Florence Ashley and transgender people

Florence Ashley is a Canadian jurist and bioethicist whose work focuses on gender identity and expression.

Background

Ashley made a gender transition in 2015. In 2019 Ashley served as the first openly transfeminine clerk at the Supreme Court of Canada.

Ashley attended McGill University earning a bachelor’s degree, then a law degree in 2017. followed by a master of laws in 2019. Ashley earned a doctorate from the University of Toronto Faculty of Law in 2023. In 2023, Ashley was appointed associate professor at the University of Alberta Faculty of Law.

Transgender activism

Ashley has coauthored several papers on “detransition.” Ashley has also written about medical consent for gender diverse minors and anti-trans conversion therapy.

Ashley contributed to the second edition of Trans Bodies, Trans Selves, coining the term “gender modality” to describe the relationship between one’s gender and the sex that they were assigned at birth.

In 2023, Ashley was one of 21 members appointed to the World Health Organization’s guideline development group concerning the health of trans and gender diverse people. Anti-trans activists mobilized with a website and petition called WHO Decides. In early 2024, Ashley was no longer listed among the group, reportedly due to a schedule conflict.

References

Staff (January 23, 2025). Assistant professor Florence Ashley receives national recognition University of Alberta https://www.ualberta.ca/en/law/about/news/2025/1/ashley.html

McNeill, Zane (March 17, 2024). What Does Embodied Liberation Look Like? A Trans Activist Shares Thoughts. truthout https://truthout.org/articles/what-does-embodied-liberation-look-like-a-trans-activist-shares-thoughts/

Morrison, Cassidy (January 16, 2024). Radical trans activist is quietly removed from new WHO transgender health panel – after calling for children to be rushed onto puberty blockers. Daily Mail https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-12969191/Win-DM-com-World-Health-Organization-quietly-removes-transgender-extremist-panel-gender-dysphoria-story.html

Bilger, Micaiah (January 8, 2024). Trans professor with ‘be gay, do crimes’ tattoo appointed to WHO taskforce. The College Fix https://www.thecollegefix.com/trans-professor-with-be-gay-do-crimes-tattoo-appointed-to-who-taskforce/

Gallant, Paul (April 6, 2022). A new book on conversion practices examines exactly what trans people need from lawmakers. Xtra https://xtramagazine.com/culture/trans-conversion-practices-florence-ashley-220924

Selected publications by Ashley

Ashley F, Parsa N, Kus T, Leveille L, Schevers K, Rider GN (2025). Gatekeeping gender‑affirming care is detrimental to detrans people. Int J Transgend Health. 2025;26(1):235–252. https://doi.org/10.1080/15532739.2025.2462582

Ashley, Florence (November 25, 2024). Danielle Smith’s new policies make all Albertan youth unsafe. The Conversation https://theconversation.com/danielle-smiths-new-policies-make-all-albertan-youth-unsafe-244094

Odling-Smee L, Ashley F, Ritz SA, McCarthy MM, Baker N (2024). Sex and gender discussions don’t need to be toxic. Nature. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-01311-1

Ashley F, Brightly-Brown S, Rider GN (2024). Beyond the trans/cis binary: introducing new terms will enrich gender research. Nature, 630(8016), 293–295. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-01719-9

Ashley F (2023). Interrogating “gender exploratory therapy.” Perspect Psychol Sci. 2023;18(2):472–481. https://doi.org/10.1177/17456916221102325

Goodyear T, Delgado‑Ron JA, Ashley F, Knight R, Salway T (2023). Sexual orientation and gender identity and expression change efforts and suicidality: evidence, challenges, and future research directions. LGBT Health. 2023; https://doi.org/10.1089/lgbt.2022.0359

Ashley F (2023). Youth should decide: the principle of subsidiarity in pediatric transgender healthcare. J Med Ethics. 2023;49(2):110–114. https://doi.org/10.1136/medethics-2021-107820

MacKinnon KR, Gould WA, Ashley F, et al. (2022). (De)Transphobia: examining the socio‑politically driven gender minority stressors experienced by people who detransitioned. Bull Appl Transgender Stud. 2022;1(3‑4):236–259. https://doi.org/10.57814/8nd4-6a89

Ashley F (2022). Transporting the burden of justification: the unethicality of transgender conversion practices. J Law Med Ethics. 2022;50(3):425–442. https://doi.org/10.1017/jme.2022.85

Ashley F (2022). The clinical irrelevance of “desistance” research for transgender and gender‑creative youth. Psychol Sex Orientat Gend Divers. 2022;9(4):387–397. https://doi.org/10.1037/sgd0000504

MacKinnon KR, Kia H, Salway T, Ashley F, Lacombe‑Duncan A, Abramovich A, Enxuga G, Ross LE (2022). Health care experiences of patients discontinuing or reversing prior gender‑affirming treatments. JAMA Netw Open. 2022;5(7):e2224717. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.24717

Ashley F (2022). Adolescent medical transition is ethical: an analogy with reproductive health. Kennedy Inst Ethics J. 2022;32(2):127–171. https://doi.org/10.1353/ken.2022.0010

Blais M, Cannas Aghedu F, Ashley F, et al. (2022). Sexual orientation and gender identity and expression conversion exposure and their correlates among LGBTQI2+ persons in Québec, Canada. PLoS One. 2022;17(4):e0265580. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0265580

Salway T, Ashley F (2022). Ridding Canadian medicine of conversion therapy. CMAJ. 2022;194(1):E17–18. https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.211709

Ashley F (2022). ‘Trans’ is my gender modality. In Erickson-Schroth L [ed.] Trans Bodies, Trans Selves (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0190092726

Ashley F (2021). The misuse of gender dysphoria: toward greater conceptual clarity in transgender health. Perspect Psychol Sci. 2021;16(6):1159–1164. https://doi.org/10.1177/174569161987298

MacKinnon KR, Ashley F, Kia H, Lam JSH, Krakowsky Y, Ross LE (2021). Preventing transition “regret”: an institutional ethnography of gender‑affirming medical care assessment practices in Canada. Soc Sci Med. 2021;291:114477. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.114477

Kronk CA, Everhart AR, Ashley F, et al. (2021). Transgender data collection in the electronic health record: current concepts and issues. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2021;29(2):271–284. https://doi.org/10.1093/jamia/ocab136

Ashley F, Rider GN, St Amand CM (2021). The continuum of informed consent models in transgender health. Fam Pract. 2021;38(4):543–544. https://doi.org/10.1093/fampra/cmab047

Ashley F, Domínguez S (2020). Transgender healthcare does not stop at the doorstep of the clinic. Am J Med. 2020;134(2):158–160. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amjmed.2020.09.030

Ashley F (2020). Humorous styles of cause in in rem actions: a comparison of Canada and the United States. Green Bag 2d. 2020;24(1):15–27. https://www.florenceashley.com/uploads/1/2/4/4/124439164/ashley_humorous_styles_of_cause_in_in_rem_actions.pdf

Ashley F (2020). L’In/visibilité constitutive du sujet trans: l’exemple du droit québécois. Can J Law Soc. 2020;35(2):317–340. https://doi.org/10.1017/cls.2020.16

Ashley F (2020). Surgical informed consent and recognizing a perioperative duty to disclose in transgender healthcare. McGill J Law Health. 2020;13(1):73–116. https://ssrn.com/abstract=3633573

Ashley F (2020). A critical commentary on “rapid‑onset gender dysphoria.” Sociol Rev. 2020;68(4):779–799. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038026120934

Ashley F (2019). Homophobia, conversion therapy, and care models for trans youth: defending the gender‑affirmative approach. J LGBT Youth. 2019;17(4):361–383. https://doi.org/10.1080/19361653.2019.1665610

Ashley F (2019). Gatekeeping hormone replacement therapy for transgender patients is dehumanising. J Med Ethics. 2019;45(7):480–482. https://doi.org/10.1136/medethics-2018-105293

Ashley F (2019. Thinking an ethics of gender exploration: against delaying transition for transgender and gender creative youth. Clin Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2019;24(2):223–236. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359104519836462

Ashley, Florence (May 6, 2019). To My Partner: I Didn’t Know I Could Be Trans And In Love Until I Met You. HuffPost https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/transgender-pride-love-letter_uk_5cf686efe4b0e346ce85502e

Ashley F (2018). Genderfucking non‑disclosure: sexual fraud, transgender bodies, and messy identities. Dalhousie Law J. 2018;41(2):339–377. https://digitalcommons.schulichlaw.dal.ca/dlj/vol41/iss2/3/

Ashley F (2018). Don’t be so hateful: the insufficiency of anti‑discrimination and hate crime laws in improving trans wellbeing. U Toronto Law J. 2018;68(1):1–36. https://www.jstor.org/stable/90019657

Ashley, Florence (March 22, 2018 ). Why ‘rapid-onset gender dysphoria’ is bad science. The Conversation https://theconversation.com/why-rapid-onset-gender-dysphoria-is-bad-science-92742

Ashley F (2017). Qui est‑ille? Le respect langagier des élèves non‑binaires, aux limites du droit. Serv Soc. 2017;63(2):35–50. https://doi.org/10.7202/1046498ar

Books

Ashley, Florence (2024). Gender/Fucking: the Pleasures and Politics of Living in a Gendered Body. CLASH Books. ISBN 978-1-955904-93-3.

Ashley, Florence (2022). Banning Transgender Conversion Practices: A Legal and Policy Analysis. UBC Press. ISBN 978-0-7748-6692-7

Media

LGBTQ Oral History Digital Collaboratory (October 4, 2024). Gender/F***ing: A conversation with Dr. Florence Ashley. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pANz-ZeWSjk

Center for Applied Transgender Studies (April 15, 2022). Banning Transgender Conversion Practices: A Legal and Policy Analysis | Florence Ashley, JD, LLM. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4vTZ6mhRY4

CGSHE (October 21, 2021). Science, abortion & the effectiveness of adolescent medical transition | Florence Ashley. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dy8mQHnw79s

Centre for Constitutional Studies (May 6, 2024). Florence Ashley: Clips from “Trans Rights in Alberta” Panel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwix9h7Ou-M