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Laura Targownik and transgender people

Laura Targownik is a Canadian physician and podcaster. Targownik co-hosts conservative trans podcast TransNormal Podcast with trans veteran Jo Ellis and Agree to Disagree about Gender with “gender critical” activist Yvette Nary.

Background

Laura Ellyn Targownik was born in November 1972 and grew up in Winnipeg. Targownik graduated from the University of Manitoba Medical School in 1997 and completed residency training in Internal Medicine in 2000. Targownik was a successful contestant on quiz show Jeopardy! prior to transition.

In 2024, Targownik posted:

This is what the first 25 years of my life was like. I even briefly took it as far as getting married and having a child with a lovely woman because I so desperately wanted to be normal. Once I came to terms with who I was, I’ve been fortunate to become a mother of two children of my own through surrogacy. It’s been a much better fit for me. And my older son hadn’t even turned two yet when I started to medically transition, so fortunately, for us both, he never formed any memories of me as a “father.”

Targownik began a medical transition at age 27 in 2000. Targownik then completed a 3-year fellowship in Digestive Diseases at University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). While there, Targownik earned a master’s degree from UCLA School of Public Health.

Targownik is a frequently cited expert in gastroenterology and has published many research papers on clinical findings. In 2003, Targownik joined the University of Manitoba as a full-time faculty member in Winnipeg. From 2003 to around 2019. Targownik was a member of the College of Physicians & Surgeons of Manitoba. Targownik was the Chief of the Section of Gastroenterology at University of Manitoba, an Associate of the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy, and the Associate Director of the IBD Research and Clinical Centre.​

On March 15, 2019, Targownik made a post on Facebook about a colleague (“Dr. X”) that ultimately led to a formal censure.

“On March 15, 2019, Dr. Targownik treated a patient who had been previously assessed by Dr. X and had a diagnostic procedure scheduled. While Dr. Targownik had no concerns about the care that had been provided, she did have concerns that the patient had been provided with a package of medical and non-medical products in association with the procedure and had been charged an excessive amount by Dr. X for the package. […] Dr. Targownik decided to personally discuss this with a few colleagues and to publish her concerns in a Facebook group comprised of approximately 7,800 members, most of whom are Canadian physicians. […] Dr. Targownik’s post[s] included:

  • Is this allowed? Or is it just shit behaviour from a shit person….
  • This patient was a recent immigrant to Canada of limited means, who undoubtably was taken advantage of.
  • It’s not the private billing, and I’m not against the concierge service per se, it’s the potential predatory nature of it. This woman had no idea she had a less expensive option.

During the College’s investigation, Dr. Targownik acknowledged that:

  • she made assumptions about the patient’s personal situation, including her ability to pay and her immigration status;
  • she does not recall whether she discussed in detail the cost of the package with the patient;
  • she did not verify the market value of the items in the package before posting on Facebook; and
  • she was not aware of the facts behind the patient’s interactions with Dr. X in relation to the purchase of the package before posting on Facebook.

Dr. Targownik acknowledged that her posting her concerns in a public forum was a serious mistake and explained that her approach to addressing perceived misconduct was influenced by factors which may have compromised herjudgment. Dr. Targownik expressed remorse over her actions in retrospect.”

The disciplinary decision issued by the Manitoba College on March 5, 2020 explicitly refers to Targownik as “a former member of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba.” Targownik was ordered to pay the CDN$4,290 costs of the investigation.

In May 2019, Targownik became a member of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO#:117900), doing business as Laura Targownik Medicine Professional Corporation and practicing at University of Toronto and Mount Sinai Hospital. Since then, Targownik has been a full-time faculty member at the University of Toronto, serving as Division Director for Gastroenterology & Hepatology. In 2026, Targownik was appointed a full professorship at University of Toronto.

Targownik has been married twice and has one child from the first marriage, as well as two via surrogacy from the second.

Trans community involvement

Targownik joined Twitter in 2012 and continued to be a heavy user of the platform following its purchase by Elon Musk.

Targownik self-describes as “a binary assimilationist transsexual,” a “transmedicalist,” and a “pragmatic progressive” who seeks to engage with opponents of progressive trans healthcare policy. Targownik also supports the disputed diagnosis “autogynephilia” and has platformed a number of “autogynephilia” activists, including Alex Byrne, James Morandini, and Ray Alex Williams.

Following the election of Donald Trump in 2024, Targownik began getting more involved publicly in trans community politics. In January 2025, Targownik wrote an op-ed for The Globe and Mail, stating in part:

I transitioned not to live as a trans woman, but as a woman, full stop, and I had no intent or desire to ever be publicly identifiable as trans again.

However, there has been an unmistakable negative shift in the public’s attitude toward trans people, fuelled by emerging concerns, primarily centred on whether children are being overdiagnosed with gender dysphoria and transitioned unnecessarily, and around fairness in athletic competition. However, these concerns have been weaponized by malevolent right-wing actors into an omnipresent campaign of hatred against trans people, especially trans women, featuring the most abominable stereotypes: the sex predator lurking in a public washroom or community pool; the man in a dress; the groomer of children. This transphobia was a core element of the campaign to elect Donald Trump in the U.S., and now feels firmly embedded in America’s political climate.

[…] In choosing private lives, assimilated trans people have shortsightedly abdicated the defence of our rights to activists for whom being trans is a primary identity, and whose priorities are less resonant with the general public. Unsurprisingly, this has led to erosion in support for the set of rights that most trans people had assumed were inviolable.

In March 2025, Targownik asked the X chatbot Grok “which public figure, past or present, do I sound like?” Grok responded that Targownik’s posts were similar to those of Trump loyalist Laura Loomer and fellow conservative trans commenter Blaire White. Targownik is close friends with conservative activist Brianna Wu.

TransNormal podcast

In April 2025, Targownik launched the TransNormal Podcast with conservative trans veteran Jo Ellis.

In September 2025, Targownik interviewed McMaster University researcher Gordon Guyatt in the wake of the SEGM–McMaster research funding scandal. In their interview, Guyatt described attending a SEGM conference that led to the realization that SEGM is not an impartial research organization. In 2025, Guyatt cut ties with SEGM after Guyatt’s SEGM-funded research was misused as a pretext to ban trans healthcare for minors and to eliminate state-funded healthcare coverage for trans adults.

Agree to Disagree about Gender podcast

In December 2025, Targownik and “gender critical” activist Yvette Nary launched the podcast Agree to Disagree about Gender. Most guests are critical of aspects of trans healthcare.

Guests include

References

Hayes, Valerie (July 5, 2026). The Inconvenient Truth About Advocacy Disguised as Analysis. Inconvenient Truths https://valah.blog/the-inconvenient-truth-about-advocacy-disguised-as-analysis-2/

Staff report (June 28, 2023). Pride month member spotlight: Laura Targownik, MD. American Gastroenterological Association https://gastro.org/news/pride-month-member-spotlight-laura-targownik-md/

Staff report (November 18, 2022). Battle for Freedom: Laura Targownik on Transgender Day of Remembrance. Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto https://temertymedicine.utoronto.ca/news/battle-freedom-laura-targownik-transgender-day-remembrance

College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba (March 5, 2020). Censure IC4235 in the matters of The Regulated Health Professions Act, CCSM c. R117, Part 8 (the “RHPA”) and Dr. Laura Ellyn Targownik, a former member of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba. https://cpsm.mb.ca/assets/Discipline/20200305TargownikCensure.pdf

Selected publications by Targownik

Targownik, Laura (February 19, 2026). Laura Targownik: Tumbler Ridge raises serious questions about gender identity and male violence. National Post https://nationalpost.com/opinion/laura-targownik-tumbler-ridge-raises-serious-questions-about-gender-identity-and-male-violence

Targownik, Laura (January 21, 2026). Alberta has restricted access to gender based medical care for trans youth. Will the rest of Canada soon follow? Healthy Debate https://healthydebate.ca/2026/01/topic/alberta-gender-based-medical-care/

Targownik, Laura (November 5, 2025). I used to envy socially transitioned trans kids for having the childhood I never had. Now I am not so certain. Healthy Debate https://healthydebate.ca/2025/11/topic/socially-transitioned-trans-kids/

Targownik, Laura (April 17, 2025). My birth sex is part of my medical history; it should be as private as the rest of my medical history. Healthy Debate https://healthydebate.ca/2025/04/topic/birth-sex-medical-history/

Targownik, Laura (January 31, 2025). I have long lived a quiet life. But I am also trans – and now I need to make myself heard. The Globe and Mail https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-i-have-long-lived-a-quiet-life-but-i-am-also-trans-and-now-i-need-to/

Media

TransNormal with Laura Targownik and Gordon Guyatt (September 17, 2025). Episode 12 – An Interview with Dr. Gord Guyatt. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=720QT7EKUJE

Resources

Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)

YouTube (youtube.com)

Facebook (facebook.com)

X/Twitter (x.com)

LinkedIn (linkedin.com)

Substack (substack.com)

Google Scholar (scholar.google.com)

Healthy Debate (healthydebate.ca)