Skip to content
Transgender Map by Andrea James

Translate

Choose a language to read this site translated by Google. Translations are automatic, so some wording will be imperfect.

Aaron Kimberly and transgender people

by Andrea James Reviewed October 18, 2026 16 min read

Aaron Kimberly is a Canadian former nurse and conservative transgender activist. Kimberly has been involved in a number of conservative and anti-trans projects, including:

Kimberly frequently testifies and advocates against affirming models of care for minors and promotes academic work that is frequently characterized as anti-trans. Kimberly is especially interested in promoting disease models of gender diversity, including “gender dysphoria,” “autogynephilia,” and “autoandrophilia.” Kimberly has occasionally expressed interest in a personal “detransition,” or making additional gender changes.

Kimberly is a frequent guest on conservative and anti-trans projects, including:

Background

Aaron Kimberly was reportedly born in 1973. According to a ResearchGate profile, Kimberly attended NSCAD University from 1995 to 2000. From 2006 to 2008, Kimberly attended University of British Columbia, studying nursing. From 2025 to 2026, Kimberly pursued a doctorate in the women’s and gender studies graduate program at University of Alberta. Kimberly later transferred to McGill University to pursue a doctorate in sociology.

In a self-reported biography [original], Kimberly makes the following claims:

  • “at age 19 I had surgery to remove a grapefruit-sized cyst from one of my ovaries”
  • following a biopsy was reportedly diagnosed with “Ovotesticular Disorder of Sex Development (DSD)”
  • Kimberly earned a bachelor’s degree from Nova Scotia College of Art and Design 
  • in 2006 saw a documentary on mainstream TV about “trans kids” that led to a trans identification
  • began medical transition that year at age 33
  • in 2008 became a registered nurse/BScN wtih a specialty in Psychiatric Nursing
  • worked in the mental health department at St Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver, Canada, for 10 years
  • In 2017 moved to Kelowna, Canada, to help launch a multidisciplinary youth clinic and do intake assessments
  • consulted with the Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA)’s Trans Care BC
  • during this consulting, “I started to become confused and concerned about the current state of trans healthcare”
  • began promoting studies by anti-trans psychologists Ray Blanchard, J. Michael Bailey, Kenneth Zucker, Lisa Littman, and Paul Vasey.
  • “I was removed from the clinical mentorship mailing list, I was accused of using the listserv for anti-trans activism, our clinic was boycotted, and I was moved to another program”
  • “this prompted me to create the Gender Dysphoria Alliance (GDA) in January 2021″
  • was registered in British Columbia as a Practising RN from 2008 until that registration was canceled on April 1, 2023

Conservative activism

Kimberly began engaging in conservative activism in 2021 after being alarmed about how the clinic where Kimberly worked was treating trans and gender diverse youth.

In an interview with the National Post, Kimberly stated:

“Alarms are being sounded all over the world,” says Aaron Kimberly, a B.C.-based transgender man and registered nurse with qualms about the current approach. “And Canada seems completely deaf to it. […] We feel the health-care system has been completely taken over by a political agenda at the expense of the actual evidence,” argues Kimberly, who runs the group Gender Dysphoria Alliance.

Kimberly explained to anti-trans activist Pamela Paul:

In 2021, Aaron Kimberly, a 50-year-old trans man and registered nurse, left the clinic in British Columbia where his job focused on the intake and assessment of gender-dysphoric youth. Kimberly received a comprehensive screening when he embarked on his own successful transition at age 33, which resolved the gender dysphoria he experienced from an early age.

But when the gender-affirming model was introduced at his clinic, he was instructed to support the initiation of hormone treatment for incoming patients regardless of whether they had complex mental problems, experiences with trauma or were otherwise “severely unwell,” Kimberly said. When he referred patients for further mental health care rather than immediate hormone treatment, he said he was accused of what they called gatekeeping and had to change jobs.

“I realized something had gone totally off the rails,” Kimberly, who subsequently founded the Gender Dysphoria Alliance and the L.G.B.T. Courage Coalition to advocate better gender care, told me.

In a profile provided to this site in June 2025, Kimberly stated:

My major influences are second wave lesbian feminism and early queer theory. In the early days (1990s), lesbians like Butler and Halberstam conceptualized the FTM experience as a form of female masculinity (eg. Halberstam’s book Female Masculinity, in which she included FTM as under the banner of lesbian masculinities). That’s still a view I hold, in my self-conception. My current work focuses on applications of radical feminism to transmen, looking for ways, throught a sex-realist perspective, at quality of life measures and the nature of our oppression as masculinized/male passing females. 

2024 Stone Butch Disco collaboration

Stone Butch Disco is a Substack newsletter described as “a butch-femme lesbian feminist project: nerd comedy, experiential insights, & alt-academic analysis.”

In September 2024 members of the collective began collaborating on podcast episodes with Kimberly. By November, they announced a split in a since-deleted post:

Aaron repetitively focused conversation onto specific women that Aaron felt slighted by. Due to Rachel and Akiva’s personal histories in abusive relationships, they entertained conversation around uniquely butch vulnerabilities to abuse for a few weeks, culminating in an unreleased 6th podcast episode in which Aaron’s relationships with these women were discussed under the false premise that they were targeting Aaron. It became clear from conversations on and off the recording that Aaron’s treatment of women and especially feminine women was of serious concern. Despite the fact that Rachel requested that Aaron not post the 6th episode anywhere, including on Aaron’s personal channels, Aaron posted it to personal YouTube and Facebook accounts, and used pieces of the audio to harass women via direct message. We were lied to, manipulated, and used. Following these revelations, we removed Aaron from the Stone Butch Disco team.

Kimberly said via email in June 2025 that the announcement was removed “after legal action” because it contained false statements and defamation. Kimberly also stated “my lawyers have evidence that the Statements by both parties are false and defamatory.” This site has requested that evidence for inclusion here. Kimberly provided the following statement:

They fabricated a conspiracy that I only made friends with a couple of butch lesbians for the purpose of lying and manipulating them to harass women. No, I did not. When I left the courage coalition, I made new friendships outside that circle and we generated many ideas for projects that I was excited about, such as an archive about butch lesbians. I built the website. We were ready to launch it. Because I saw them as friends I confided in them some of what I had felt and was processing in regards to interactions I had with certain women. I needed someone to talk to because I was confused by aspects of what had occurred. I couldn’t talk to anyone in the network about it. Meanwhile, those women were plotting behind my back and finding ways to sabotage me in the dark

and taking disrespectful shots at me online to hint they were doing so. They shared private text messages, emails and secretly recorded conversations. They publicly accused me of having mental illness I don’t have and for doing things I didn’t do. I feel played by these women. I expect people to come honest. I fully own that I overstepped some boundaries but I was also misjudged and mistreated. They did psychological harm and when I spoke my truth in defence, they weaponized that against me too. 

The mistake we (Stone Butch Disco) made is trying to engage those other women in a conversation via the podcast. Instead of engaging up front, they contacted the Stone Butch Disco and manipulated them into thinking I’d lied and manipulated them. No. I did not. There was no underhanded scheme going on, on my part, and I was severed from new friendships. I found myself caught in a trap of manipulation, and had to manipulate my way out of it. I’m not normally a manipulative person, at all. I’m blunt to a fault and despise head games. I’ve withdrawn myself entirely from the entire network to get my own head straight and stand in my own truth. I’m focussing on transmen and our needs. I’m not interested in playing dirty games. 

My work is based on respectful conversations about ideas and needs. My ideas are not ones everyone agrees with, but people should not be threatened, intimidated, or coerced, simply for having different views, which aren’t motivated by hate. 

I push back on all hateful activity. People are allowed to hate me. They are not allowed to hurt me just because they have feelings about what I believe.

And I mean you too Andrea. There are more constructive ways to negotiate needs and deal with fears, than tearing people down. I’m not playing this game. Both sides are playing dirty. Someone has to stay in the lane of having peaceful and honest conversations for problem solving. If you believe I’m harming you in some way, then let’s have a conversation. Because your way isn’t working. It just drives more hate. 

Since you’ve publicized where I’m enrolled in an MA program, I’m sure you expect that everyone, both TERFs and the trans-queer community will hate me. What they’ll all find, is that I’m reasonable and easy to engage in respectful and honest conversations across multiple lines of disagreement. And I will expect to be treated with fairness and dignity in return. I will work hard and do well in academia to think things through with care. 

I want to build and mend bridges with human beings on any side of the issue, and I will always preserve myself as a human being who has faults and strengths. My door is always open for honest people who aren’t trying to hurt anyone. I’m not afraid to kick the asses of trespassers (metaphorically speaking). I intend to live in peace. 

If you publish any of this, you must post all of it in whole and exactly how I’ve stated it. 

2024 MIT event

According to anti-trans philosopher Holly Lawford-Smith, Kimberly exhibited “inappropriate and unwanted behaviour” after the two met in 2024 at a debate also attended by anti-trans activists Alex Byrne and Alice Dreger. On February 3, 2025, Lawford-Smith posted:

On the 17th of April 2024, Alex Byrne & I took part in a debate at MIT. Our opponents were Aaron Kimberly and Alice Dreger. Alex and Alice took opposite sides on the question of whether sex is biological and binary, and Aaron and I took opposite sides on the question of whether gender identity should replace sex in social policy. Aaron & I had some friendly communications in the lead-up to the debate, much of which were me making suggestions as to a topic that we could disagree about productively. We met up for a couple of hours on the afternoon of the debate. At the time, Aaron was associated with the LGBT Courage Coalition, and I was occasionally doing freelance interviews for the LGB Alliance Australia. I figured it would be good to establish some kind of link between the two organizations. 

Since April 2024 or so, I have been dealing with inappropriate and unwanted behaviour by Aaron Kimberly. This includes him repeatedly sending emails to my work address (after I had blocked him on Twitter); contacting my friends and colleagues about me; attempting to organize an in-person event to take place on my campus, at which I would be a speaker, without my permission or input; mischaracterizing our brief interaction to mutual acquaintances; publishing a full podcast episode mischaracterizing our interaction; posting three separate Substack articles about me (one sharing personal information about me and embedding deleted video content that I own the copyright to); sending huge volumes of messages to other people about me; and, most recently, contacting my employer. This has all been the aftermath of Aaron making several romantic advances toward me, which I rejected. To say he’s taken rejection badly would appear to be an understatement.

On February 22, 2025, Kimberly posted a lengthy response addressing many of Lawford-Smith’s claims and assertions about their interactions.

In 2024, Kimberly was involved in supporting anti-trans psychiatrist Jillian Spencer, who ran for President-Elect of Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP). Kimberly signed and hosted an open letter supporting Spencer. Specer lost to Angelo Virgona.

References

Staff report (April 15, 2026). GSJ student Aaron Kimberly wins award. University of Alberta https://www.ualberta.ca/en/womens-gender-studies/about-us/news/2026/gsj-student-aaron-kimberly-wins-award.html

Jupp, Lydia (January 6, 2025). Anti-Trans Psychiatrist Supported In Bid For RANZCP Presidency. Star Observer https://www.starobserver.com.au/news/anti-trans-psychiatrist-supported-in-bid-for-ranzcp-presidency/234724

Anti-trans coverage

Lawford-Smith, Holly (February 3, 2025). Aaron Kimberly: A Statement. https://hollylawford-smith.org/aaron-kimberly-a-statement/

Lawford-Smith, Holly (February 3, 2025). Tweet 4th February 2025 & email to my employer 31st January 2025.

Stone Butch Disco (January 2, 2025). S2 E2: “We’re living in a post postmodern world, get your sh** together!” https://stonebutchdisco.substack.com/p/s2-e2-were-living-in-a-post-postmodern-a4e

“Grow Some Labia” (December 18, 2024). The Transfolk Who Really Do Need Our Support. https://growsomelabia.substack.com/p/the-transfolk-who-really-do-need

Staff (November 25, 2024). Ending our relationship with Aaron Kimberly. Stone Butch Disco https://stonebutchdisco.substack.com/p/ending-our-relationship-with-aaron [deleted – archive]

Paul, Pamela (February 2, 2024). Opinion: As Kids, They Thought They Were Trans. They No Longer Do. New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/02/opinion/transgender-children-gender-dysphoria.html

TT Exulansic on Odysee (February 27, 2022). Church of the Maculate Conception: Schrödinger’s Testicle [deleted]

Blackwell, Tom (December 2, 2021). Canada too quick to treat gender dysphoria in minors with hormones, surgery: critics. National Post https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/canada-transgender-treatment

Linehan, Graham (July 29, 2021). One man’s war against a rape crisis centre. The Glinner Update https://grahamlinehan.substack.com/p/one-mans-war-against-a-rape-crisis

“Laval, Mary” (July 26, 2021). Transition in hindsight: Aaron Kimberly’s story. Genspect https://genspect.org/transition-in-hindsight-aaron-kimberlys-story/ [deleted – archive]

Selected writing by Kimberly

Kimberly, Aaron (October 18, 2026). The Wires We Share: Building Lesbian Coalition Across Identity. [reportedly commissioned by Jill Magazine] https://aaronkimberly.substack.com/p/the-wires-we-share-building-lesbian

Kimberly, Aaron (October 9, 2026). Weathering Female Masculinity. https://aaronkimberly.substack.com/p/weathering-female-masculinity

Bell, Keira; Kimberly, Aaron (November 10, 2025). The Myth of ‘Detransition’: There’s no going back for “detransitioned” butches—only learning to live on a strange little island. Reality’s Last Stand https://www.realityslaststand.com/p/the-myth-of-detranstion

Kimberly, Aaron (November 6, 2025). The Drag king has no clothes: The rise and fall of female masculinity. Queer Majority https://www.queermajority.com/essays-all/the-drag-king-has-no-clothes

Kimberly, Aaron (August 29, 2025). Confessions of a bearded lesbian. Queer Majority https://www.queermajority.com/essays-all/confessions-of-a-bearded-lesbian

Kimberly, Aaron (May 27, 2025). Sex and Violence: What the Data on Trans Offenders Really Show. Reality’s Last Stand https://www.realityslaststand.com/p/sex-and-violence-what-the-data-on

Kimberly, Aaron (February 22, 2025). Holy, Holly! In response to Holly Lawford-Smith. https://www.aaronkimberly.com/holly-lawford-smith

Kimberly, Aaron; signatories (December 30, 2024). Letter to the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists. https://www.aaronkimberly.com/spencer

Kimberly, Aaron (June 26, 2022). GUEST OP-ED: What nobody told me about transition, but should have. True North https://tnc.news/2022/06/26/aaron-kimberly-transition-oped/ [archive]

Kimberly, Aaron (2003). Autoportrait. Journal of Homosexuality https://doi.org/10.1300/J082v43n03_20

Media

Ellin Jimmerson with Aaron Kimberly (April 7, 2026). Aaron Kimberly, Feminism & Transmen, Ep. 1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnpv6NbHndg

Aaron Kimberly (March 21, 2026). Conference Presentation – Experiences of Sexual Assault Among Transmen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArcjEzgyxrw

In Response with Joey T. McFadden and Aaron Kimberly (March 12, 2025). Sex, Gender, & Politics – #14. https://joeytmcfadden.substack.com/p/sex-gender-and-politics

Something For Everybody with Aaron Machbitz and Aaron Kimberly (January 28, 2025). #333 – Aaron Kimberly – Understanding the Trans Experience: Integrators vs. Disruptors. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aMF7VrWRi8

The Lesbian Mafia with Aaron Kimberly (December 23, 2024). Luigi’s Mom, Cream Puffs & Oh Canada w/ Aaron Kimberly. https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/thelesbianmafia/episodes/2024-12-23T19_20_12-08_00

Buck U with Buck Angel and Aaron Kimberly (December 27, 2024). Why I Am Detransitioning Part 2 FT Aaron Kimberly-Buck U: LIVE. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl6aa8h-aWs

Buck U with Buck Angel and Aaron Kimberly (December 13, 2024). Why I am Detransitioning FT Aaron Kimberly-Buck U: LIVE. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blQv59TtKSs

Gender: A Wider Lens with Stella O’Malley, Sasha Ayad, and Aaron Kimberly (November 9, 2024). Dysphoria Means Something Different to Different People with Aaron Kimberly. https://www.widerlenspod.com/p/dysphoria-means-something-different

Gender: A Wider Lens with Stella O’Malley Sasha Ayad, and Aaron Kimberly (November 8, 2024). 192 – Paving a Way Back for Detrans Lesbians, with Aaron Kimberly. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZ_gsbzVCXE

Heterodorx with Nina Paley, Corinna Cohn, Aaron Kimberly (October 30, 2024). Aaron Kimberly Look-a Like a Man. https://heterodorx.com/podcast/episode-150-aaron-kimberly-look-a-like-a-man/

The Lesbian Mafia with Aaron Kimberly (October 10, 2024). Reconciling Gender: Aaron Kimberly’s Transition, Detransition, & Whistleblowing. https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/thelesbianmafia/episodes/2024-10-09T22_54_54-07_00

The Lesbian Project Podcast with Julie Bindel, Kathleen Stock, and Aaron Kimberly (May 24, 2024). Episode 28 FREE – a chat with Aaron Kimberly; plus the music of Chappell Roan, and bars (again). [unavailable]

Gender: A Wider Lens with Stella O’Malley, Sasha Ayad, and Aaron Kimberly (October 6, 2023). Premium: Bonus Conversation with Aaron Kimberly. https://www.widerlenspod.com/p/bonus-conversation-with-aaron-kimberly

Gender: A Wider Lens with Stella O’Malley, Sasha Ayad, and Aaron Kimberly (October 6, 2023). 135 – Intersex, Identity, & Ideology with Aaron Kimberly. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfVwd6cnZtM

Calmversations with Benjamin Boyce, Jamie Reed, and Aaron Kimberly (August 24, 2023). The Corruption of Gender Medicine | with Aaron Kimberly & Jamie Reed. [original title: Challenging Gender Medicine from Within, with Jamie Reed & Aaron Kimberly] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LJjOCiFkdY

The Unspeakable Podcast with Meghan Daum, and Aaron Kimberly (June 20, 2023). When Queer Theory Meets Medical Practice: Aaron Kimberly On The Crisis In Transgender Health Care. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DT3BTIC4dPc

Genspect with Aaron Kimberly (April 8, 2022; uploaded June 2, 2022). Symposium 1.1 Aaron Kimberley [sic]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTIN7FJOzkk

The Rupa Subramanya Show with Aaron Kimberly (April 13, 2023). The reality of transitioning from a trans man (Ft. Aaron Kimberly). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RInhdKI5mcA

BROADVIEW with Lisa Selin Davis, Aaron Terrell, and Aaron Kimberly (March 3, 2023). Heterodox Trans People #4: The Aarons. https://www.broadview.news/p/heterodox-trans-people-4-the-aarons

In Context with Gregor S. Thomson and Aaron Kimberly (October 14, 2022). Episode 28 – Gender Dysphoria/Trans Issues with Aaron Kimberly. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M99KkuyMhUE

TT Exulansic and Aaron Kimberly on Odysee (February 27, 2022). Metoidioplasty Moments: Double Fistula. https://odysee.com/@Exulansic:d/Metoidioplasty-Moments-Double-Fistula:c

The MARS Show with Mars Hernandez and Aaron Kimberly (January 6, 2022). #147 Gender Dysphoria Alliance with Aaron Kimberly & Aaron Terrell. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwbiuJ22EeA

Calmversations with Benjamin Boyce and Aaron Kimberly (October 27, 2021). s04e17 | Being A Woman Being A Man | A Transitioner’s Tale, with Aaron Terrell. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tS2rLY_jVQI

The Just Checking In Podcast with Freddie Cocker and Aaron Kimberly (August 8, 2021). JCIP #90 – Aaron Kimberly. https://soundcloud.com/venthelpuk/jcip-90-aaron-kimberly

Calmversations with Benjamin Boyce and Aaron Kimberly (July 24, 2021). s03e102 | Bullying in the Trans Community, with Aaron Kimberly. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIDwOk-bvtE

The MARS show with Mars Fernandez and Aaron Kimberly (July 15, 2021). #135 Aaron Kimberly on the reality of transition. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1gZ_xoMjZc

Calmversations with Benjamin Boyce and Aaron Kimberly (May 20, 2021). s03e81 | How Queer Theory Interferes with Good Therapy, with Aaron Kimberly. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcjBDi-ZRLA

Resources

Aaron Kimberly (aaronkimberly.com)

Gender Dysphoria Alliance (genderdysphoriaalliance.com) [archive]

  • Letters and articles
  • genderdysphoriaalliance.com/coming-soon-03 [archive]

Lesbros Project (lesbrosproject.com) [archive]

X/Twitter (x.com)

Substack (substack.com)

Facebook (facebook.com)

YouTube (youtube.com)

TikTok (tiktok.com)

Queer Majority (https://www.queermajority.com/)

Was this helpful?

Support my work!