Rya Jones (born June 24, 1974) is a former American publishing executive and “autogynephilia” activist. Jones has identified as a “gender critical” transgender person and has posted many videos expressing conservative or religious views about gender.
Background
Jones graduated from Iola – Scandinavia High in 1992, then University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1996 with a Bachelor’s degree in Communication. Jones served as CEO of Jones Publishing, Inc. It was founded by Jones’ parents in 1986 and has produced a number of specialty periodicals:
- Religious (via Crosslife LLC): Today’s Christian Living, Today’s Pastor
- Aircraft: Pipers Magazine, Cessna Owner Organization
- Small business: Smart Retailer, Handmade Business
- Arts and crafts: Sunshine Artist, Dolls, Doll Costuming, Doll Crafter, Dollmaking, Popular Ceramics, Ceramics Arts and Craft, Teddy Bear Review
Jones transitioned in around 2015. Jones’ time as CEO ended in 2016. In 2017, JP Media LLC purchased Jones Publishing, Inc. in a planned transfer of the company from Joe and Maggie Jones to Diana Jones, their daughter-in-law. Jones and her former spouse Diana have seven children who have been home-schooled. Jones has served as an ordained pastor in Cornerstone Churches in Wisconsin and studied part-time for a Master’s in Divinity at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Jones now identifies as a “former pastor.” Jones has been involved with Madison Community Cooperative and has been licensed as a health insurance agent with Humana.
Online activity
Jones uses several online handles, including:
- Rya N.T. Jones
- HeyThisIsRya
Jones published a number of videos on YouTube about various gender-critical topics including a possible “detransition” before removing all of the videos. Collaboration videos with other gender-critical people like Miranda Yardley are still online:
Resources
Jones Publishing (jonespublishing.com) [archive]
JP Media LLC (jpmediallc.com)
LinkedIn: ryajones
Facebook: HeyThisIsRya
YouTube: HeyThisIsRya (most videos from previous channel deleted)