Pamela Paul is an American writer and anti-transgender activist who laundered anti-trans extremism into the New York Times until 2025. Paul then joined the Wall Street Journal and continued writing anti-trans pieces.
While editor of The New York Times Book Review, Paul hired anti-trans activist Jesse Singal to write a glowing review of anti-trans activist Helen Joyce’s book Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality, helping spark a newsroom crisis about anti-trans coverage that culminated in 2023. The day after the crisis reached its peak, Paul published a piece defending anti-trans activist J.K. Rowling.
Paul has published many opinion columns for the Times repeating anti-trans talking points and defending other anti-trans activists.
Background
Pamela Lindsey Paul was born on March 2, 1971. Paul graduated from Brown University, then was an editor at American Demographics. Paul’s first marriage to conservative Times columnist Bret Stephens ended in 1998. Paul married hedge fund manager Michael Stern in 2004.
Paul has authored several books.
New York Times
Paul was named children’s book editor of The New York Times Book Review in 2011 and editor in 2013. Paul became an opinion columnist at the Times in 2022. Maris Kreizman wrote: “Looking at the Opinion section and once again marveling over the fact that this terrible, hackneyed, boring writer was once the most important person in all of book publishing.”
Patrick Ness says the original line of a review said “The culture wars have come for your transgender children.” The Times made Ness change it to something “less political.” A Times spokesperson later said Paul was not involved.
Erik Hane wrote: “As Pamela Paul starts churning out low-effort reactionary garbage piece and after piece in her new job in the op-ed section, spare a thought for how this person may have affected the NYT Books section she ran for many years.”
I think that we’re entering a period when the most meaningful political distinction will be fascist and anti-fascist. It’s really important to understand that transphobia is one of the most potent entry points to fascism today – and act accordingly.
The novel The Men by Sandra Newman is one of many sci-fi works in which all men or all women suddenly disappear. The concept can easily steer toward anti-trans sentiments, and some objected to Newman’s book. Paul defended Newman with a lot of anti-trans dogwhistles:
But apparently Newman got too creative — or too real — for some. That a fictional world would assert the salience of biological sex, however fanciful the context, was enough to upset a vocal number of transgender activists online. They would argue that “men” is a cultural category to which anyone can choose to belong, as opposed to “maleness,” which is defined by genetics and biology.
In this case, we can set aside contentious questions around gender identity and transgender politics. Even if you don’t believe the sex binary is as fundamental to human beings as it is to all other mammals, a fiction writer ought to be free to imagine her own universe, whether as utopian ideal, dystopian horror or some complicated vision in between.
In another piece, Paul claims these anti-trans views are a middle ground or a centrist political position. Rather than seeing reproductive rights and bodily autonomy as a shared goal of trans people and pro-choice activists, Paul sees trans people as engaging in “erasure” of women by proposing inclusive and value-neutral language around reproduction. Paul describes “female biological function,” meaning reproductive function and reduces women to their reproductive function and organs in order to exclude trans women.
Women, of course, have been accommodating. They’ve welcomed transgender women into their organizations. They’ve learned that to propose any space just for biological women in situations where the presence of males can be threatening or unfair — rape crisis centers, domestic abuse shelters, competitive sports — is currently viewed by some as exclusionary. If there are other marginalized people to fight for, it’s assumed women will be the ones to serve other people’s agendas rather than promote their own.
Daniel Froomkin notes that Paul builds on the anti-trans work of other Times writers, including Emily Bazelon, Michael Powell, and Anemona Hartocollis.
Both-sidesing would have been a step up for this column, which devoted only 52 words out of 1,300 to the right’s decades-long campaign to strip women of their rights. The rest was about how “the fringe left” is “jumping in with its own perhaps unintentionally but effectively misogynist agenda.”
The central thesis of Paul’s argument was an exaggerated summary of a scaremongering news article from last month by Michael Powell, one of the two star reporters the Times has assigned to the woke-panic/cancel-culture beat –the other being Anemona Hartocollis, who just a few days ago gave us this already infamous piece of soft-focus cancel porn.
Powell, Paul wrote, had concluded that “the word ‘women’ has become verboten.”
This conspiracy has become known as “Pamela Paul’s great replacement theory,” which Melissa Gira Grant described as “lightly laundered anti-trans propaganda, presented as a sensible centrist argument.”
2024 column on the ex-trans movement
Paul continued promoting anti-trans talking points in 2024 with a piece on the ex-trans movement. Activists cited included:
In defending Paul, Opinion editor Kathleen Kingsbury defended the disproportionate number of anti-trans articles the section publishes by citing three articles that are purportedly not anti-trans:
Given the state legislative fights over trans Americans and their civil liberties and access to medical and psychological care, we have published many columns and guest essays from health professionals and activists on issues affecting trans people, as well as a focus group last year hearing from trans Americans about their lives.
Since the ex-trans movement is a single-digit minority, the next 90+ articles should be on gender diverse youth who have benefited from the care that is the current US medical consensus.
2025 article on the LGB separatist movement
In a Wall Street Journal piece, Paul promoted a number of key figures in the LGB separatist movement. Paul reportedly conducted “more than three dozen in-depth interviews with gay men, lesbian women, bisexuals and transgender people.” Paul mentioned or links to LGB Alliance, Ben Appel, The Homoarchy, John Boyne, Arielle Scarcella, Ronan McCrea, Jose Arango, Ann Menasche, Arianne Geringer, and Nevline Nnaji. Paul also mentions politician Seth Moulton, who was criticized after suggesting Democrats revise their positions on trans issues.
While Lambda Legal and the Trevor Project chose not to participate, Barney Frank and Cathy Renna were presented for “balance.”
Paul also includes conservative trans people Brianna Wu and “Stefan,” author of the blog Gender Crossroads.
Fischer, Molly (January 24, 2023). The rules according to Pamela Paul. The New Yorker https://www.newyorker.com/culture/persons-of-interest/the-rules-according-to-pamela-paul
Fedorov, Andrew; Krichevsky, Sophie (August 18, 2022). What Is Pamela Paul Thinking?The Fine Print https://thefineprintnyc.com/article/pamela-paul-biography-career/
Grant, Melissa Gira (July 6, 2022). Pamela Paul’s Great Replacement Theory. The New Republic https://newrepublic.com/article/166991/pamela-paul-new-york-times-trans-great-replacement-theory
Finnegan, Leah (May 23, 2022). Pamela Paul is the new worst columnist at the New York Times. Gawker https://www.gawker.com/media/pamela-paul-is-the-new-worst-columnist-at-the-new-york-times [archive]
PamelaPaulNYT (closed by Paul and later suspended after it was out of Paul’s control)
Note: In 2025, this site phased out AI illustrations after artist feedback. The previous illustration is here.
Julia Malott is a Canadian software manager and conservative transgender activist. Malott has published opinion pieces in conservative publications and has attended anti-trans rallies and conferences.
Background
Malott was born in 1990 and grew up in a conservative Christian family in Hanover, Ontario, a rural community west of Toronto:
Throughout my teens and twenties, I was plagued with two mental health issues—the first was the gender dysphoria I knew I had but the second was the baggage of intense shame I internalized by NOT dealing with my dysphoria from childhood. That second one is such an important part and has huge implications on how my teenage years and adulthood played out. I think it’s easy for us to ignore the latter and focus only on the dysphoria.
When I was 14 years old, before even meeting my future wife, I made the decision that I was not going to transition. I knew I was beyond the age where puberty blockers would have prevented the masculinization of aspects of my body such as height, bone density, and my voice lowering, so my chances of passing as female were slim.
Nothing in the realm of hormones and surgeries were financially subsidized and I knew just how huge of an expense this would be throughout my late teens and twenties.
[…] The biggest deterrent of them all—I would have had to face telling my Christian parents how I felt about my gender. I knew they would never support me in pursuing a transition, and I knew that doing so would devastate them and humiliate me.
Malott and future spouse met when Malott was 16 years old. Two years later, Malott came out but claimed not to want to make a gender transition. They got married and did not have any children together.
Malott earned a bachelor’s degree from University of Waterloo in 2015, then did database management and software development for Open Text, Manulife Financial, Desire2Learn, and Brock Solutions. Malott handled web accessibility for the City of Woodstock from 2015 to 2019, then held product management roles at eSolutionsGroup, OCAS, and Bonfire Interactive.
Malott had a change of heart about transition after a few years. After they separated in 2018, Malott made a gender transition soon after and now lives in Kitchener.
Activism
Malott quickly found a conservative and anti-trans audience eager to uplift someone whose views reflected theirs, including
In 2023, Mallot began the podcast Alotta Thoughts. Guests include:
April 10 & 20: Catherine Kronas and Chanel Pfahl
May 12: Catherine Kronas, Eva Kurilova, Neil Dorin, and Lois Cardinal
June 7: Audra Facinelli
2023 Genspect conference
In 2023 Malott attended a conference held by anti-trans hate groupGenspect and seemed surprised that many attendees and online observers made cruel comments about Malott’s presence, appearance, and sexuality. Both Malott and “autogynephilia” activist “Phil Illy” were called “autogynephiles” and told they should not be parading their sexual fetish in front of attendees. Some attendees said they had a trauma response from being exposed to Malott without consent, as they felt they were being forced to participate in Malott’s sexual script. Some of Malott’s critics identify as “trans widows” whose oath-breaking spouses left them to transition, exactly as Malott did. The presence of Malott and “Phil Illy” was dubbed “AGPgate” and discussed widely in transphobic circles.
Oren Aaron Amitay was born in 1968, one of three children of artist Jonathan Isador Amitay and Anne Amitay. Amitay’s older adopted sibling died in 2022. Amitay earned a bachelor’s degree from University of Toronto, then attended York University, earning a master’s degree in 1999 and a doctorate in 2006. Since 2000, Amitay has taught at Ryerson University. Since 2008, Amitay has had a private clinical practice.
Amitay and spouse have three children.
Professional misconduct
According to Robert Cribb of the University of Toronto Investigative Journalism Bureau, Amitay “has been disciplined and found guilty of professional misconduct multiple times by professional governing bodies.”
In 2020, The College of Psychologists and Behaviour Analysts of Ontario found Amitay to have practiced in a “disgraceful, dishonourable or unprofessional” manner:
A Hearing was held on August 24, 2020. The Discipline Committee panel made findings of professional misconduct with respect to Dr. Amitay’s failure to adhere to a Specified Continuing Education or Remediation Program (SCERP) ordered by the Inquiries, Complaints and Reports Committee (ICRC). The panel found that Dr. Amitay engaged in conduct or performed an act, in the course of practising the profession, that, having regard to all the circumstances, would reasonably be regarded by members as disgraceful, dishonourable or unprofessional, contrary to section 1, paragraph 34 of the Professional Misconduct Regulation (O.Reg. 801/93).
The panel imposed an Order, which included a reprimand by video conference, that Dr. Amitay successfully complete the SCERP as ordered by the ICRC on December 23, 2015. The panel also ordered that Dr. Amitay complete a one-on-one course on governability and the role of members of a self governing profession. Finally, the panel ordered Dr. Amitay to pay Discipline hearing costs in the amount of $3500 within 30 days of the Discipline Committee’s order.
According to a 2024 investigative report by Cribb and coauthors, Amitay has been disciplined twice:
Before Toronto psychologist Amitay drew the ire of Indigenous patients and mental health advocates for his online posts, he ran afoul of his profession’s regulator.
Following complaints about a parenting capacity assessment Amitay conducted in a court case, the College of Psychologists ordered he undergo a remedial program in which he’d routinely check in with a peer mentor.
The college’s disciplinary committee had concluded Amitay’s assessment, particularly around allegations of sexual abuse, was not supported by “adequate and reliable information” and warned him to avoid “the appearance of bias.” He also faced criticism for continuing to conduct further assessments without informing children’s aid societies he had been ordered by the college to be mentored.
Amitay resisted, repeatedly expressing that there was nothing to be gained from such frequent mentorship sessions, which he denounced as punitive “babysitting,” according to an agreed statement of facts. In 2020, he was found guilty of professional misconduct for his “ “disgraceful, dishonourable, or unprofessional” conduct in not complying with the mentorship program.
Amitay faced new allegations of professional misconduct before the college related to “conflicts of interest, appearance of bias, record-keeping, and consent,” according to a June 2024 finding. Although unable to reveal the specifics of the case, Amitay described it as an “exceptional situation.” In June, Amitay agreed to undergo peer coaching.
“I fully accept the college’s findings.”
The Real Reality
In 2014 Amitay was an executive producer at Straight Kill Films, founded by Matt Bennett and Matt Wells, supported by Sarah Dawley and Jit Lahiry.
Episode 6: The Real Reality Behind (Research on) Sex, Love & Relationships
Episode 12: The Real Reality Behind Critical Thinking, Social Justice Warriors & Milo Yiannopoulos
Episode 15: The Real Reality Behind Big Pharma and Psychological/Psychiatric Disorders
Episodes 16/17: The Real Reality Behind Narcissism (2 Parts)
Episode 19: The Real Reality Behind the (Evolutionary) Psychology of Fear, and How This May Help Trump Win the 2016 US Election
Episode 21: The Real Reality Behind Today’s Narcissism and Failure to Exemplify Responsibility and Respect for the Social Contract
Episode 22: The Real Reality Behind the Need to Protect Free Speech and Human Rights for All and the Need to Promote Productive Discourse Between Differing “Groups”
Episode 28: The Real Reality Behind Men’s Issues
Episode 30: The Real Reality Behind the Genderization of Serious Societal Issues Such as Domestic Violence, as well as Ugly Social Media Tactics by Certain “Groups”
Episode 34: The Real Reality Behind Dr. Jordan Peterson’s Incendiary Talk at Dr. Amitay’s Class
Episode 35: The Real Reality Behind Dr. Jordan Peterson’s Meteoric Rise as Intellectual Leader of Critical Thinking (Lost Podcast from Nov. 2, 2016)
YouTube channel
In 2011, Amitay started a YouTube channel and posted there through 2018. The majority of guests were other anti-trans activists, as well as conservative trans people and “autogynephilia” activists.
In 2017 Amitay was involved in a controversy over transgender discussions on the Ontario Psychological Association (OPA) listserv. That year, an event titled “The Stifling of Free Speech on University Campuses” was cancelled. The event was to be moderated by Sarina Singh and featuring anti-trans activists Jordan Peterson, Gad Saad, Oren Amitay, and Faith Goldy.
In 2019 Amitay was suspended from Twitter for anti-trans posts. Amitay’s X account was reinstated under new owner Elon Musk.
Awake at the Wheel
In 2023, Amitay launched the podcast Awake at the Wheel with co-host Malini Ondrovcik. They did a five-part series on “the gender debate” and have had a number of guests who agree with them, including:
Eric Kaufmann is a Canadian conservative academic and anti-transgender activist based in the United Kingdom. Kaufmann believes being trans is a “social contagion” and has passed its peak.
Kaufmann has prepared reports on sex and gender minorities for anti-trans publications Quillette, UnHerd, and City Journal, as well as for anti-trans extremist Richard Hanania via Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology.
Background
Eric Peter Kaufmann was born May 11, 1970. Kaufmann’s parent Steve is a polyglot and diplomat. Kaufmann’s younger sibling Mark Kaufmann is a former hockey player and software developer.
Kaufmann attended Hillside Secondary, then earned a bachelor’s degree from University of Western Ontario in 1991. Kaufmann then attended The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), earning a master’s degree in 1994 and a doctorate in 1999.
Kaufman has studied transitions in politics, religion, and demography in Western cultures, particularly as it pertains to white populations and culture.
After teaching at University of Southampton from 1999 to 2003, Kaufmann served as Professor of Politics at Birkbeck, University of London from 2003 to 2023
Kaufmann left for the same appointment at University of Buckingham:
“After 20 years, I am leaving a full University of London professorship for the University of Buckingham. In January, I launch a new low-cost online course open to the public on Woke: the Origins, Dynamics and Implications of an Elite Ideology.
Why leave? My university’s uncertain financial position played a role, but I was also repelled by cancel culture and attracted by the chance to help build Buckingham as the only ‘free speech university’ in Britain.
Whereas the US has some 150 non-leftist research centres, nothing of this kind exists in Britain. In January I will therefore establish the Centre for Heterodox Social Science at Buckingham to pursue countercultural social science and humanities research.
Progressive conformity and cancel culture are distorting the teaching and research mission of universities. Between the extremely controversial and the progressive-controlled monoculture of academia is a vast and growing zone of unspoken truth.”
Kaufmann believes that being trans is a trend or social contagion that will eventually “peak.”
“Limiting the social spread of transgenderism (linked to worse life outcomes) is compatible with wanting truly transgender people to flourish. Those who insist the two are incompatible are committing an error known as the fallacy of composition.”
Claire Lehmann is an Australian writer and anti-transgender activist. Lehmann is a key figure in the so-called intellectual dark web, described as a gateway to the far right. Lehmann is founding editor of anti-trans publication Quillette, also classified a pathway to right-wing radicalization.
Background
Claire (Jensen) Lehmann was born on July 18, 1985 and grew up in Adelaide, South Australia. Lehmann earned a bachelor’s degree from University of Adelaide in 2010. Jensen married Harold M. “Harry” Lehmann at age 27 and dropped out of graduate school when their first child was born in 2013.
Lehmann worked from 2011 to 2014 as a Policy Research Assistant at Australian College of Nursing and from 2015 to 2016 as a communications officer at National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance.
Lehmann has contributed to other anti-trans publications, including Rebel News, The Australian, The Dispatch, and Colin Wright’sReality’s Last Stand.
Anti-transgender activism
Lehmann founded Quillette in October 2015. It was incorporated in Australia as Quillette Pty Ltd in 2018.
Lehman profiled anti-trans psychologist Lee Jussim in 2015.
Lehmann began writing for alt-right publication Rebel News in 2017.
Lehmann, Claire (April 24, 2017). “Transgender is the new black”: More teens than ever want to “try out” a different sex. A Brisbane psychiatrist who works in a gender clinic has reported that many adolescents are now coming to him with the aim of “trying out” transgenderism. Rebel Media https://www.therebel.media/_transgender_is_the_new_black_teens_beg_to_try_out_a_different_sex [archive]
Lehmann, Claire (May 16, 2017). Platform for misandrist “screeds” ends, with death of feminist Fairfax Media. Rebel Media https://www.therebel.media/platform_for_misandrist_screeds_ends_with_death_of_feminist_fairfax_media [archive]
Lehmann, Claire (May 7, 2017). Nick Gillespie: Today’s universities are “constipated and stultified.” Rebel Media https://www.therebel.media/no_longer_a_place_for_dangerous_ideas_universities_constipated_and_stultified [archive]
Lehmann, Claire (May 2, 2017). Third wave feminist hypocrisy: “Deep down, they know they’re wrong” Daisy Cousens, freelance writer for the Spectator Australia and Quadrant Magazine, is a critic of third wave feminism. Rebel Media https://www.therebel.media/third_wave_feminist_hypocrisy_deep_down_they_know_they_re_wrong [archive]
Lehmann, Claire (April 13, 2017). Transgender athletes crush females: It’s “violence against women.” Last month, New Zealand transgender weight lifter Laurel Hubbard dominated, setting records in the women’s international competition held in Melbourne Australia. Rebel Media https://www.therebel.media/transgender_athletes_crush_females_it_s_violence_against_women [archive]
Lehmann, Claire (April 7, 2017). Here’s the real reason banks are suddenly launching “social justice” campaigns: HSBC has just announced that they will be offering their customers 10 gender neutral pronouns for their trans and non gender binary customers. Rebel Media https://www.therebel.media/here_s_the_real_reason_banks_are_suddenly_launching_social_justice_campaigns [archive]
Lehmann, Claire (February 27, 2017). How Libertarian Students Can Save Universities From Victimhood Culture. Rebel Media https://www.therebel.media/how_libertarian_students_can_save_universities_from_victimhood_culture [archive]
Lehmann, Claire (February 13, 2017). Why the old Left was better than the new Left. Rebel Media https://www.therebel.media/how_new_left_abandoned_old_left_s_fight_to_defend_liberal_values [archive]
Lehmann, Claire (May 29, 2015*). Feminism Must Be Reclaimed From Radicals.Quillette http://quillette.com/2015/05/29/feminism-must-be-reclaimed-from-radicals/ *note: this date is prior to the blog’s October 2015 founding.
Network State Podcast with Balaji Srinivasan and Claire Lehmann (July 16, 2025). Claire Lehmann on the Internet Century. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCoegnhTaDs
Chris Elston is a Canadian anti-transgender activist. Elston is best known for purchasing or wearing signs with anti-transgender messages. Elston gets money and attention by trying to provoke responses from trans and gender-diverse people and their supporters. Elston has been arrested, banned from venues, and involved in numerous legal disputes.
Elston is one of several “parental rights” activists who appear in public holding or wearing anti-transgender signs, including January Littlejohn and “Sidewalk Steve.”
Background
Christopher David Elston was born in 1976. Elston has used a number of nicknames, including
Christoph Elston
Christophe Elston
Chris Elston
Billboard Chris
Elston’s spouse Sheree Lynn (Peacock) Elston earned a bachelor’s degree from Simon Fraser University in 2003, followed by a master’s degree in education from Simon Fraser in 2007. Sheree Elston was a schoolteacher before becoming an administrator at Semiahmoo Trail elementary school in South Surrey, British Columbia. The Elstons have been members of Village Church, an evangelical Christian church with a location in Surrey. Their older child Arya was born in 2010, followed by Mila. Both children are involved in the same local sport.
Scientology
Around age 20, Elston became involved in Scientology while traveling in Ireland. Elston joined the organization’s elite Sea Org, a group of Scientology’s most dedicated members, in March of 1996. Because of that zeal and fervor, Elston was soon assigned to the Church of Scientology’s Saint Hill Manor property in East Grinstead, West Sussex. The location is called Scientology’s Advanced Organization & Saint Hill United Kingdom. It is an 18th-century manor originally purchased by L. Ron Hubbard in 1959 and later renovated as a Scientology museum. Elston was reportedly assigned to run the Hubbard Communications Office (HCO) in the Continental Liaison Office (CLO).
In June 1997, Elston was a witness to the death of 17-year-old Sea Org member Russell Dienes. Elston was part of a car procession hurrying to work at Saint Hill. Dienes pulled in front of an oncoming truck, causing Dienes’ death and the serious injury of teen passengers Thilo Gnass and Frederik Zengel.
Elston remained with Scientology for almost two years:
I joined the Sea Org in March 96, worked their 100 hour weeks and escaped in the middle of the night Dec. 98 when I was told I couldn’t go home on a visit to see my parents. Passport and plane ticket had been seized.
Elston returned to Canada and reportedly was the subject of an “SP Declare,” a document outlining why Scientology designates Elston as a Suppressive Person, or Anti-Social Personality. Elston has been involved in anti-Scientology activism ever since.
Insurance career
After moving to Vancouver, British Columbia, Elston took a job as an investment advisor at Canaccord Capital (later named Canaccord Financial, now called Canaccord Genuity). Elston worked there from 2001 to 2008, then was a Financial Advisor at Raymond James from 2008 to 2014. After founding Elston Insurance Agency in 2014 and selling insurance, Elston began generating significant income and media coverage from anti-transgender activism. After Elston’s insurance license expired in 2022, Elston began doing anti-trans activism full-time.
Anti-transgender activism
Elston pivoted from anti-Scientology activism to anti-transgender activism following several controversies in the Vancouver area.
Jessica Yaniv aka Jessica Simpson
Elston got involved in several controversies related to Jessica Yaniv, now known as Jessica Simpson, a frequent litigant who used anti-discrimination laws to bring numerous complaints against local businesses. Simpson identifies as transgender and brought many complaints against waxing practitioners who would not wax Simpson’s genitals.
In December 2020, the Western Standard reported that the Langley Royal Canadian Mounted Police had charged Simpson with mischief and uttering threats in relation to an incident in October 2020 concerning Elston.
I ♥ JK ROWLING
Elston met nurse and anti-transgender extremist Amy Hamm at a Simpson hearing. They began purchasing billboards with the slogan “I ♥ JK ROWLING,” a reference to British author J. K. Rowling’s anti-transgender activism. British anti-trans extremist Posie Parker had purchased similar out-of-home ads. Elston’s first one was taken down following complaints. Elston got the nickname “Billboard Chris” soon after.
Elston has been arrested for disturbing the peace after showing up to pro-trans events wearing provocative anti-transgender messages like “Gender ideology does not belong in schools,” and “No child is born in the wrong body,” and “Children cannot consent to puberty blockers.” Elston is no longer allowed on the street around the Vancouver art gallery where Elston was arrested.
Elston’s goal is to be verbally or physically assaulted, which has happened several times. Elston then uses video of those encounters to get money and attention.
“Christophe Elston, the transphobic insurance agent who hangs out with known fascist “John Southern,” showed up to yesterday’s Mi’kmaw solidarity rally for some reason. He was briefly detained by the VPD, and had his “I ♥ JK Rowling” sandwich board taken away.”
Christophe Elston, the transphobic insurance agent who hangs out with known fascist "John Southern," showed up to yesterday's Mi'kmaw solidarity rally for some reason.
Naylor, Dave (December 31, 2020). Transgender activist Yaniv wanted by police in BC. The Western Standard. Wildrose Media Corp. [archive] https://www.westernstandardonline.com/2020/12/transgender-actvist-yaniv-wanted-by-police-in-bc/
Cupp, Anne Renner (March 26, 2018). [Scientology discussion page] https://www.facebook.com/groups/1097697983669219/posts/1407298826042465/?comment_id=1407325562706458&reply_comment_id=1408239902615024
“Chris Elston ingratiates himself to people to gather personal information on them and the moment they cross him, it gets splashed across the internet. He’s a known serial offender and it’s always women. Always. Ginger has been hoodwinked by a master at his craft. I was too, once. […] Maybe her new BFF who is a financial advisor should coach her on that, when he’s not too busy harassing other women.”
Eva Kurilova is a Canadian anti-transgender activist. Kurilova identifies as a TERF and has been affiliated with anti-trans extremist groups Gays Against Groomers and LGB United. Kurilova has contributed to anti-trans group blogs and Substack newsletters, including Gender Dissent, Reality’s Last Stand, and The Distance.
Background
Kurilova lives in Calgary, Alberta and earned a bachelor’s degree from University of Calgary in 2013.
Anti-trans activism
In 2022, Kurilova signed an open letter supporting anti-trans extremist Amy Hamm.
Kurilova is part of the LGB separatist movement. In 2024, Kurilova told conservative Canadian publication True North:
“I’m a very gender non-conforming person, and I was that way as a child… I was a tomboy,” she said. “I really really worry and fear that if I was a child today, I would be a prime candidate for transition, for teachers and counsellors and doctors to tell me, ‘you know you can be a boy.’ That’s kind of why I have a very strong personal investment in these issues, and why I want to help protect kids.”
It Is MA’AM! with K Carnelian, Mel, and Eva Kurilova (September 1, 2023). It is MA’AM! Ep. 010 Eva Kurilova. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j64XpRZIri4
Wesley Yang is an author and anti-transgender extremist. Yang has written for several anti-trans publications, including Tablet and The Guardian. Yang is affiliated with anti-trans hate groupGenspect.
Background
Yang was born on October 3, 1974 and grew up in New Jersey.
Yang attended Rutgers University from 1993 to 1997. Yang began freelance writing in 2005. From 2011 to 2013, Yang was a contributing editor at New York. Since 2017 Yang has been a columnist at Tablet. In 2018 Yang became a contributing editor at Esquire.
Yang is author of the 2018 book The Souls of Yellow Folk: Essays. That book includes Yang’s provocative 2008 piece on mass shooter Seung-Hui Cho.
Yang coined the term “successor ideology.,” which was popularized by other reactionary centrists and conservatives. Yang describes it as “authoritarian Utopianism that masquerades as liberal humanism while usurping it from within.”
In 2022 Yang, spouse, and child were living in Montreal.
Anti-transgender activism
Yang got explicity involved in anti-transgender activism in around 2022 through Jesse Singal, Lisa Selin Davis, and “Eliza Mondegreen.” Yang cites anti-trans activism in Sweden and Finland as what finally provided cover for coming out as anti-trans. Yang walked around with anti-trans extremist “Billboard Chris” and found that nearly everyone agreed with the anti-trans messages Billboard Chris wears, yet still claims that anti-trans views are “heterodox.” Yang also had an extensive conversation with anti-trans extremist Leor Sapir.
Year Zero with Wesley Yang, Joey Brite and a Christian Homeschooling Mother (November 10, 2022). You’re never gonna be a man. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNi9HpaE4y8
Margaret Nichols is an American psychologist and sex therapist who specializes in LGBTQ+ clients, “including kink and consensual nonmonogamy (swinging, polyamory, etc.).”
Background
Margaret E. “Margie” Nichols Jacobson was born in 1947. Nichols attended Radcliffe College before earning a bachelor’s degree from New York University in 1970. Nichols earned a doctorate from Columbia University in 1981 and is a licensed therapist in New Jersey. Nichols did post-doctoral work in sex therapy at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, now part of Rutgers School of Biomedical and Health Sciences.
In 1983 Nichols founded the Institute for Personal Growth. In 1985, Nichols was a founder and the first director of the Hyacinth AIDS Foundation. Nichols became a diplomate of the American Board of Sexology in 1985.
In 2003 Nichols became an AASECT Certified Sex Therapist and became a Certified Sex Therapy Supervisor in 2011.
Review of Alice Dreger
In 2008, Nichols published a scathing commentary on a paper by Alice Dreger that attacked trans critics of The Man Who Would Be Queen. Nichols’ review describes and contextualizes Dreger’s activism within the history of disease models of gender identity and expression.
Nichols, Margaret (2016). The Great Escape: Welcome to the World of Gender Fluidity. Psychotherapy Networker, March/April 2016. http://ipgcounseling.com/wp-content/uploads/The-Great-Escape-Welcome-to-the-World-of-Gender-Fluidity-By-Margaret-Nichols.pdf
Nichols M (2013). A Review of “Men Trapped in Men’s Bodies: Narratives of Autogynephilic Transsexualism.” Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy, 40:1:71-73. https://doi.org/10.1080/0092623X.2013.854559
Nichols, Margaret; Shernoff, Michael (2006). Therapy with Sexual Minorities: Queering Practice. In In S. R. Leiblum (Ed.), Principles and practice of sex therapy (4th ed., pp. 379–415). The Guilford Press, ISBN 978-1593853495
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Alex Gutentag is an American writer and anti-transgender activist. Gutentag is associated with anti-trans activist Michael Shellenberger.
Background
Alexandra Kyra Ryan-Gutentag was born on September 6, 1990 to Eduardo Gutentag (born 1947) and Constance “Connie” Ryan (born 1950). Gutentag grew up in Oakland, California and earned a bachelor’s degree from Columbia University.
Gutentag worked in special education for eight years in New York City and was a Special Day Class teacher in Oakland Unified Schools before becoming a writer.
Gutentag has written for Tablet and Compact. Gutentag collaborated with Shellenberger at the organization Environmental Progress and on The Twitter Files reports into the platform’s COVID misinformation policies.
Anti-transgender activism
Gutentag has written anti-trans work for Public, a reflection of founder Michael Shellenberger’s immersion into anti-trans activism.
