, and potential for self-harm/harming others. Patient’s reported that her son has been having unprovoked anger outbursts where he’s been lashing out (i.e. cursing) at her mostly and others. 

Lovdahl then had counseling and the doctors got signed parental consent:

On July 11, 2017, Kayla had counseling regarding fertility. On September 22, 2017, after Kayla just turned age 13, Dr. Tong performed a double mastectomy on her. 

Kayla stopped injecting testosterone around the middle of 2021, while beginning a period of detransition. Thereafter, she stopped all contact and services with the Kaiser Proud Clinic where she had been receiving ongoing evaluation for her transition. 

In 2022 Kayla was diagnosed with Social Anxiety Disorder and Mood Disorder with depressive features. 

Ex-transgender activism

Lovdahl heard Chloe Cole’s lawyers filed a lawsuit against Kaiser and decided to get in on the action.

In March 2023, Lovdahl was among the handful of ex-trans activists at what was billed as their biggest event ever:

Lovdahl said:

“I was a mentally ill child, and I was able to consent to removing my breasts permanently. And I also heard more – or less… I heard more people telling me I would regret this tattoo than I would regret getting my breasts permanently removed at such a young age. So that is why I felt necessary to speak. Thank you for hearing me out.”

Lovdahl told Laura Ingraham in March:

“Overall, I really want to say that I don’t think I should have been allowed to change my sex before I could legally consent to have sex. Overall, I don’t think I’m better off for the experience, and I think that transition just completely added fuel to the fire that was my preexisting conditions.

I was given no information on rates of desistance or anything like that. Really, the surgery and the treatments were kind of pushed as the only way forward.

Between the age I was at and the headspace I was in, I don’t feel like I should have been any place to make those kinds of decisions. And I think proper information and all the side effects, it was really glossed over for my parents.”

Media

In June 2023, producers arranged a meeting with ex-trans activist Chloe Cole:

References

Buttons, Christina (June 15, 2023). Second Lawsuit Filed in US Against Medical Transition of Minors. Reality’s Last Stand https://www.realityslaststand.com/p/breaking-second-lawsuit-filed-in

Center for American Liberty (June 15, 2023). https://libertycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Complaint-06-15-23.pdf

https://www.recordnet.com/story/news/2004/09/04/vital-statistics/50695436007/

Chloe Cole (June 3, 2023). The Unseen Side of Early Transition, Mastectomy at 13 Years Old | Layla Jane Fights Back! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZWslwe3W1c

Resources

Twitter (twitter.com)

Facebook (facebook.com)

“Michelle Alleva” is the stage name of Michelle Zacchigna, a Canadian ex-transgender activist. Zacchigna gets money and attention by making it more difficult for others to get trans healthcare.

Zacchigna has used a number of aliases and handles:

  • “Scarlett P”
  • “Michelle Alleva”
  • somenuanceplease
  • sumenuancepls

Zacchigna transitioned as an adult and made additional identity and expression changes ten years later.

Background

Zacchigna was born in 1988. Zacchigna reports being bullied in school, especially from ages 8 to 13. After a close adolescent friendship ended, Zacchigna experienced even more social isolation. Zacchigna alleges having the following problems as a teen:

  • developmental trauma
  • dissociation
  • low self-esteem
  • self-harm
  • anxiety
  • depression
  • 2008 suicide attempt
  • dated older people “who didn’t seem to have my best interests at heart”

At age 20, Zacchigna identified as asexual:

Although I had never had gender dysphoria before, the more I thought about gender and how I wanted to present myself, the more self-aware I became about my body, and the more I wanted to change it. I thought about my past and became convinced that I had been bullied because I was trans and just didn’t know it.

In spring 2010, at age 21, Zacchigna went to the Gender Journeys support group at Toronto’s Sherbourne Health. Two years later, in 2012, Zacchigna saved up and then paid out of pocket for elective top surgery in Florida.

Because transition doesn’t make you a new person or change who you are, Zacchigna felt better for a while, but then reported problems started again:

  • social anxiety
  • still difficult to make friends
  • depression
  • gender dysphoria
  • couldn’t cry anymore “because of the hormones”
  • uncontrolled acne
  • poor self-care
  • gained about 70-80 pounds
  • fired for “inconsistent” work output
  • irregular sleep schedule
  • stopped caring about appearance
  • became low income
  • moved back in with family
  • failed out of college
  • autism spectrum disorder
  • ADHD
  • post-traumatic stress symptoms
  • major depressive disorder
  • medical trauma
  • low voice
  • male-pattern balding
  • facial hair
  • an enlarged clitoris
  • a flat chest
  • the inability to ever become pregnant
  • “among other things”

Following a 2017 evaluation that added to Zacchigna’s long list of problems, in 2018 Zacchigna had a “medically unnecessary” partial hysterectomy because “it was covered by provincial insurance, and I liked the idea of not having any more periods or pap exams.”

Zacchigna is upset and angry “that I wasn’t screened for the diagnoses I later received before I was prescribed hormones.” Zacchinga was screened prior to the hysterectomy but still blames others for that decision made at age 30.

Anti-transgender activism

Now based in Orillia, Ontario, Zacchigna’s income is now supplemented by making it harder for other adults to get trans healthcare:

“I have spent the last 18 months involved in health care advocacy related to this topic. I’ve presented at webinars, spoken at universities, been featured in news articles, appeared on Podcasts, and written blogs semi-regularly sharing my experiences and my thoughts about how this could have happened.”

In 2022 Zacchigna announced a planned lawsuit:

“I’ve been holding this card close to my chest for a while, and I’m ready to show it. In November 2022, I commenced legal action against the Canadian healthcare providers that facilitated my medical transition in Ontario,”

Zacchigna is now a source for a number of anti-trans activists and outlets, including Michael Shellenberger, the National Post, and Western Standard. Zacchigna is also active in the anti-trans “parental rights” movement, appearing in Lighthouse and the 2023 film No Way Back.

References

Oldcorn, Christopher (February 23, 2023). Ontario woman sues healthcare professionals over irreversible gender transition. Western Standard https://www.westernstandard.news/news/ontario-woman-sues-healthcare-professionals-over-irreversible-gender-transition/article_28765010-b3a4-11ed-9dca-7f4bb5988028.html

Murphy, Madeline (November 2, 2022) Michelle Alleva Shares Her Story of Detransitioning. Irish Rover https://irishrover.net/2022/11/michelle-alleva-shares-her-story-of-detransitioning/

GD Alliance (June 30, 2021). Meet Scarlett P. Gender Dysphoria Alliance https://www.genderdysphoriaalliance.com/post/meet-scarlett-p

Humphrey, Adrian (February 22, 2023). Ontario detransitioner who had breasts and womb removed sues doctors. National Post https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/michelle-zacchigna-ontario-detransitioner-sues-doctors

Alleva, Michelle (May 2022). “Removing my completely healthy uterus is my greatest regret.” Michelle Alleva’s Story: Detransition. Lighthouse https://www.lighthouseforum.ca/stories/michellealleva

Shellenberger, Michael (March 22, 2023). Why This Detransitioner Is Suing Her Health Care Providers. Public https://public.substack.com/p/why-this-detransitioner-is-suing

Resources

Twitter (twitter.com)

GiveSendGo (givesendgo.com)

YouTube (youtube.com)

Substack (substack.com)

IMDb (imdb.com)

David Arthur Kendall is an American sex offender and activist in the ex-transgender movement. Kendall gets money and attention by making it more difficult to get trans healthcare. Using the name “David Arthur,” Kendall is featured in the 2023 anti-trans film Affirmation Generation by Laura VanZee-Taylor and Penka Kouneva.

Background

David Arthur Kendall was born October 16, 1972. Kendall has alleged being sexually abused from around the age of 6 and contracting HIV/AIDS in 1986 at age 14.

After making a gender transition, this person used the name Paige Giannetto.

In 2002, Kendall was sentenced to two years and four months in Florida prison for violating Florida Statute 800.04 on May 1, 1995: “Lewdly fondle or assault, commit or simulate sexual acts on or in presence of a child under 16 in a lewd, lascivious or indecent manner.”

In 2004, Kendall was sentenced to two years in prison for failing to meet Florida’s mandatory community notification and registration requirements for sex offenders, among other crimes:

I was arrested on a probation violation for drugs, prostitution and robbing a gas station. I was also charged with failing to register (comply) at the time as well. During the sting operation it was discovered that my “boyfriend”, who was caught with me in our hotel room, was 15 years old. This did not look good for me as a convicted sex offender and I was given the option of another charge or “cash in” my probation for state prison time, I chose the latter. I chose to have no probation in place of prison time.

Kendall was released in 2006 and stopped identifying as Paige in 2012. Kendall has described “deliverance from a very dark life,” including 

  • prostitution
  • sex-trafficking
  • gender confusion/transgenderism (dysphoria)
  • molestation
  • rape
  • drugs
  • alcohol
  • gambling
  • “full blown AIDS”
  • no immune system
  • infections in his brain & blood
  • severe progressive Osteoporosis
  • diabetes
  • etc.

After “the doctors sent him home to die,” Kendall experienced a “moment of grace.” Kendall has described being cured of many problems:

  • gender confusion
  • addictions
  • Chronic Major Depression
  • bipolar
  • anxiety
  • PTSD 
  • lust-filled activity
  • the weight of sin
  • no longer used a walker
  • diabetes was gone
  • HIV/AIDS virus was no longer detectable
  • immune system returned
  • “rescued from the cesspools of gender dysphoria, the lgbTQia TransQueer Gender Cult”

Supreme Court brief

In 2019, Kendall participated in an amicus curiae brief in support of a funeral home that had fired a transgender employee. The brief was submitted by:

  • Public Advocate of the United States
  • Conservative Legal Defense and Education Fund
  • Poll Watchers
  • I Belong Amen Ministries
  • David Arthur
  • Policy Analysis Center
  • Eagle Forum Foundation
  • Pastor Chuck Baldwin
  • Restoring Liberty Action Committee
  • Center for Morality

Relevant passages from Kendall:

I Belong Amen Ministries is a ministry headed by David Arthur, a former homosexual and former transgender person.

The good news is that transgender status is not immutable, and the mind’s perspective about the body can, and often does, change over time. Consider the situation of David Arthur, one of the amici curiae filing this brief. David Arthur was sexually abused from around the age of five. He was involved in homosexual behavior, and then worked as a transgender prostitute. He contracted HIV/AIDS at age 14, and by age 37 he was on his deathbed. That was in 2009. With his body weakening, in a hospital bed that was placed in his bedroom at home, David Arthur hit rock bottom and turned to God, who rescued him from the captivity of his addictions. Today, he is healthy and strong, and living proof that people are not immutably transgendered or homosexual. On his website,8 David summarized the matter as follows:

Using myself as an illustration, as a former homosexual, and former transgender person, with decades of experience in that world, I can say without a shadow of a doubt that homosexuality (including transgenderism) is absolutely mutable and curable!

God has created each one of us in a heterosexual design which cannot be altered. We are born male or female. Our DNA makes us male or female and no surgery in the world can change our DNA. Changing our sex/gender is not possible. Indeed, homosexuality is not truly a sexual orientation at all, but just one type of sin, and a type of bondage. Those who tell us that homosexuality is just one of many sexual orientations seek to keep us in bondage, whether they know it or not.

Once we embrace our heterosexual design, we can find the freedom from the bondage of homosexuality. Being set free from homosexuality (including transgenderism) is just as desirable, just as real, and just as common, as a drug addict being set free from the bondage and hold of drugs. Our “true self” is exactly who we were created to be from conception….

Public Advocate of the United States (2019)

Maine First Project

In 2022, Shawn McBreairty of the far-right Maine First Project teamed up with Kendall to attack trans people.

In April, McBreairty’s podcast featured David Arthur Kendall, who describes himself as a former transgender woman and former prostitute. “Changing sex is not an option,” his website says. He describes being transgender as a type of “confusion” or “mental disorder”—a compelling story for transphobic groups like Maine First Project.

McBreairty subsequently returned the favor by appearing on Kendall’s podcast.

Goforth (2022)

Maine School Administrative District #1

In 2022, Kendall showed up at a local school board meeting to “gender identity movement is dangerous.”

Kendall said the LBGTQ agenda is dangerous because it can force sexual identity on children and lead to gender confusion. 

Kendall described himself as being a transgender woman for years, and said he was seduced into the LGBTQ movement. He identifies as a gay man and said he is glad he wasn’t placed on puberty blockers that would have affected his growth and development. He alluded to past behaviors and said he has since reformed his life. 

“Please let these children know it’s OK to be gay,” Kendall said. “They don’t have to run into the arms of a rainbow movement that is bound to destroy them, body and soul.”

Brewer (2022)

No Way Back

Kendall is featured in the 2023 anti-trans film Affirmation Generation by Laura VanZee-Taylor and Penka Kouneva.

Below are Kendall’s comments throughout the film before they were deleted:

As a child, what I didn’t know, I didn’t call it internalized homophobia because I didn’t know the term for it, but that’s when I started noticing the stigma over homosexuality. I recognized the guilting, the shaming of same-sex attraction within society and culture alone.

Because of the estrogen, I have severe bone loss. First, it was osteopenia then it turned into osteoporosis, and the bone loss was severe, so severe I was hunched over, couldn’t stand up straight, walking with a walker.

Even though I didn’t want it, I never wanted the full surgery, I was contemplating on going to Thailand to get the complete sexual reassignment surgery, which is what they called it then. Now it’s called gender affirming surgery. So first I was going to New York to get castrated and to get more work, more silicone, put in my body. I was on Coney Island with two trannies that had already had complete sexual reassignment surgery. And we are laughing and joking and having a good old time, and then they both looked at me, and one of them said, “Don’t do it.” And I said, “Don’t do what?” And he said, “All of my life I thought that if I could just become a woman, I would find peace and joy and happiness.” And he said, “And now that I am legally and medically a woman, I am more miserable now than I was my entire life.” He said, “I think about taking my life every day.”  And the other one said “I think about taking my life several times a day every day.” 

Everyone that knew me, they would’ve argued with anybody that “Paige” was content and secure and happy, and just being the person she was meant to be. And none of them had a clue that I was depressed, that I was bitter, that I hated myself, that I attempted to take my life quite a few times. Even the young queens that looked up to me, that would come and stay at my apartment, they didn’t know that. And then come to now, when I think back and I think, “Wow, how many of them felt the same way?” I recognize that I was just living a lie. I became the lie. I was the lie. 

It’s lonely enough being a detransitioner, and not having the support of a group of friends that you can go out and have fun with, right? Like when you were in that movement.

There’s no reasoning behind most of what is spewed by trans activists. No reasoning. And I know this because I was one, right? As a pawn for the movement, I was one. Not only was I a victim, I victimized young boys. I helped young boys into the movement. I watched boys be seduced into the movement and then passed around and profited off of. And then, when they were no more good, tossed out in the garbage, and then they became the groomers. And so I know that being that is just emotionally driven. It’s all about thoughts and feelings, thoughts and feelings. There is no real reality in that world. 

I think that one of my biggest goals is to make young people understand that you can just be gay, and it’s OK.

References

Supreme Court of the United States (August 23, 2019). Amicus Curiae in R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes Inc. v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/18/18-107/229226/20220630125559710_Harris%20Funeral%20amicus%20brief%20on%20the%20merits.pdf

Brewer, Paula (May 20, 2022). School board allows registered sex offender to speak at meeting. The County https://thecounty.me/2022/05/20/news/education/school-board-allows-registered-sex-offender-to-speak-at-meeting/

Goforth, Claire (May 31, 2022). Far-right organization in Maine obsessed with ‘grooming’ in schools accidentally platformed a convicted sex offender. Daily Dot https://www.dailydot.com/debug/maine-first-project-platformed-sex-offender-schools/

Christine Niles (May 20, 2023). Ex-Trans Prostitute Exposes LGBT ‘Cult.’ Forward Boldly https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2BuMg0zzPY

Resources

Florida Sex Offender Registry (offender.fdle.state.fl.us)

Maine Sex Offender Registry (sor.informe.org)

I Belong Amen Ministries (ibelongamen.com)

LinkedIn (linkedin.com)

  • david-kendall-b9a06263 [deleted]

Substack (substack.com)

Abel Garcia is an American ex-transgender activist. Garcia gets money and attention by making it more difficult for others to get trans healthcare.

Background

Garcia was born in 1997. According to Garcia, this is the timeline:

  • 2009 (age 12) began thinking about transition
  • 2015 (age 18) began looking for help to transition and found a therapist, attending sessions for over a year
  • 2016 (age 19) moved out of the family home and began transition
  • 2017 (age 20) legal name and gender change
  • 2018 (age 21)
    • got breast implants; was initially happy, had regrets a few months later
    • turned away from that “lifestyle” following a “salvation from God”
    • began looking for help to “detransition”
  • 2019 (age 22) found a new therapist
  • 2020 (age 23) had implants removed and began socially “detransitioning”
  • 2021 (age 24) planned follow-up surgery to remove unwanted breast tissue

Ex-transgender activism

Since embracing religious conservatism, Garcia is featured in a number of anti-trans projects, including the 2023 film No Way Back.

Garcia has been interviewed by gender critical activists including

Garcia has been interviewed by other ex-trans activists including:

Garcia has been interviewed anti-trans-front groups including:

Garcia appears in the 2023 anti-trans media piece DETRANS by PragerU.

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

Fell, Kelly (Nov 8, 2022). Venus Rising With Detransitioner Abel Garcia. Venus Rising / The Center for Bioethics and Culture Network https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zwytvt5bPsA

Cole, Chloe (April 20, 2023). Detransitioner Abel Garcia speaks in ATX on detransitioning as a male. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eK_gad4nR0Y

Hernandez, Drew (Nov 2, 2022). DETRANSITIONED: The Abel Garcia Story. FRONTLINES https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXxQ48XbNvE Part Two https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lW0XNJPnZ9s

Partners for Ethical Care (Oct 26, 2022). First Do No Harm Unity Rally- Detransitioner Abel Garcia Speaks Out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnkOn0i8LuI

Ortiz, Brittany (January 18, 2022). Abel Garcia: Conversion Therapy and Medical Detransition with Detrans Man. A Slightly Twisted Female https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gROhaA9uHeo

Brewer, Erin (Jul 11, 2022). Transjacked: Abel Garcia. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thEXWfLOg5U

PragerU (October 25, 2023). DETRANS: The Dangers of Gender-Affirming Care. https://www.prageru.com/video/detrans

Resources

Twitter (twitter.com)

YouTube (youtube.com)

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Joel Koss is an American game developer who took medical gender transition steps as an adult for a few months. After deciding that path was not bringing fulfillment, Koss made additional changes back toward an earlier identity.

Koss appears in the 2023 anti-trans film No Way Back, about the ex-transgender movement. Koss has apologized, saying “I didn’t know what I was a part of. Informed consent saves lives.”

Background

Koss has stated “horrible things” happened as a child, adding: “Around the time I was 11 or 12 I developed anorexia nervosa. And then years later, it led me to develop a body dysmorphia, which I falsely, wrongly attributed to being gender dysphoria.” According to Koss:

Ever since I was young, since I could remember, I have had an issue with my identity, mostly the way that I looked, talked, dressed. I think I got into my head growing up I would be happier if I was a woman, I’d be more satisfied with myself if I was a woman, I would love myself more if I was a different person.

I just know like how truly easy it is for you to go and get treatment if you live in an area with informed consent treatment. I literally made an appointment with the doctors office in Chicago. I live in Indiana. So I drove up to Chicago. I went to the doctor’s appointment that I had set up for two weeks prior. It was very quick. And then that day I received estrogen. There was definitely a honeymoon phase. In the beginning of hormone therapy, everything felt great. My body felt great. My mind felt clear.  I was also becoming an Internet influencer pretty quickly. 

Koss documented the transition on social media.

I am five months on hormones… about 5 1/2 months. And since my last update, there have been a lot of changes. So as many of you know, I take estrogen shots. But this one is particularly important. As I put this into my body., I will be six months on estrogen. Sometimes you never think that the things that you in life that you want are going to happen fully.

Three months later, Koss felt differently:

It turned out to make me more dysphoric. It turned out to make me uncomfortable. The more it happened to my body, the scareder I got. And I came to the realization that I don’t feel like I’m actually transgender. It’s a hell of a realization to have.

Koss soon gave additional updates:

What’s up my beautiful people? How are we doing today? If you’ve been around my channel for a minute, than you know that I am male to female to male. So I went through transition, and then, after about nine months, I came to the realization that, I am not transgender. 

In July 2020 I started realizing that hormone therapy was no longer having a satisfactory effect on my mental health and my physical health. But now at this point in time, I had a lot of social media followers, people that looked up to me and made me feel like I was important to them. And I felt like I couldn’t go back. And that the only option was to just keep pushing forward, which led me to spiral into a state of depression and being admitted to a psychiatric hospital. 

Response to No Way Back

Koss appears in the 2023 anti-trans film No Way Back and is credited as “Joel Kass” in some promotional materials. In April 2023, Koss posted:

I was interviewed for this documentary. I was actually used quite a bit for the documentary. I was told that it would shine a positive light on informed consent. And it did not. […] The full interview and testimony of my experiences that I gave was chopped up into little bits and sprinkled throughout the documentary, not fully reflecting my actual views and thoughts on transgender healthcare. I apologize, and I hope that it did no damage. I would hate to think that something I was a part of could be viewed by a legislator and impractically influence thought-making, decision-making processes, or just scare the shit out of parents of trans kids that come out to them. As always, every single one of you has my love and my support. 

Koss later added:

I am an advocate for trans rights, trans healthcare, everything to do with basic equality. I was approached by the director about April of last year. And when I asked about the scope of and the impact of the film, I was told it was going to be a positive film about informed consent. I was told that it was going to take an ethical and responsible perspective of getting proper mental healthcare before informed consent in terms of trans teens and not full-grown adults. I don’t know if I can take legal action because I signed a release. I gave very thoughtful, ethical, correct responses to interview questions, and every single thing I said was taken out of context, cut all apart, piecemealed into something that served the agenda of another party entirely. So I apologize. I didn’t know what I was a part of. I didn’t know what was being done. Informed consent saves lives. That’s it. […] I hope I did nothing damaging, and I that I can be forgiven.

References

Cormier, Alline (February 23, 2023). ‘Affirmation Generation’ tells truths about ‘trans youth’ the media won’t touch. Feminist Current https://www.feministcurrent.com/2023/02/23/affirmation-generation-tells-truths-about-trans-youth-the-media-wont-touch/

Factora, James (June 20, 2023) AMC Canceled Screenings of an Anti-Trans Documentary After Backlash. them. https://www.them.us/story/amc-theatres-no-way-back-documentary

Resources

Instagram (instagram.com)

TikTok (tiktok.com)

Blaire White is a conservative transgender activist and YouTuber. White hosts a “drama” channel focusing on the easiest targets, usually whatever trans person has done the most controversial thing that week. White also hosts a similar podcast called The Blaire White Project. White makes frequent appearances with other conservative trans people and anti-trans activists. White has been affiliated with extremist group Gays Against Groomers and is a favored source for conservative media outlets and anti-trans journalists.

Resources

YouTube (youtube.com)

Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)

Instagram (instagram.com)

Twitter (twitter.com)

Facebook (facebook.com)

Blaire White Merch Store (blairemerch.com)

Gloria Steinem is an American author and activist. Steinem is a key historic figure in second-wave feminism.

After publishing anti-transgender writings in the 1970s, Steinem revised some of those views and now supports trans-inclusive feminism.

Background

Gloria Marie Steinem was born March 25, 1934 in Toledo to Leo Steinem, a Jewish traveling antiques dealer, and Ruth Nuneviller Steinem, a Presbyterian homemaker. Steinem’s parents split in 1944.

Ruth Steinem grew increasingly unstable, leading Steinem to move in with older sibling Susanne Steinem Patch in Washington DC. After graduating from high school there, Steinem earned a bachelor’s degree from Smith College in 1956.

In 1957, Steinem had an abortion in London while traveling to India. After two years in India, Steinem returned to the United States and began researching and writing, publishing work in Help! Show, Esquire, Cosmopolitan, and New York.

In 1972, Steinem co-founded Ms. magazine. In July 1974, the magazine published an excerpt from trans travel writer Jan Morris, which led to backlash.

Throughout the 1970s, Steinem played a central role in the women’s rights movement and became a favored author and source on the subject.

Anti-trans views and reconsideration

In February 1977, amid increasing anti-trans sentiment surrounding transgender athletes in general and Renee Richards in particular, Steinem published an anti-trans article titled “If the Shoe Doesn’t Fit, Change the Foot.” Steinem claimed “transsexuals are paying an extreme tribute to the power of sex roles. In order to set their real human personalities free, they surgically mutilate their own bodies…” Steinem also embraced the conspiracy theory of “the transsexual empire” promoted by Janice Raymond.

In 2013, Steinem addressed “words circulated out of time and context” from those previous writings:

So now I want to be unequivocal in my words: I believe that transgender people, including those who have transitioned, are living out real, authentic lives. Those lives should be celebrated, not questioned. Their health care decisions should be theirs and theirs alone to make. And what I wrote decades ago does not reflect what we know today as we move away from only the binary boxes of “masculine” or “feminine” and begin to live along the full human continuum of identity and expression.

Steinem (2013)

In 2021, Steinem signed an open letter supporting trans women and girls, saying, “I am proud to sign this letter because we all must fight against the unnecessary barriers placed on trans women and girls by lawmakers and those who co-opt the feminist label in the name of division and hatred.”

References

Morris, Jan (July 1974) Conundrum [excerpt]. Ms. pp. 57ff.

Steinem, Gloria (February 1977). If the Shoe Doesn’t Fit, Change the Foot. Ms. p. 76ff.

Steinem, Gloria (1983). Transsexualism. in Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions. pp. 224–226. Henry Holt & Co, ISBN 978-0030632365

Robert, Monica (September 28, 2012). Gloria Steinem-Transphobe. TransGriot https://transgriot.blogspot.com/2012/09/gloria-steinem-transphobe.html

Steinem, Gloria (October 2, 2013). Op-ed: On Working Together Over Time. The Advocate https://www.advocate.com/commentary/2013/10/02/op-ed-working-together-over-time

GLAAD (March 31, 2021). Open Letter Supporting Trans Women and Girls. https://glaad.org/tdovletter/

Media

Holly Lawford-Smith [narrator]. (June 3, 2023). Gloria Steinem | Transsexualism (1977). Feminist Heretics https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7IeYPYBnGY

Resources

Gloria Steinem (gloriasteinem.com)

National Women’s History Museum (womenshistory.org)

  • Gloria Steinem
  • womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/gloria-steinem

Instagram (instagram.com)

Twitter (twitter.com)

Facebook (facebook.com)

Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)

Melanie Anne Phillips is an American artist, author, musician, filmmaker, software developer, and activist. Phillips is one of the most important historical figures in online transgender resources.

Background

Melanie Anne Phillips was born on February 20, 1953 and grew up in Burbank, California. After attending film school at University of Southern California, Phillips worked in film and television, including directing a horror feature in 1985. Phillips married, and they had two children.

Phillips, Chris Huntley, and Stephen Greenfield began a narrative software project called Write Brothers, which evolved into Dramatica interactive story engine. In 1997, Phillips founded Storymind to develop additional narrative development products.

Transgender activism

In 1989, Phillips began a gender transition and kept a detailed journal of the process. Over time, Phillips published the journal online, gathered an extensive collection of transition resources, and produced instructional videos that were available on physical media.

Phillips was an important community leader at America Online (AOL) and helped build out the transgender resources available there. Phillips moved these resources to a standalone site called Heart Corps in 1997.

Phillips has lived in several communities on the West Coast and continues to create music, photography, writing, and art. Outside of this public online persona, Phillips is a very private person in real life.

References

For a full bibliography of all 86 books published to date, see the Amazon author page for Melanie Anne Phillips: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Melanie-Anne-Phillips/author/B0744CGDLV

Phillips, Melanie Anne; Huntley Chris (2004). Dramatica: A New Theory of Story. ISBN 9780918973047

Phillips, Melanie Anne (2013). Be a Story Weaver – NOT a Story Mechanic! ISBN 9781489503541

Phillips, Melanie Anne (2014). Images and Visions: The Photography of Melanie Anne Phillips. ISBN 9781495283321

Phillips, Melanie Anne (2017). Raised by Wolves: Volume One in the Transcendental Trilogies Nine-Volume Set. ISBN 9781521859551

Esocoff, Sarah (). “Melanie Speaks.Sounds Gay https://pod.link/1686975383/episode/27d697cd2d82b16116eb641e4da9f681

Resources

Heart Corps (heartcorps.com) [archive]

  • Journeys [archive]
  • heartcorps.com/journeys/index.htm

Melanie Anne Phillips (melanieannephillips.com) [archive]

Storymind (storymind.com)

Facebook (facebook.com)

Patreon (patreon.com)

YouTube (youtube.com)

IMDb (imdb.com)

Dramatica (dramatica.com)

LinkedIn (linkedin.com)

Blogspot (blogspot.com)

Amazon (amazon.com)

Charlie Evans is a British writer and ex-transgender activist. Evans gets money and attention by making it harder for others to get trans healthcare.

Background

Evans was born ~1991. Evans reportedly experienced abuse outside the family as a child. Evans also reportedly experiences generalised anxiety disorder and depression.

Evans has resided in Margate and Newcastle and reportedly has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in biology, with plans to seek a doctorate.

Ex-trans activism

Evans announced the Detransition Advocacy Network in November 2019.

Six months later, Evans reportedly took a full-time job as a COVID tester and announced a “retirement from the gender wars.” The website was deactivated in late 2021.

References

Stone, Gemma (April 23, 2021). Where is The Detransition Advocacy Network now? Medium https://medium.com/@notCursedE/where-is-the-detransition-advocacy-network-now-f01ec9c9682d

Comerford, Aidan (January 29, 2021). Update thread. https://twitter.com/AidanCTweets/status/1355188820854104069

Staff report (May 12, 2020). The media lies: “100’s of detransitioners” scam EXPOSED. Transiness https://www.transiness.com/post/the-media-lies-100-s-of-detransitioners-scam-exposed

Lockwood, Sally (October 5, 2019) ‘Hundreds’ of young trans people seeking help to return to original sex. Sky News https://news.sky.com/story/hundreds-of-young-trans-people-seeking-help-to-return-to-original-sex-11827740

Heuchan, Claire (January 23, 2020). I Am No Less of a Woman: Charlie Evans Interview. AfterEllen https://afterellen.com/charlie-evans-interview/

Walsh, Joani (November 16, 2019). Meet the ‘detransitioners’: the women who became men – and now want to go back. The Telegraph https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/meet-detransitioners-women-became-men-now-want-go-back/

Staff report (November 2, 2019). News in detransition. Gender Health Query https://www.genderhq.org/blog/2019/10/17/news-in-detransition

Media

Women’s Declaration International (WDI) (October 27, 2019). Charlie Evans, Detransition Advocacy Network at WHRC “Inventing the Transgender Child” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9I7hS3qrwXQ

Resources

Detransition Advocacy Network (detransadv.com) [archive]

Detransition Advocacy Network (detransadv.net)

Detransition Advocacy Network (thedetransitionadv.wixsite.com)

Twitter (twitter.com)

Medium (medium.com)

  • @charlie.evans/ [deleted]
  • https://medium.com/@charlie.evans/the-medicalization-of-gender-non-conforming-children-and-the-vulnerability-of-lesbian-youth-10d4ac517e8e

Patreon (patreon.com)

Crowdfunder UK (crowdfunder.co.uk)

  • Website for ‘The Detransition Advocacy Network’
  • https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/website-for-the-detransition-advocacy-network
  • Fundraiser for Debbie Harries
  • https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/support-debbie-harries
  • Sookie’s Travel to UK [2nd Detrans Meet]
  • https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/sookies-travel-to-uk-2nd-detrans-meet