Miriam Ben-Shalom is an American educator and anti-transgender activist.
Background
Ben-Shalom was born May 3, 1948 in Waukesha, Wisconsin, one of six children in a Roman Catholic family. Ben-Shalom’s mother died when Miriam was six. After graduating high school in 1967, Ben-Shalom married and had a child. At 19, Ben-Shalom converted to Judaism, moved to Israel, joined the military, changed names, and remarried. In 1971, Ben-Shalom divorced and returned to the US, earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees from University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee.
In 1974, Ben-Shalom enlisted in the United States Army Reserve. After coming out as lesbian in the media, Ben-Shalom was honorably discharged in 1976. Ben-Shalom sued, and after a lengthy court battle, lost in 1990. Ben-Shalom then co-founded the Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Veterans of America (GLBVA), now American Veterans for Equal Rights (AVER). Ben-Shalom continued protesting until “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy was repealed.
Ben-Shalom taught English at Milwaukee Area Technical College. Ben-Shalom has been in a relationship with Karen Weiss (born September 1947).
Anti-transgender activism
In 2017, Ben-Shalom testified at the Texas Senate Committee on State Affairs against trans rights and co-founded the Hands Across the Aisle Coalition with right-wing activist Kaeley Triller Haver. Ben-Shalom has worked with the Heritage Foundation to oppose trans rights.
Ben-Shalom also participated in the anti-trans group blog The Compassion Coalition.
Because of these hateful views, Ben-Shalom was disinvited from being grand marshal of the 2016 Milwaukee Pride Parade.
References
Jones, Andrea; Wood, Melody (March 3, 2017). Feminists and Conservatives Link Arms to Confront Transgender Ideology. The Daily Signal. The Heritage Foundation.
Anderson, Ryan T. (2018). When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment. New York: Encounter Books. p. 207. ISBN 978-1594039621.
The Bending and Twisting of Sex and Gender. Ms. Miriam Ben-Shalom on YouTube. CitizenGo. February 23, 2018
1st International Conference on Sex, Gender, and Education #GenderAndSex (February 2018). Madrid Declaration for Understanding, Respect and Freedom (PDF). Femina Europa
Polcyn, Bryan; Davis, Stephen (June 8, 2016). Transgender issues are driving a wedge in LGBT community, says activist ousted from Pride Parade. WITI
Milwaukee Pride Parade (May 3, 2016). Re: Former Grand Marshal Miriam Ben-Shalom. Facebook. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
Miriam Ben-Shalom (April 27, 2016). For your reading enjoyemnt (not sarcasm): I am no longer Milwaukee Pride’s Grand Marshal for their parade. Facebook.
-http://mcgarryfh.frontrunnerpro.com/book-of-memories/2215570/Samuel-Ages/obituary.php
Resources
Trans Data Library (transdatalibrary.org)
Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)
Library of Congress (loc.gov)
X/Twitter (x.com)
LinkedIn (linkedin.com)
Michael Shellenberger is an American author, environmental policy analyst, politician, and anti-transgender activist.
Background
Michael D. “Mike” Shellenberger was born in 1971 in Colorado and grew up in Greeley. Shellenberger has three siblings born to parent Nancy and two step-siblings via stepparent, Don (1942–2021). Shellenberger graduated from Greeley Central High School and earned a bachelor’s degree from Earlham College in 1993. In 1996 Shellenberger earned a master’s degree from University of California, Santa Cruz.
Shellenberger is married to sociologist and policy analyst Helen J. Lee Shellenberger (born July 31, 1975). They have two children, Joaquin B. Rosman Shellenberger (born 1999) and Kestrel Shellenberger (born November 2, 2005). They live in Berkeley, California.
Environmental policy work
In 2003 Shellenberger co-founded the Apollo Alliance, an umbrella organization now called BlueGreen Alliance.
Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus founded market research firm American Environics. They wanted to look at “mistaken assumptions in progressive political movements.”
After working in public relations, Shellenberger co-founded the Breakthrough Institute with Ted Nordhaus in 2003. In 2016, Shellenberger left Breakthrough to found Environmental Progress, focused on keeping American nuclear power plants online.
Shellenberger is a cofounder of anti-drug organization California Peace Coalition and in 2022 founded Shellenberger LLC.
Anti-progressivism
Like many anti-trans people, Shellenberger began as a progressive, then by being critical of progressive political positions, primarily around the environment. Twenty years later, Shellenberger is among many self-described “centrists” whose anti-progressivism has curdled into conservatism.
Shellenberger is author of the 2021 book San Fransicko: How Progressives Ruin Cities.
Political career
Shellenberger ran for California Governor in 2018 as an independent, coming in 9th in the primary with 31,692 votes, or 0.5%.
In 2022 Shellenberger came in third in the primary with 290,286 votes, or 4.1%.
Anti-trans activism
Shellenberger is a heavy Twitter user and was hand-picked by Elon Musk in 2022 to review non-public discussions by former Twitter employees and current users. Anti-trans activist Bari Weiss brought Shellenberger on to write for The Free Press in 2022.
In 2023, Shellenberger started being more open and militant about anti-transgender views. Shellenberger has a Substack called Public which frequently platforms anti-transgender views and guests, notably Leighton Woodhouse, Mia Hughes, and Alex Gutentag. Most of the regular contributors were associated with Shellenberger’s previous project Environmental Progress.
References
Ashton, Mia; Shellenberger, Michael (May 25, 2023). Why The Media Attacks Detransitioners. Public https://public.substack.com/p/why-the-media-attacks-detransitioners
Shellenberger, Michael (May 4, 2023). Join The Pro-Freedom Resistance. Public https://public.substack.com/p/join-the-pro-freedom-resistance
Shellenberger, Michael; Woodhouse, Leighton (April 10, 2023). VIDEO: “Oh my God” – San Francisco Students React To Trans “Kidnapping” Of Swimmer Riley Gaines. Public https://public.substack.com/p/video-oh-my-god-san-francisco-students
Klett, Leah MarieAnn (April 10, 2023). Michael Shellenberger tells Joe Rogan he returned to Christianity in response to societal ‘hatred, anger.’ Christian Post https://www.christianpost.com/news/michael-shellenberger-tells-joe-rogan-why-hes-a-christian.html
Shellenberger, Michael; Woodhouse, Leighton; Rowley, Madeleine (April 8, 2023). Why Trans Activists Attack Women. Public https://public.substack.com/p/why-trans-activists-attack-women
Redmond, Tim (April 3, 2023). Michael Shellenberger, who says progressives ruin cities, has alarming transphobic tweets. 48 Hills https://48hills.org/2023/04/michael-shellenberger-who-says-progressives-ruin-cities-has-alarming-transphobic-tweets/
Shellenberger, Michael (March 27, 2023). Why are we sterilizing children? Public https://public.substack.com/p/why-are-we-sterilizing-children
Shellenberger, Michael (March 29, 2023). “We Can’t Even Agree On What A Woman Is.” Public https://public.substack.com/p/we-cant-even-agree-on-what-a-woman
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
Power, Nina (March 16, 2023). “If You Had Asked Me At 11 If I Wanted To Be A Boy, I Would Have Said ‘Yes.’” Public https://public.substack.com/p/if-you-had-asked-me-at-11-if-i-wanted
Power, Nina (March 16, 2023). Need To Keep Masses Afraid Is Behind Elite Embrace Of Wokeism And Censorship. Public https://public.substack.com/p/need-to-keep-masses-afraid-is-behind
Shellenberger, Michael; Woodhouse, Leighton (February 13, 2023). Normies Of The World, Unite! Public https://public.substack.com/p/normies-of-the-world-unite
Woodhouse, Leighton (February 13, 2023). What Happened to the Left? Public https://public.substack.com/p/what-happened-to-the-left
Shellenberger, Michael (December 10, 2022). The Twitter Files, Part 4 https://twitter.com/shellenberger/status/1601720455005511680
Shellenberger, Michael (November 11, 2021). Why Wokeism Is A Religion. Public https://public.substack.com/p/why-wokeism-is-a-religion
Shellenberger, Michael (March 20, 2013). The Ecology of Obesity. The Breakthrough Institute https://thebreakthrough.org/issues/food-agriculture-environment/the-ecology-of-obesity
Satff report (February 17, 2013). Greeley Central High School graduate waxes philosophic on energy. Greeley Tribune https://www.greeleytribune.com/2013/02/17/greeley-central-high-school-graduate-waxes-philosophic-on-energy/
Armstron, David (August 5, 1997). Progressive PR. SFGate https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Progressive-PR-3239880.php
Resources
Trans Data Library (transdatalibrary.org)
Desmog (desmog.com)
- Michael Shellenberger
- Excellent overview of Shellenberger’s environmental track record
- Traces the origins of Shellenberger’s political shift to the far right
SourceWatch (sourcewatch.org)
Michael Shellenberger (shellenberger.org)
Shellenberger for Governor (shellenbergerforgovernor.com)
Breakthrough Institute (thebreakthrough.org)
Lumina Strategies (luminastrategies.com) [archive]
Business Ethics Network (businessethicsnetwork.org)
Communication Works (communicationworks.org) [archive]
Institute for Global Communications (igc.org)
Apollo Alliance (apolloalliance.org) [archive]
California Peace Coalition (californiapeacecoalition.org)
X/Twitter (x.com)
- ShellenbergerMD [transferred to shellenberger in 2023]
- shellenberger
Substack (substack.com)
Instagram (instagram.com)
Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)
Matt Walsh is an American conservative commentator and anti-transgender extremist.
Background
Walsh was born June 18, 1986 and grew up in a conservative Catholic household near Baltimore, Maryland. After graduating from high school, Walsh began working in radio in Delaware and later Kentucky. After Walsh’s show was cancelled in 2013, Walsh put more energy into a conservative blog started in 2012. In 2014 Walsh began contributing to The Blaze in 2014, then The Daily Wire in October 2017.
In April 2018, Walsh began hosting a weekday show on YouTube called The Matt Walsh Show. In April 2023 YouTube demonetized Walsh’s channel for repeated attacks on trans people, particularly Dylan Mulvaney.
Anti-trans activism
Walsh has accused “the media, Hollywood, and the school system” of recruiting children into the LGBT community.
Walsh is one of several media figures who gets money and attention by attacking trans and gender diverse children. In 2022, Walsh published an anti-trans children’s book titled Johnny the Walrus and released the anti-trans propaganda piece What Is a Woman? Walsh also helped organize a “rally to end child mutilation” protest in Nashville, part of Walsh’s campaigns against hospitals and clinics that provide trans health services.
Books
- The Unholy Trinity: Blocking the Left’s Assault on Life, Marriage, and Gender (2017)
- Church of Cowards: A Wake-Up Call to Complacent Christians (2020)
- Johnny the Walrus (2022)
- What Is a Woman?: One Man’s Journey to Answer the Question of a Generation (2022)
Media
Black, Jordan (September 20, 2023). The Sad, Unremarkable Mind of Matt Walsh – Part 1. Dead Domain https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjPFQPK_1QM
Black, Jordan (October 4, 2023). The Sad, Unremarkable Mind of Matt Walsh – Part 2. Dead Domain https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8N09MXwF0Zs
Resources
Trans Data Library (transdatalibrary.org)
Matt Walsh (themattwalshblog.com)
Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)
IMDb (imdb.com)
YouTube (youtube.com)
Instagram (instagram.com)
X/Twitter (x.com)
Facebook (facebook.com)
TikTok (tiktok.com)
Marcus Evans is a British psychoanalyst whose clientele has included trans and gender diverse people. Evans was a key critic of trans healthcare for gender diverse youth at the Tavistock. The clinic was later closed.
Evans and his wife Sue Evans co-authored the 2021 book Gender Dysphoria: A Therapeutic Model for Working with Children, Adolescents and Young Adults.
He is involved with anti-trans organization Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine (SEGM).
Background
Evans graduated from Bembridge in 1976. He served as head of nursing at the Tavistock & Portman NHS Trust from 1998-2018). Evans was Clinical Director of the adult & adolescent departments between 2011 & 2015. In 2018 he began working in private practice.
2021 book
The following people are mentioned in the acknowledgements:
We are grateful to the following people who have generously given their time and expertise to the development of this book: Annie Pesskin, Ian Williamson, Richard Stephens, Margot Waddell, Frances Grier, and Ema Syrulnik, as well as all our colleagues at the Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine. We are grateful to Kate Pearce at Phoenix for offering to publish this book.
Resources
Trans Data Library (transdatalibrary.org)
Evans Psychotherapy (evanspsychotherapy.co.uk)
LinkedIn (linkedin.com)
Twitter (twitter.com)
Madeleine Kearns is a conservative Scottish-American writer and anti-transgender acitivist.
Background
Madeleine Janet “Maddy” Kearns was born on June 11, 1995. Kearns’ parent Mary Elizabeth Kearns (born 1961) is a solicitor who was involved in the Scottish Council of Human Bioethics. Kearns’ parent Hugh C. Kearns was born in 1967.
Kearns grew up in Linlithgow, near Glasgow. Kearns is a singer/songwriter who writes and performs music. Kearns has a sibling named Patrick. Kearns’ sibling Lily is also a musician who married Daniel Santorum, a child of US Senator Rick Santorum, in 2020.
Kearns earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of St Andrews in 2015, a postgraduate diploma from the University of Glasgow in 2016, and a master’s degree from New York University in 2018.
In 2023 Kearns married Nicholas Joseph “Nick” Tomaino (born March 9, 1998) in a Catholic ceremony. Tomaino is a former National Review colleague and an assistant editorial features editor for the Wall Street Journal opinion page.
Kearns was a staff writer at National Review and a visiting fellow at the Independent Women’s Forum. Kearns has appeared on Issues, Inc. and on the Megyn Kelly podcast.
References
Kearns, Madeleine (October 19, 2017). At university, it’s risky to ‘come out’ as Christian. Catholic Herald https://catholicherald.co.uk/at-university-its-risky-to-come-out-as-christian/
Kearns, Madeleine (January 6, 2020). Has trans orthodoxy conquered the world? UnHerd https://unherd.com/2020/01/how-the-trans-orthodoxy-conquered-the-world/
Resources
Trans Data Library (transdatalibrary.org)
Madeleine Kearns (madeleinekearns.com)
X/Twitter (x.com)
National Review (nationalreview.com)
Independent Women’s Forum (iwf.org)
YouTube (youtube.com)
Instagram (instagram.com)
Spectator World (thespectator.com)
Muck Rack (muckrack.com)
Soundcloud (soundcloud.com)
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:
“She didn’t lose me to a cult,” her eldest daughter said, clarifying that she is estranged from her mum because Meagher is “racist”, “abusive”, “transphobic”, “greedy”, “cruel” and “religiously intolerant”.
“She lost me because she’s a piece of s**t,” she added. “It’s true, we won’t speak to her, although her TERF-ness was only the tip of the iceberg. She was extremely emotionally and physically abusive growing up.”
Parsons (2020)
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.
Compassion Coalition (2020)
In November 2022 “Chadwick” appeared at a Sovereign Women Speak event with Kara Dansky, Lierre Keith, Exulansic, Meghan Ventura, and April Morrow.
References
Parsons, Vic (February 6, 2020). Christian mum who said she ‘lost her kids to the trans cult’ spectacularly called out by her own children. PinkNews https://www.thepinknews.com/2020/02/06/lynn-meagher-called-out-children-trans-cult-proud-boys-posie-parker-christian-post/
Showalter, Brandon (April 27, 2019). ‘I’ve lost two kids to the trans cult, I want them back’: An anguished mom shares her journey. Christian Post https://www.christianpost.com/news/ive-lost-two-kids-trans-cult-i-want-them-back-anguished-mom-shares-her-journey.html
Selected anti-trans writing by Meagher
Meagher, Lynn (March 19, 2021) When Transgenderism Discards My Daughter, I Will Still Be Here For Her. The Federalist https://thefederalist.com/2021/03/19/when-transgenderism-discards-my-daughter-i-will-still-be-here-for-her/
Resources
Trans Data Library (transdatalibrary.org)
Substack (substack.com)
Washington State Department of Health (wa.gov/doh)
- RN00101182 (1990–2021)
- LP00033026 (1985–1990)
Facebook (facebook.com)
X/Twitter (twitter.com)
Lisa Littman is an American public health researcher and anti-transgender activist.
Littman is involved in efforts to restrict gender affirming care for children and youth. Littman created the disputed diagnosis “rapid onset gender dysphoria” (ROGD) and is a key figure in the ex-transgender movement.
Anti-transgender activism
Littman created the anti-trans front group Institute for Comprehensive Gender Dysphoria Research (ICGDR) with Stella O’Malley in 2021.
Under the auspices of ICGDR, Littman published a paper on “detransition” in anti-trans academic journal Archives of Sexual Behavior.
Littman contributed a chapter titled “Psychosocial factors and gender dysphoria: emerging theories” to the 2023 ant-trans book Sex and Gender: A Contemporary Reader.
References
Sullivan, Alice; Todd, Selina [Eds.] (2023). Sex and Gender: A Contemporary Reader. Taylor & Francis, ISBN 9781032261195
Littman, Lisa (August 16, 2018). Parent reports of adolescents and young adults perceived to show signs of a rapid onset of gender dysphoria. PLOS ONE (March 19, 2019 corrected ed.). 13 (8): e0202330. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0202330.
Littman, Lisa (March 19, 2019). Correction: Parent reports of adolescents and young adults perceived to show signs of a rapid onset of gender dysphoria. PLOS ONE. 14 (3): e0214157 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0214157.
Wadman, Meredith (September 7, 2018). ‘Rapid onset’ of transgender identity ignites storm. Science. 361 (6406): 958–959. doi:10.1126/science.361.6406.958
WPATH Global Board of Directors (September 4, 2018). WPATH Position on “Rapid-Onset Gender Dysphoria (ROGD)” (PDF). World Professional Association for Transgender Health
ROGD Statement. Coalition for the Advancement & Application of Psychological Science.
Ashley, Florence (July 2020). A critical commentary on ‘rapid-onset gender dysphoria.’ The Sociological Review. 68 (4): 779–799. doi:10.1177/0038026120934693
(August 29, 2018. ). Reader outcry prompts Brown to retract press release on trans teens. Retraction Watch
(October 22, 2018.). Rapid-onset gender dysphoria’ is a poisonous lie used to discredit trans people. The Guardian
Why ‘rapid-onset gender dysphoria’ is bad science. The Conversation.
Kay, Jonathan (March 19, 2019). An Interview With Lisa Littman, Who Coined the Term ‘Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria.’ Quillette https://quillette.com/2019/03/19/an-interview-with-lisa-littman-who-coined-the-term-rapid-onset-gender-dysphoria/
Littman, Lisa (September 27, 2021). The website for the Institute for Comprehensive Gender Dysphoria Research (ICGDR) is now live. Littman Research https://littmanresearch.com/news-2/
Littman, Lisa (2021). Individuals Treated for Gender Dysphoria with Medical and/or Surgical Transition Who Subsequently Detransitioned: A Survey of 100 Detransitioners. Archives of Sexual Behavior 50, pages3353–3369 (2021) https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-021-02163-w
RI Business Portal (January 15, 2o01). Fictitious name: ICGDR https://business.sos.ri.gov/CorpWeb/CorpSearch/CorpSummary.aspx?FEIN=001717167
Resources
Trans Data Library (transdatalibrary.org)
Littman Research (littmanresearch.com)
Institute for Comprehensive Gender Dysphoria Research (icgdr.org)
Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)
Note: In 2025, this site phased out AI illustrations after artist feedback. The previous illustration is here.
Lierre Keith is an American environmentalist and author. Keith is a founder of environmental organization Deep Green Resistance, a radical feminist group that has been criticized for anti-transgender views.
Background
Keith was born in 1964 and went to high school in Brookline, Massachusetts. In the 1980s Keith was involved in a number of feminist projects, including Vanessa and Iris: A Journal for Young Feminists, the journal Rain and Thunder, the groups Women Against Violence Against Women, Minor Disturbance, Feminists Against Pornography.
Keith’s environmental activism includes the 2009 book The Vegetarian Myth and the 2011 book Deep Green Resistance, co-authored with Derrick Jensen and Aric McBay. McBay left in 2012, citing increasing anti-trans views of the other co-founders.
Anti-trans activism
Keith helped found the Women’s Liberation Front (WoLF). WoLF was founded in 2013, incorporated in 2016, and earned non-profit status in 2018. They have held meetings called WoLF Fest since 2016 that largely consist of anti-transgender networking and presentations.
In a sympathetic 2014 piece by Michelle Goldberg titled “What Is a Woman?” Keith explained:
Trans women say that they are women because they feel female—that, as some put it, they have women’s brains in men’s bodies. Radical feminists reject the notion of a “female brain.” They believe that if women think and act differently from men it’s because society forces them to, requiring them to be sexually attractive, nurturing, and deferential. In the words of Lierre Keith, a speaker at Radfems Respond, femininity is “ritualized submission.”
[…]
Three years ago, she co-founded the ecofeminist group Deep Green Resistance, which has some two hundred members and links the oppression of women to the pillaging of the planet.D.G.R. is defiantly militant, refusing to condemn the use of violence in the service of goals it considers just. In radical circles, though, what makes the group truly controversial is its stance on gender. As members see it, a person born with male privilege can no more shed it through surgery than a white person can claim an African-American identity simply by darkening his or her skin. Before D.G.R. held its first conference, in 2011, in Wisconsin, the group informed a person in the process of a male-to-female transition that she couldn’t stay in the women’s quarters. “We said, That’s fine if you want to come, but, no, you’re not going to have access to the women’s sleeping spaces and the women’s bathrooms,” Keith told me.
References
McBay, Aric (May 14, 2013). DGR and Transphobia. http://www.aricmcbay.org/2013/05/14/dgr-and-transphobia/
Staff (May 16, 2013). Response to Aric McBay’s “Deep Green Resistance and Transphobia.” Deep Green Resistance https://deepgreenresistance.blogspot.com/2013/05/response-to-aric-mcbay-deep-green-resistance-transphobia.html
Goldberg, Michelle (August 4, 2014). What Is a Woman? The New Yorker https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/08/04/woman-2
Keith, Lierre (May 28, 2014). Liberals, Radical, and Why It Matters. RadFems Respond https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcRZqGpTU9A
Ring, Trudy (January 30, 2019). Anti-Trans Feminists Appear at Panel of Right-Wing Heritage Foundation. The Advocate. https://www.advocate.com/transgender/2019/1/30/anti-trans-feminists-appear-panel-right-wing-heritage-foundation
Fitzsimons, Tim (January 29, 2019). Conservative group hosts anti-transgender panel of feminists “from the left.” NBC News https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/conservative-group-hosts-anti-transgender-panel-feminists-left-n964246
Schmidt, Samantha (February 7, 2020). Conservatives find unlikely ally in fighting transgender rights: Radical feminists. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/02/07/radical-feminists-conservatives-transgender-rights/
Langas, Amelia (November 14, 2017). ‘Radical’ feminist organization criticizes ETHS transgender locker room policy. The Daily Northwestern.
Lee, Mia (February 24, 2021). Inclusion of anti-trans group in UW employment fair sparks controversy. The Badger Herald. https://badgerherald.com/news/2021/02/24/print-2-23-inclusion-of-anti-trans-group-in-uw-employment-fair-sparks-controversy
Burns, Katelyn (September 9, 2019). The rise of anti-trans “radical” feminists, explained. Vox https://www.vox.com/identities/2019/9/5/20840101/terfs-radical-feminists-gender-critical
Hachey, Isabelle (June 12, 2019). La femme qui dérange. La Presse. https://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/2019-06-12/la-femme-qui-derange
Bauer, Sydney (February 11, 2020). The New Anti-Trans Culture War Hiding in Plain Sight. The New Republic. https://newrepublic.com/article/156539/new-anti-trans-culture-war-hiding-plain-sight
Staff report (December 11, 2o19). Event at Seattle Public Library causes firestorm, group accused of being ‘hate group'”. KIRO 7 News Seattle. https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/controversial-hate-group-event-seattle-public-library-causes-firestorm/SHZT7665XZAYRNCV3FT5OM5IWA/
Staff report (April 26, 2021). Far-Right Groups Flood State Legislatures With Anti-Trans Bills Targeting Children. Southern Poverty Law Center.https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2021/04/26/far-right-groups-flood-state-legislatures-anti-trans-bills-targeting-children
Kolowrat, Hayden (February 1, 2021). UPDATED: QLaw opposes Women’s Liberation Front’s involvement in UW Law interview program. The Badger Herald. https://badgerherald.com/news/2021/02/01/qlaw-opposes-womens-liberation-fronts-involvement-in-uw-law-interview-program
Anita Noelle Green v. Miss United States of America, LLC, No. 21-35228 (9th Cir October 29, 2021).
Gevisser, Mark (June 27, 2020). The front line of the new gender wars. Financial Times. https://www.ft.com/content/003c71d6-b55c-11ea-8ecb-0994e384dffe
Haywood, Phaedra (August 12, 2016). Radical feminists sue Obama administration in New Mexico court over bathroom directive. The Santa Fe New Mexican. http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local%20news/radical-feminists-sue-obama-administration-in-new-mexico-court-over/article/53f86667-80aa-58dd-8d8c-299ca8b533d1.html
Joseph-Charles, Saeeda; Walz, Mackenzie (August 11, 2016). Case: Women’s Liberation Front v. U.S. Department of Justice. Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse. https://clearinghouse.net/case/15477/
Paul, Crystal (December 9, 2019). Amid outcry, Seattle Public Library weighs decision to provide venue for ‘radical feminist’ event criticized as anti-trans. Seattle Times. https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/amid-outcry-seattle-public-library-weighs-decision-to-provide-venue-for-radical-feminist-event-criticized-as-anti-trans/
Martinez, Christian (November 25, 2021). Suit takes aim at law that lets transgender inmates choose housing based on gender identity. Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-11-24/lawsuit-takes-aim-at-law-that-allows-transgender-inmates-to-choose-housing-location-based-on-gender-identity
Norris, Sian (September 30, 2021). The Far-Right Co-Option of the Transgender Rights Issue. Byline Times. https://bylinetimes.com/2021/09/30/the-far-right-co-option-of-the-transgender-rights-issue/
Petition for Rulemaking to Protect the Safety and Privacy of Women in Need of Shelter Due to Homelessness or Violence (PDF). May 1, 2017.
Quinlan, Casey (June 27, 2022). Experts on white nationalism say anti-trans rally in DC part of larger threat to democracy”. The American Independent https://americanindependent.com/white-nationalism-lgbtq-our-bodies-our-sports-anti-tran-rally-washington/
Media
Amy Sousa (March 9, 2022). Conversation with Lierre Keith. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0nPeVlZmiw
Resources
Trans Data Library (transdatalibrary.org)
Lierre Keith (lierrekeith.com)
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Kenneth Zucker is an American-Canadian psychologist and anti-transgender extremist.
Zucker’s ideology has caused profound harm to sex and gender minorities over a long career. Zucker has created several disease models to describe these minorities and has promoted many more sex and gender “disorders” as editor of The Archives of Sexual Behavior.
Zucker developed a non-affirming model of care for gender diverse youth that has been described as “child abuse.” Zucker was fired by employer CAMH in 2015. Zucker’s clinic was shut down, and non-affirming models of care have been outlawed in many jurisdictions.
After I was defamed in Archives of Sexual Behavior in 2007, I personally began working in earnest to get Zucker fired. Below is the last major exposé I wrote prior to that firing:
Sexology’s war on transgender children
Zucker was a member of the anti-trans organization Pediatric and Adolescent Gender Dysphoria Working Group and has spoken at events sponsored by anti-trans hate group Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine.
Background
Kenneth J. “Ken” Zucker was born on December 29, 1950 to Eugene M. Zucker (1922–1997) and Sara Miller Zucker (1924–2020). Zucker has one sibling, Barbara Ann Zucker-Romanoff aka Barbra Zucker (born 1957). The family lived in Skokie, Illinois. Zucker married Rochelle Fine, also from Niles Township. Their child Simone Zucker is a Toronto-based filmmaker, and their child Josh aka “Concentration Camp” is guitarist in Toronto band Fucked Up.
Zucker attended Southern Illinois University during the Vietnam War and was one of the key campus leaders in the anti-war protest movement there, staging mock trials and declaring people war criminals in absentia (Lagow 1977). Zucker earned a bachelor’s degree there, then a master’s degree at Roosevelt University in 1975.
Zucker headed to Canada eventually just to be safe. Zucker earned a doctorate from University of Toronto in 1982.
Zucker’s frequent collaborator Richard Green had the same impulse for self-preservation: “I left Los Angeles in 1964 to avoid the Vietnam War by going to NIMH [National Institutes of Mental Health]” (Green 2004). In 2001 Green handed over editorial control of Archives of Sexual Behavior to Zucker, to continue pushing their toxic ideology about sex and gender minorities.
Physical attractiveness of children “research” (1993–1996)
Zucker was a psychologist at the Clarke Institute (aka “Jurassic Clarke”) in Toronto. Zucker is infamous for forcing gender-diverse children into reparative therapy to conform to expectations for gendered behavior in children. Zucker considers a gender transition a “bad outcome.”
Zucker had access to hundreds of children through the Clarke and took topless photos of all children brought to the clinic. In one particularly troubling “study,” Zucker wanted to see how “physically attractive” these children’s faces and upper torsos were. Adults were shown images of children in Zucker’s care and asked to rate their attractiveness.
Zucker’s conclusion: “Boys with gender identity disorder were judged to be more attractive than were the clinical control boys.”
Zucker repeated the “research” with the remaining children a few years later, concluding the “Girls with gender identity disorder had significantly less attractive ratings than the normal control girls for the traits attractive, beautiful, and pretty.”
Both studies were published in Archives of Sexual Behavior, the journal Zucker now edits.
Other harmful views
Zucker is a darling of the ex-gay movement because of decades of attempts in “curing” gender-diverse children. Zucker was frequently cited by ex-gay groups like NARTH (National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuals) and Leadership U.
As the rest of the world begins to understand and accept gender diversity as a trait and not a disease, Zucker has been increasingly cast as the old-school holdout in press coverage. As noted in the New York Times:
Dr. Kenneth Zucker, a psychologist and head of the gender-identity service at the Center for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, disagrees with the “free to be” approach with young children and cross-dressing in public. Over the past 30 years, Dr. Zucker has treated about 500 preadolescent gender-variant children. In his studies, 80 percent grow out of the behavior, but 15 percent to 20 percent continue to be distressed about their gender and may ultimately change their sex.
Dr. Zucker tries to “help these kids be more content in their biological gender” until they are older and can determine their sexual identity — accomplished, he said, by encouraging same-sex friendships and activities like board games that move beyond strict gender roles.
Brown (2006)
Anti-trans activist J. Michael Bailey summarized Zucker’s ideas in the defamatory book The Man Who Would Be Queen:
Zucker thinks that an important goal of treatment is to help the children accept their birth sex and to avoid becoming transsexual. His experience has convinced him that if a boy with GID becomes an adolescent with GID, the chances that he will become an adult with GID and seek a sex change are much higher. And he thinks that the kind of therapy he practices helps reduce this risk. Zucker emphasizes a three-pronged treatment approach for boys with GID. First, he thinks that family dynamics play a large role in childhood GID—not necessarily in the origins of cross-gendered behavior, but in their persistence. It is the disordered and chaotic family, according to Zucker, that can’t get its act together to present a consistent and sensible reaction to the child, which would be something like the following: “We love you, but you are a boy, not a girl. Wishing to be a girl will only make you unhappy in the long run, and pretending to be a girl will only make your life around others harder.” So the first prong of Zucker’s approach is family therapy. Whatever conflicts or issues that parents have that prevent them from uniting to help their child must be addressed.
The second prong is therapy for the boy, to help him adjust to the idea that he cannot become a girl, and to help teach him how to minimize social ostracism. Zucker does not teach boys how to walk in a manly fashion, but he does give them feedback about the likely consequences of taking a doll to school.
The third prong is key. Zucker says simply: “The Barbies have to go.” He has nothing against Barbie dolls, of course. He means something more general. Feminine toys and accoutrements—including Barbie dolls, girls’ shoes, dresses, purses, and princess gowns—are no longer to be tolerated at home, much less bought for the child. Zucker believes that toleration and encouragement of feminine play and dress prevents the child from accepting his maleness. Common sense says that a boy who wants to play with dolls so much that he is willing to risk his father’s wrath and his peers’ scorn is unlikely to change his behavior due to inconsistent feedback, sometimes forbidding, sometimes tolerating, and sometimes even encouraging it. Inconsistent parenting like this is ineffective in stamping out any kind of unwanted behavior.
Failure to intervene increases the chances of transsexualism in adulthood, which Zucker considers a bad outcome. … Why put boys at risk for this when they can become gay men happy to be men?
Bailey (2003), pp. 31-32
Zucker blames poor family dynamics and maternal psychopathology for gender-nonconforming behavior. Zucker claims this phenomenon is more likely in non-white children with lower IQs. As J. Michael Bailey noted:
Ken Zucker, whom we met in Chapter 2, has tried to predict which boys with gender identity disorder (GID) would still have the disorder when they become adolescents. Adolescents with GID are much rarer and presumably much closer to being transsexual. Zucker found several predictors of adolescent GID: lower IQ, lower social class, immigrant status, non-intact family, and childhood behavior problems unrelated to gender identity disorder.
Bailey (2003) pp. 178-179.
Zucker’s alleged “desistance” rate hides the fact that many children brought to Zucker’s clinic are hardly success stories in terms of quality of life outcomes:
Yet Zucker’s approach has its own disturbing elements. It’s easy to imagine that his methods—steering parents toward removing pink crayons from the box, extolling a patriarchy no one believes in—could instill in some children a sense of shame and a double life. A 2008 study of 25 girls who had been seen in Zucker’s clinic showed positive results; 22 were no longer gender-dysphoric, meaning they were comfortable living as girls. But that doesn’t mean they were happy. I spoke to the mother of one Zucker patient in her late 20s, who said her daughter was repulsed by the thought of a sex change but was still suffering—she’d become an alcoholic, and was cutting herself. “I’d be surprised if she outlived me,” her mother said.
Rosin (2008)
2025 “autogynephilia” meeting
In 2025, Zucker participated in a meeting with other key “autogynephilia” activists:
References
Lagow, Larry Dwane (1977). A history of the Center for Vietnamese Studies at Southern Illinois University, 1969-1976. Ph.D. dissertation; typescript in Hoover Institution Archives https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt0d5nd9g7/entire_text/
Staff report (December 29, 1997). Obituary: Eugene Zucker. Chicago Tribune
Eugene Zucker. 75. beloved husband of Sara, nee Miller; loving father of Dr. Ken (Rochelle) Zucker and Barbra (Steven) Romanoff; devoted grandfather of Joshua and Simone Zucker and step-grandfather of Samantha Sprigel: fond brother of Howard (Shirley) Zucker; dearest uncle of Deborah, Adina, David, and Ellen. Mr. Zucker was a life-long intellectual.
Sandeen, Autumn (May 20, 2009). GID Reform Now Protest At Annual APA Meeting. Pam’s House Blend
http://www.pamshouseblend.com/diary/11064/gid-reform-now-protest-at-annual-apa-meeting-speaker-madeline-deutch-md [archive]
Conway, Lynn (April 5, 2007). “Drop the Barbie”: Ken Zucker’s reparatist treatment of gender-variant children.
http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/TS/News/Drop%20the%20Barbie.htm
Conway, Lynn (April 30, 2009). “The War Within: CAMH scathing internal report Zucker’s and Blanchard’s gender clinics
http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/TS/News/US/Zucker/The_War_Within_CAMH.html
Conway, Lynn (February 18, 2009). Kenneth Zucker’s legal threats: Part of a pattern of silencing transgender critics.
http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/TS/News/US/Zucker/Kenneth_Zucker%27s_pattern_of_silencing_transgender_critics.html
Grant, Japhy (February 6, 2009). Dr. Kenneth Zucker’s War on Transgenders. Queerty https://www.queerty.com/dr-kenneth-zuckers-war-on-transgenders-20090206
Winters, Kelley (2009). Gender Madness in American Psychiatry: Essays from the Struggle for Dignity BookSurge, ISBN 978-1439223888 – see also (gendermadness.com) [harchive]
Staff report (July 1997). Childhood Gender-Identity Disorder Diagnosis Under Attack. Leadership U http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/narth/childhood.html [archive] – now merged with Cru: Campus Crusade for Christ International (cru.org)
Singh, Devita (2012) A follow-up study of boys with gender identity disorder. [unpublished dissertation] https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/bitstream/1807/34926/1/Singh_Devita_201211_PhD_Thesis.pdf
Singh D, Bradley SJ, Zucker KJ (2021). A Follow-Up Study of Boys With Gender Identity Disorder. Front. Psychiatry, Volume 12 – 28 March 2021 https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.632784
Brown, Patricia Leigh (December 2, 2006). Supporting Boys or Girls When the Line Isn’t Clear. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/02/us/supporting-boys-or-girls-when-the-line-isnt-clear.html
Rosin, Hannah (November 2008). A Boy’s Life. The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/11/a-boys-life/307059/
Resources
Trans Data Library (transdatalibrary.org)
Kenneth J. Zucker (kenzuckerphd.com)
LinkedIn (linkedin.com)
X/Twitter (x.com)
IMDb (imdb.com)
Note: In 2025, this site phased out AI illustrations after artist feedback. The previous illustration is here.
Debra Soh is a Canadian psychologist and anti-transgender activist.
Soh is a member of the intellectual dark web, a loose alliance described as a “gateway to the far right.” Soh has promoted a number of disease models of gender identity and expression:
Soh was a member of the anti-trans organization Pediatric and Adolescent Gender Dysphoria Working Group.
Background
Debra W. Soh was born in 1990, is of Malaysian-Chinese descent, and grew up in Canada.
Soh earned a doctorate from York University in 2016. Soh’s dissertation is titled: “Functional and Structural Neuroimaging of Paraphilic Hypersexuality in Men” The examining committee included K. Schneider, James Cantor, G. Turner, D. Stevens, D. Vanderlann, C. Davis
Soh left academia in order to promote anti-trans views in the media.
Anti-transgender activism
Soh authored the 2020 anti-trans book The End of Gender: Debunking the Myths about Sex and Identity in Our Society.
Soh and anti-trans activist Jonathan Kay co-hosted the Wrongspeak podcast for anti-trans platform Quillette.
From 2021 to 2023, Soh hosted The Dr. Debra Soh Podcast. Guests included many other key members of the anti-transgender movement.
Soh is a regular guest at conservative and anti-transgender outlets, including
References
Jones, Zinnia (October 31, 2018 ) Debra Soh is really bad at trans science (part 1). Gender Analysis https://genderanalysis.net/2018/10/debra-soh-is-really-bad-at-trans-science-part-1/
Jones, Zinnia (October 31, 2018 ) Debra Soh is really bad at trans science (part 2). Gender Analysis https://genderanalysis.net/2018/10/debra-soh-is-really-bad-at-trans-science-part-2/
Jones, Zinnia (October 31, 2018 ) Debra Soh is really bad at trans science (part 3). Gender Analysis https://genderanalysis.net/2018/10/debra-soh-is-really-bad-at-trans-science-part-3/
Soh, Debra (22 February 2021). Attacks on Asian-Americans reveal a strange racial double standard. The Globe and Mail https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-attacks-on-asian-americans-reveal-a-strange-racial-double-standard/
Resources
GLAAD Accountability Project (glaad.org)
Trans Data Library (transdatalibrary.org)
- Debra Soh
- transdatalibrary.org/person/debra-soh
Debra Soh (drdebrasoh.com)
Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)
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Twitter (twitter.com)
LinkedIn (linkedin.com)
YouTube (youtube.com)
Patreon (patreon.com)
Facebook (facebook.com)
York University Psychology (psychology.gradstudies.yorku.ca)
- https://psychology.gradstudies.yorku.ca/news/past-oral-defences/#2017
Muck Rack (muckrack.com)
