Randi Ettner is an American psychologist and author known for affirming work with transgender and gender diverse people.
Background
Randi Joy (Cahan) Ettner was born in 1952 in Lincolnwood, Illinois. Ettner’s aunt was noted sexologist Leah Cahan Schaefer. Ettner earned a bachelor’s degree from Indiana University, followed by a master’s degree from Roosevelt University.
Ettner began working with transgender people in 1977 at Cook County Hospital in Chicago, Illinois. Ettner received a doctorate in psychology at Northwestern University, with a dissertation on childbirth. Ettner had additional training at Moray House School of Education in Scotland.
Ettner is founder of New Health Foundation Worldwide and works with spouse Frederic M. “Fred” Ettner, a physician.
Ettner has helped pass anti-discrimination laws, provided testimony on behalf of trans people seeking workplace rights, and works to secure appropriate treatment for prisoners. Ettner has also been a critic of psychologist J. Michael Bailey‘s 2003 book The Man Who Would Be Queen. Bailey claims the book was initially motivated by “gross inaccuracies in Ettner’s account of transsexualism.” Ettner works to improve understanding of trans issues, and has spoken out against attitudes used to justify violence against trans people.
Below is a clip from a 2006 interview I did with Dr. Ettner on coming out.
Publications
Cahan RJ (1976). A Psychology Internship: Cook County Hospital. Roosevelt University
Ettner R (1979). Childbirth at Home: A Preliminary Attempt to Predict Dysfunctional Labor. Northwestern University
Ettner R (1996). Confessions of a Gender Defender: A Psychologist’s Reflections on Life Among the Transgendered. Chicago Spectrum Press, ISBN 9781886094512
Ettner R (1999). Gender Loving Care: A Guide to Counseling Gender-variant Clients. W.W. Norton & Co. ISBN 9780393703047, W W Norton page
Ettner R (2002). Book Review: Sex, Gender & Sexuality: 21st Century Transformations. By Tracie O’Keefe. Archives of Sexual Behavior Volume 31, Number 2 / April, 2002.
Ettner R, Harima K, King D, Landen M, Nodin Ñ, VP (2003). Transgender and Transsexuality. In Ember CR, Ember M (eds.). Encyclopedia of Sex and Gender: Men and Women in the World’s Cultures. Springer, ISBN 9780306477706
White T, Ettner R (2004). Disclosure, Risks and Protective Factors for Children Whose Parents Are Undergoing a Gender. Journal of Gay and Lesbian Psychotherapy, 8 (1/2), 129-145.
White T, Ettner R (2004). Disclosure, risks, and protective factors for children whose parents are undergoing a gender transition. In Leli U, Drescher J (eds.) Transgender Subjectivities: A Clinician’s Guide. Haworth Press ISBN 9780789025760
Ettner R, White T, Brown GR, Shah BJ (2006). Client Aggression Towards Therapists: Is It More or Less Likely with Transgendered Clients? International Journal of Transgenderism, 2006, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 1–7.
White T, Ettner R (2007). Adaptation and adjustment in children of transsexual parents. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 2007, vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 215–221.
Ettner R, Monstrey S, Eyler AE (2007). Principles of Transgender Medicine and Surgery. Haworth Press, ISBN 9780789032683
References
Staff report (August 28, 1977). Randi Joy Cahan is engaged to Dr. Frederic Mark Ettner. New York Times
Lieberman AB (1992). Easing Labor Pain. Harvard Common Press, ISBN 9781558320437 p. 170
Marilynn Marchione (August 14, 1995). Small Neenah hospital a leader in sex changes. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Staff (Oct 22, 2007). Experts testify in case for hormones in prison. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Rodkin, Dennis (2003). Sex and Transsexuals. Chicago Reader
Dreger AD (2008). The controversy surrounding The Man Who Would Be Queen: a case history of the politics of science, identity, and sex in the Internet age. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 2008 Jun;37(3):366-421.
Deardorff, Julie (March 22, 2001). Gender conflicts are given a clear place of study. Chicago Tribune
Morning Edition (April 3, 2001). Profile: Center opens in Chicago to help promote understanding of transsexual issues. National Public Radio
Beyer earned a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University in 1974 and a medical degree from University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1978. Beyer practiced as an eye surgeon before going into activism and politics.
Beyer ran three unsuccessful campaigns for public office in Maryland: State Delegate in 2010, and State Senator in 2014 and 2018. Beyer’s bid in 2014 against gay incumbent Richard Madaleno led to criticism from some local LGBT activists.
Trans activism
Beyer was involved in protests of the transphobic 2003 book The Man Who Would Be Queen. Beyer was a participant in our 2004 all-transgender benefit perfomance of Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues, performing a piece with fellow physicians Becky Allison and Marci Bowers.
Beyers was part of the DSM-V Task Force for “gender identity disorder,” which was renamed “gender dysphoria” in 2012.
From 2012 to 2017, Beyer wrote many articles on timely trans topics on HuffPost, including an interview with activist Riki Wilchins, a profile of sexologist Milton Diamond, and an obituary for trans-supportive therapist Leah Schaefer. Beyers also criticized Alice Dreger’s attempt to rehabilitate J. Michael Bailey’s reputation in Galileo’s Middle Finger, noting the difference in Lambda Literary Foundation’s response to criticism of their nomination process in 2004 and 2015.
Philanthropic work includes Gender Rights Maryland and Equality Maryland. Beyers served on the board of A Wider Bridge, the North American organization which promotes LGBTQ inclusion in Israel and equality for Israel. Beyer also served as Regional Advocacy Chair for J Street, a national organization which advocates for diplomacy with Israel and a peaceful two-state solution.
Beyer was inducted into the Montgomery County Human Rights Hall of Fame in 2014. Some local LGBT activists protested the selection, including Somerset Mayor Jeffrey Slavin and Equality Maryland Executive Director Carrie Evans.
Ever since the trans community grew into its activism during the 90s, and began to include more than just transsexual persons (those who transition with medical and surgical treatment), the issue of who falls under the umbrella has grown. I myself wrote about this in a column in 2013, and the controversy has waxed and waned. Now, I believe the growth in the non-binary movement is the greatest challenge to our internal cohesion.
In a 2024 conversation with Josh Szeps, the show notes say:
“Transsexual” sounds like an old-fashioned term. But it describes a real medical condition in which your brain has the opposite sex from your body. Are transsexuals threatened by newer gender-queer, non-binary theories of sex? Dr Dana Beyer says so. She’s one of the most influential and effective trans activists in history. A medical doctor and self-described transsexual, she’s been striding the hallways of power since the 1970s meeting with the likes of Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden to achieve landmark wins for LGBT rights. Today, she believes modern gender theory is harming transsexuals like herself.
Lavers, Michael K. (October 14, 2014). Honor for trans activist sparks controversy.Washington Blade https://www.washingtonblade.com/2014/10/14/beyer-induction-md-county-hall-fame-sparks-controversy/
Beyer, Dana (June 23, 2017). Are There Too Many Ribs in the Trans Umbrella?HuffPost https://www.huffpost.com/entry/are-there-too-many-ribs-in-the-trans-umbrella_b_594d6060e4b0c85b96c6590f
alt url: digitaltransgenderarchive.net/files/dn39x1845
Scott Barry Kaufman is an American psychologist who frequently platforms anti-transgender activists and people associated with the intellectual dark web, a gateway to the far right. Kaufman also platforms academics who promote evolutionary psychology, an ideology frequently opposed to value-neutral scientific conceptualizations of trans and gender diverse people.
Ever since a graduate thesis on the subject, Kaufman been invested in misusing science to maintain and justify sex categories and sex segregation, in the way that race science has been misused to maintain and justify racial categories and segregation. Academic sex segregationists have staked their careers and legacies on defending the few remaining sex-segregated institutions.
Kaufman objects to being listed on this site, saying, “I try every day to do good in the world and have never done anything damaging to trans people.”
Background
Scott Barry Kaufman was born June 3, 1979 to Barbara Alpert (born ~1956), a professor of medicine, and Michael Stephen Kaufman (born ~1954), a lawyer specializing in mergers and acquisitions. Both parents went to Harvard and were from families of high social standing.
Kaufman earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Carnegie Mellon University, followed by a master’s degree from Cambridge. Kaufman’s 2007 master’s thesis was titled “Sex differences in mental rotation and spatial visualization ability: Can they be accounted for by differences in working memory capacity?” Kaufman then earned a doctorate in cognitive psychology from Yale, with a research focus on intelligence.
After personally experiencing challenges in early formal education, much of Kaufman’s work involves helping children realize their full potential. Kaufman has authored, co-authored, edited, and contributed to several books for a lay audience:
The Psychology of Creative Writing (2009)
Ungifted: Intelligence Redefined (2013)
Mating Intelligence Unleashed: The Role of the Mind in Sex, Dating, and Love (2013)
The Complexity of Greatness: Beyond Talent or Practice (2013)
The Philosophy of Creativity: New Essays (2014)
Wired to Create: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Creative Mind (2015)
Twice Exceptional: Supporting and Educating Bright and Creative Students with Learning Difficulties (2018)
Transcend: The New Science of Self-Actualization (2020)
Learned Hopefulness: The Power of Positivity to Overcome Depression (2020)
Choose Growth: A Workbook for Transcending Trauma, Fear, and Self-Doubt (2022)
The Psychology Podcast
Kaufman hosts The Psychology Podcast and has consistently platformed gender-critical and anti-transgender guests, including:
In December 2022, Kaufman outlined agreement with anti-trans activist Jesse Singal about disagreements:
My friend @jessesingal convinced me that the following is probably true: “People look at someone’s behavior, and then, based on how much it outrages them, they decide whether to attribute it to personal shortcomings (their fault) or mental illness (not their fault).”
In 2022, Kaufman expressed an interest in a “debate” on trans issues and trans rights.
Who would you like to see have a respectful, healthy debate about trans issues and trans rights? I'd love some suggestions of reputable evidence-based experts who have differing viewpoints. I will moderate this on @psychpodcast. Thanks!
Who would you like to see have a respectful, healthy debate about trans issues and trans rights? I’d love some suggestions of reputable evidence-based experts who have differing viewpoints. I will moderate this on @psychpodcast. Thanks!
When I asked Kaufman to provide more details on which rights for trans people should be debated, Kaufman said, “I’m afraid I don’t have the time to respond to your questions. I am extremely busy.”
If a podcaster consistently platformed antisemitic guests then suddenly wanted to have a “respectful healthy debate on Jewish issues and Jewish rights,” Kaufman would probably have a few questions. It’s also interesting that none of Kaufman’s gender critical guests appeared with someone who had opposing views.
Psychology is one of the key ways the state exerts social control on trans people. Academic exploitation of sex and gender minorities is well documented. People like Kaufman perpetuate these oppressive systems, probably unintentionally. It’s what biologist Julia Serano calls “trans unaware” and “trans suspicious” thinking.
In 2023, Kaufman released a series of podcast episodes on sex and gender. The episode titles reflect Kaufman’s anti-trans bias. Episodes Kaufman calls “science” are by gender critical people who have similar conservative views.
Kaufman chose not to use science to describe the episode with noted biologist/geneticist Anne Fausto-Sterling, even though Fausto-Sterling is by far the most notable and accomplished scientist Kaufman interviewed. That’s because Fausto-Sterling’s views are informed by the latest in scientific understanding of sex and gender and not Kaufman’s own biased views.
Episode list
“What we get wrong about transgender people” with Aaron Rabinowitz and Callie Wright
a decent introductory discussion about minutiae that ignores larger systemic issues
“The Science of Testosterone” with activist Carole Hooven
This one is just a bunch of conservative people agreeing with each other about evolutionary psychology
“Gender/Sex and the Body” with biologist/geneticist Anne Fausto-Sterling
This is the only one worth listening to
References
Kaufman SB (2007). Sex differences in mental rotation and spatial visualization ability: Can they be accounted for by differences in working memory capacity? Intelligencehttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.intell.2006.07.009
Kaufman says this quote exemplifies the psychologist’s views on trans people:
You tweeted something this morning that caught me. You were talking about a study that was showing how hard it must be to be a transgender person because you walk through the world and the entire world has evolved to really only see two gender identities in this. So it’s like a millisecond in our evolutionary perspective. We just don’t quite have the ability to see them they way they see themselves.
Daum co-hosts the podcast A Special Place In Hell with Sarah Haider.
Daum published the essay collections My Misspent Youth and The Unspeakable: And Other Subjects of Discussion. Daum’s work has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, Vogue, GQ, and Harper’s.
Daum authored the book The Problem With Everything: My Journey Through The New Culture Wars.
Comments on Leelah Alcorn’s suicide
In 2018, Daum expressed what many felt was more sympathy for Leelah Alcorn’s unsupportive parents than for the dead teen.
“There’s no question that Leelah’s death and the circumstances leading to it are worthy of—and, in fact, demand— public rage. But along with that rage should come compassion, not just for the Alcorns but for anyone who’s ever been slow to reach acceptance, or whose circumscribed worldview has clouded their understanding of somebody else’s experience.”
References
Daum, Meghan (August 24, 2018). Nuance: A Love Story.GEN https://gen.medium.com/nuance-a-love-story-ae6a14991059
Jennifer Block is an American writer and anti-transgender activist. Block is a key historical 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 “gender clinics”) in the 20th century
the “rapid onset gender dysphoria” (ROGD) disease model: “More adolescents with no history of gender dysphoria—predominantly birth registered females—are 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, 2023–
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.
In 2025, Block revealed that BMJ had commissioned more work, but the British Medical Association killed it following negative response to Block’s 2023 article and video.
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 independence—the freedom of editors to make decisions without interference from any funders—for 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 “Gender dysphoria in young people is rising—and so is professional disagreement” 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 as an institution.
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 attacking 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 Health’s involvement in WHO’s 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 rising—and 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
Natalie Wynn is an American cultural critic whose YouTube channel Contrapoints won a 2022 Peabody Award in the Immersive & Interactive category.
Background
Wynn was born on October 21, 1988 in Arlington, Virginia and grew up in nearby Vienna. Wynn’s parent William is a psychology professor at Georgetown, and parent Marian is a doctor. Wynn has two siblings who also went to Georgetown.
Wynn studied piano at Berklee College of Music, earned a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University in 2012, and a master’s degree from Northwestern University, then decided not to pursue a doctorate. Wynn did gig work before becoming a video essayist in 2008. Wynn’s work is considered part of “BreadTube,” a loose affiliation of YouTubers who posted videos to challenge right-wing views on subjects.
In 2016, Wynn began the ContraPoints channel. In 2017, Wynn came out as trans and removed all pre-transition videos. In 2020 Wynn came out as lesbian.
Video essays
Wynn is known for criticizing a number of prominent anti-trans figures, including Ray Blanchard, Jordan Peterson, Megan Phelps-Roper, and J.K.Rowling. Wynn has also lampooned segments of the trans community, presenting humorous characters who represent various political factions.
Weiss, Max (June 2024). Who Exactly Is Natalie Wynn?Baltimore Magazine https://www.baltimoremagazine.com/section/artsentertainment/natalie-wynn-viral-baltimore-youtuber-profile/
Bari Weiss is an American opinion writer and a key historical figure in promoting and platforming anti-transgender extremism. Weiss is founder of anti-trans group blog The Free Press.
Bari M. Weiss was born March 25, 1984 to Lou and Amy Weiss, owners of Weisslines, a flooring retailer. Weiss grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and graduated from Columbia University in 2007.
Weiss served as a senior editor at Tablet, then worked at the Wall Street Journal from 2013 to 2017. From 2017 until resigning in 2020, Weiss was a staff writer and editor for the opinion section of the New York Times.
Weiss was married to Jason Kass from 2013 to 2016 and married Nellie Bowles in 2021.
Weiss has been active in pro-Israel causes, lived in Israel for a time, and authored the 2019 book How to Fight Anti-Semitism.
Weiss cites the platform’s treatment of Libs of TikTok, a Twitter account that remains active despite its connection to multiple acts of terror and intimidation from far-right extremists, including multiple bomb threats against a children’s hospital. This portrayal of Libs of TikTok as representative of accounts posting conservative views is alarming. […]
Weiss may be best known for a column introducing “the intellectual dark web,” a group of anti-progressive types fixated on the concept of cancel culture and the idea that liberals routinely censor conservative ideas. With the Twitter Files, she describes herself leading a team that has been given “broad and expanding access” to Twitter’s internal documents and communications. This group includes opinion writer Abigail Shrier, who is best known for writing Irreversible Damage, a book opposing transition for female-assigned people on the grounds that an unproven social contagion is the root cause of transmasculine identities.
Contrary to the extremist rhetoric, gender-affirming care is supported by all mainstream medical organizations as potentially lifesaving for young people with gender dysphoria. It is also perfectly possible to speak with children about the existence of transgender people and about families headed by same-sex parents in an age-appropriate, nonsexual way.
There’s no question that Ben Shapiro loves to provoke college students. He once brought a diaper to a campus speech to offer to “self-indulgent pathetic children who can’t handle anyone with an opposing point of view.” In another, while entertaining a question from a young woman who called for greater sensitivity toward transgender people, he shot back: “If I call you a moose are you suddenly a moose?”
Yet this sharp-tongued Never Trumper was also, according to the Anti-Defamation League, by far the most bullied Jewish journalist of 2016
Weiss, Bari (August 1, 2017). When Progressives Embrace Hate.New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/01/opinion/womens-march-progressives-hate.html
We just saw what happens to legitimate political parties when they fall prey to movements that are, at base, anti-American. That is true of the populist, racist alt-right that helped deliver Mr. Trump the White House and are now hollowing out the Republican Party. And it can be true of the progressive “resistance” — regardless of how chic, Instagrammable and celebrity-laden the movement may seem.
Note: In 2025, this site phased out AI illustrations after artist feedback. The previous illustration is here.
Janice Turner is a British writer and anti-transgender extremist. Turner is a key historical figure in the oppression of trans and gender diverse people.
Background
Turner was born April 8, 1964 in Wakefield and attended University of Sussex. Turner edited several publications before freelancing as a columnist focusing on media criticism.
Turner, Janice (December 2, 2022). Women who can’t define a woman are sunk.The Times https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/women-who-cant-define-a-woman-are-sunk-chq8qc68n
Turner, Janice (December 14, 2022). Someone who never loses out? That’s a man.The Times https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/someone-who-never-loses-out-thats-a-man-k9djv572x
Turner, Janice (October 20, 2018). Suicides should never be a political weapon. The Times. https://www.pressgazette.co.uk/activist-loses-ipso-complaint-against-janice-turner-times-column-about-trans-suicides/
Turner, Janice (September 8, 2018). Trans rapists are a danger in women’s jails. The Times https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/trans-rapists-are-a-danger-in-women-s-jails-5vhgh57pt
Turner, Janice (November 11, 2017). Children sacrificed to appease trans lobby. The Times https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/children-sacrificed-to-appease-trans-lobby-bq0m2mm95
Turner, Janice (September 16, 2017). The battle over gender has turned bloody: Women who believe that their rights are threatened by transgender activists now find themselves at risk of assault. The Times https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-battle-over-gender-has-turned-bloody-2wpkmnqhh
Stephen Beck is an American healthcare executive and anti-transgender activist. Beck is a member of anti-trans hate group Society for Evidence-based Gender Medicine (SEGM). Beck and spouse Sharon are unaccepting parents of a trans nonbinary child.
Background
Stephen Richard “Steve” Beck was born May 22, 1967. Beck earned a medical degree from University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in 1992. Beck practices internal medicine in Ohio.
Beck is married to Sharon “Shari” Beck aka “Maria Polaris,” “Maria Borealis,” “Maria Veradis” and a host of other pseudonyms, an anti-trans extremist affiliated with Cardinal Support Network and Parents of ROGD Kids.
Abby Walch, Caroline Davidge-Pitts, Joshua D Safer, Ximena Lopez, Vin Tangpricha, Sean J Iwamoto (2021). Proper Care of Transgender and Gender Diverse Persons in the Setting of Proposed Discrimination: A Policy Perspective. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2021 Jan 23;106(2):305-308. https://doi.org/10.1210/clinem/dgaa816.
William J. Malone, Paul W. Hruz, Julia W. Mason, and Stephen Beck (2021). Letter to the Editor from William J. Malone et al: “Proper Care of Transgender and Gender-diverse Persons in the Setting of Proposed Discrimination: A Policy Perspective” The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, Volume 106, Issue 8, August 2021, Pages e3287–e3288, https://doi.org/10.1210/clinem/dgab205
Abby Walch, Caroline Davidge-Pitts, Ximena Lopez, Vin Tangpricha, Sean J Iwamoto, Joshua D Safer (2021). Response to Letter to the Editor from Malone: “Proper Care of Transgender and Gender Diverse Persons in the Setting of Proposed Discrimination: A Policy Perspective.” The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, Volume 106, Issue 8, August 2021, Pages e3295–e3296, https://doi.org/10.1210/clinem/dgab206
Charlotte Allen is an American author and anti-transgender activist. A conservative Catholic, Allen has written articles critical of the transgender rights movement, including a puff piece on transphobic psychologist J. Michael Bailey for The Weekly Standard. Joseph Epstein from that publication had previously characterized Bailey as a “pimp” who arranges voyeuristic sex tours and demonstrations for people like Allen. Bailey earned Epstein’s opprobrium and Allen’s interest after arranging a live “fucksaw” demonstration for a since-cancelled human sexuality class.
Background
Charlotte Irene Low Allen was on born April 7, 1943 in Jacksonville, Florida. Allen’s parent Elmer Carlton Low (1907-2000) was born in New York City and practiced personal injury law there before moving to Pasadena in 1943. Low was president of the California Trial Lawyers Association and wrote two books and some opinion pieces for the Los Angeles Times.
Allen’s spouse Donald Fraser Allen (born May 1, 1945) graduated from University of Toronto Faculty of Law and was a member of the California Bar from 1981 through 1997.
Charlotte Allen’s education and credentials:
Stanford University (B.A. 1965) classics and English
Harvard University (M.A. 1967)
University of Southern California (J.D. 1974)
State Bar of California (1974 through 1992)
Catholic University of America (Ph.D. 2011) medieval and Byzantine studies
Allen served as Law Editor for The Los Angeles Daily Journal from 1980 to 1985, then was appointed Senior Editor, Law at conservative publication Insight on the News at its founding in 1985. That publication closed in 2008. Allen has worked as a freelance writer for publications including:
Allen’s 2011 dissertation is titled Thirteenth-Century English Religious Lyrics, Religious Women, And the Cistercian Imagination. Allen is author of the 1998 book The Human Christ: The Search for the Historical Jesus.
My 2015 letter to Allen’s editors
Dear Weekly Standard editorial team:
Charlotte Allen contacted me for a story profiling J. Michael Bailey, a controversial psychologist with whom she was recently socializing in Chicago. You may recall a 2011 piece about Bailey in your publication which characterizes him as a “pimp” who arranges voyeuristic sex tours and demonstrations for interested parties like Ms. Allen. http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/lower-education_554092.html?page=1
For your records, I told Ms. Allen that understanding and reporting her story hinges on speaking directly with Danny Ryan, a child whose case report Bailey published in his 2003 book The Man Who Would Be Queen: The Science of Gender-Bending and Transsexualism.
My condition for participating was that Ms. Allen speak with Danny Ryan directly. I fear that is not going to happen. I’m concerned she’s going to mischaracterize both the controversy and my involvement in it, given that her attached questions to me contain inaccurate interpretations of events.
I provided her the attached article explaining why both Bailey and his book have been widely condemned. Bailey had published an earlier version of his book without incident, and the 2003 response happened because:
1) it was fraudulently marketed as science by the National Academy of Sciences.
2) it became a cure narrative about gender-nonconforming children.
Bailey’s attacks on my children in his book were just part of his concurrent attacks on gender-nonconforming children, which also included “academic” presentations where he displayed videos and images of young children without their knowledge or consent in a manner that generated laughter from his audiences. Bailey also boasts that he can categorize these children sexually and can tell the kinds of sexual partners they will like. Ms. Allen seems focused on a long-deleted satire in which I showed how Bailey’s leering depictions and two-type sexualized categorization of my children would seem inexcusable if done to his own.
Bailey’s colleagues believe that gender-nonconforming children require “curing” in order to prevent what they consider a “bad outcome,” a gender transition. Most children who display gender-non-conforming behavior do not seek a gender transition later, and this outcome occurs without any intervention. Bailey’s colleagues make money by selling anxious parents on services they claim will cure many children. The World Professional Association for Transgender Health has stated such services are “no longer considered ethical.” Others are more pointed, condemning such services as “disturbingly close to reparative therapy for homosexuals” and “simply child abuse.”
Hundreds of children have been through these aversion programs championed by Bailey’s friend Kenneth Zucker, and not one has later come forward to talk about how it helped them. Danny Ryan is the most famous report of a cured child, yet no one has ever followed up directly with him to confirm Bailey’s published claims independently.
Danny Ryan has remarkable parallels to David Reimer, a case report by Bailey’s ideological nemesis John Money. The David Reimer case proved to be false when independently investigated. Some reporters continue to repeat Bailey’s claims about Danny Ryan uncritically, with no independent confirmation. Science and journalism proceed from evidence and facts, and there is no independent evidence that Bailey’s published facts about Danny Ryan are true.
Given that other case reports in Bailey’s book turned out to be inaccurate upon independent follow-up, the Weekly Standard has a unique opportunity to report this story accurately instead of taking Bailey at his word. Similar hard-hitting reporting on David Reimer brought John Money’s work into disrepute and made the career of the journalist who broke the story. A generation of children suffered because no one bothered to confirm Money’s claims, and I can’t sit by as another reporter is poised to miss the point of why Bailey has been criticized by people of every political persuasion.
Thanks for your time, and I would very much appreciate confirmation that you have received this note.
Sincerely, Andrea James [email protected] cc: Charlotte Allen Attachments (2):
2. Fair Comment, Foul Play: Populist Responses to J. Michael Bailey’s Exploitative “Controversies” (PDF)
Allen’s puff piece about Bailey ran with no mention of his exploitation of our children and a lawyerly defense of his “fucksaw” demonstration.
The Man Who Would Be Queen was deemed “salacious bigotry” by Andrea James, a 48-year-old Hollywood consultant who is the most persistently aggressive of the transgender activists. James spearheaded campaigns to have Northwestern censure and perhaps fire Bailey (unsuccessful), and to discredit Bailey as a credible academic expert on transgender subjects (extremely successful).
Allen claims I declined to be interviewed “in a prolific series of Bailey-dissing emails.” Allen notes my criticism of Anne Lawrence, Ray Blanchard, and Kenneth Zucker. Zucker was fired later that year, and the clinic where Zucker and Blanchard were employed was closed following an investigation spurred by legislation that made anti-transgender reparative therapy illegal.
Allen, Charlotte (March 2, 2015). The Transgender Triumph.Weekly Standard. https://www.weeklystandard.com/charlotte-allen/the-transgender-triumph
Allen, Charlotte (March 4, 2019). Trans men erase women.First Thingshttps://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2019/03/trans-men-erase-women
Hawkins, JA (January 1951). Elmer Low Family of Pasadena.Pasadena Museum of History https://calisphere.org/item/8de4632c37e661ae4ba402f4006bf984/
Hess, Amanda (March 12, 2008). Charlotte Allen Interview.Washington City Paper https://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/news/city-desk/blog/13054285/charlotte-allen-interview
