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Raheem Williams vs. transgender people

Raheem Williams is a conservative American policy analyst and anti-transgender activist. Williams has produced anti-trans briefs and has been affiliated with anti-trans groups Do No Harm, Manhattan Institute, Family Research Council, the Center for Urban Renewal and Education (CURE), Reason Foundation, and Heterodox Academy.

Background

Raheem Jermaine Williams was born on November 4, 1992. From 2011 to 2013, Williams attended Flagler College before transferring to Florida International University and earning a bachelor’s degree in 2015. During college, Williams worked for Research Institute on Social & Economic Policy and Main Street America Group. Williams was a 2014 fellow of the right-wing Charles Koch Institute. Williams then worked for Allegis Global Solutions and served on the editorial board of the Journal of Quantitative Methods (JQM).

Williams earned a master’s degree from University of Detroit Mercy in 2017, then reseaerched and lectured at North Dakota State University from 2017 to 2018, working as policy director for the North Dakota Young Republicans and a fellow of the Republican Leadership Initiative. From 2018 to 2021, Reason Foundation

Williams served as director of the Pelican Institute for Public Policy from 2021 to 2022. From 2022 to 2024, Williams was a policy analyst at Center for Urban Renewal and Education adn served as a fellow of the Manhattan Institute in 2023. Williams served as a policy analyst at Heterodox Academy from 2024 to 2025. Williams earned a master’s degree from University of Pennsylvania in 2025.

In 2024, Williams founded American MindTrust. In 2025, Williams became an instructor at Florida State College at Jacksonville

Anti-trans activism

In April 2023, Williams spoke before a hearing held by the Missouri House General Laws Committee centered on transgender youth care. Williams presented research and answered questions from the state legislators.

In July 2023, Williams submitted a statement on behalf of CURE before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government, which convened a hearing titled “The Dangers and Due Process Violations of ‘Gender-Affirming Care.’” Participants included Paula Scanlan, Chloe Cole, Jennifer Bauwens, May Mailman, Shannon Minter, and Myriam Reynolds.

Williams made four claims regarding “dangerous medical experimentation on children”:

  • “These treatments are risky for anyone, especially children.”
  • “Informed consent cannot be provided given the lack of clinical studies and longitudinal research.”
  • “The significance of parental consent in these procedures is diminished by the WPATH guidelines.”
  • “There is no consensus on the actual suicide risk.”

In October 2023, Williams co-authored a joint report by CURE and Family Research Council The Trans Youth Phenomenon: Critiques and Hard Questions.

In October 2024, Williams was listed as an author of an amicus curiae brief submitted to the US Supreme Court by Terry Lee Fowler in the matter of U.S. v. Skrmetti that supported Tennessee’s state ban on transgender healthcare for young people.

Anti-trans coverage

Press release (October 18, 2023). FRC and CURE Publish New Report, The Trans Youth Phenomenon: Critiques & Hard Questions. Family Research Council https://www.frc.org/newsroom/frc-and-cure-publish-new-report-the-trans-youth-phenomenon-critiques-hard-questions

Selected writing by Williams

Williams, Raheem and signatories (October 15, 2024). BRIEF OF AMICI CURIAE THE LARGER DETRANSITIONERS COMMUNITY INCLUDING PUBLIC OFFICIALS, HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS, AND RESEARCHERS IN SUPPORT OF RESPONDENTS. US v. Skrmetti , No. 23-477 https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/23/23-477/328719/20241018182632065_241012a%20v2%20AC%20Brief%20for%20efiling.pdf

Bauwens, Jennifer; Schneider, Victoria; Williams, Raheem (October 2023). The Trans Youth Phenomenon: Critiques and Hard Questions. CURE and Family Research Council https://downloads.frc.org/EF/EF23I36.pdf

Williams, Raheem (July 27, 2023). Statement before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government on The Dangers and Due Process Violations of ‘Gender-Affirming Care.’ https://www.congress.gov/118/meeting/house/116284/documents/HHRG-118-JU10-20230727-SD009.pdf

Williams, Raheem (March 15, 2023). No, Age-Appropriate Library Restrictions Are Not ‘Book Bans.’ The Federalist https://thefederalist.com/2023/03/15/no-age-appropriate-library-restrictions-are-not-book-bans/

Resources

American MindTrust (americanmindtrust.com)

LegiStorm (legistorm.com)

LinkedIn (linkedin.com)

Heterodox Academy (heterodoxacademy.org)

Reason Foundation (reason.org)

Do No Harm (donoharmmedicine.org)

The Federalist (thefederalist.com)