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Alex Byrne vs. transgender people

Alex Byrne is an American philosopher and anti-transgender activist. Trolling and attacking the trans community for money and attention is a family business; Byrne’s spouse Carole Hooven is an anti-transgender anthropologist.

Byrne has published in several anti-trans publications, including Archives of Sexual Behavior, Journal of Controversial Ideas, Arc Digital, and Quillette.

In May 2025, Byrne was revealed to be an author of the Trump Administration’s HHS report attacking gender-affirming care for youth.

Background

Alexander “Alex” Byrne was born on January 25, 1960. Byrne earned a bachelor’s degree from Birkbeck College London at age 28 in 1988 and a master’s degree from King’s College London in 1989. Byrne earned a doctorate from Princeton University in 1994. After teaching at Caltech during a postdoc in 1993, Byrne joined MIT in 1994.

Byrne’s work focuses on philosophy of mind (especially perception), metaphysics (especially color) and epistemology (especially self-knowledge).

Byrne married anti-trans anthropologist Carole Hooven (born 1966) and has one child, Griffin.

Anti-transgender activism

Byrne “began to take a serious interest in the philosophy of sex and gender in 2018.” Hooven’s work is largely a defense of sex segregationism through promoting the concept of sexual dimorphism, and Byrne’s work builds on that.

Byrne started with the standard “just asking questions” style beloved by transphobes:

  • Is Sex Binary?
  • Is Sex Socially Constructed?
  • What Is Gender Identity?
  • Are Women Adult Human Females?

Byrne has also published in the Journal of Controversial Ideas, a publication designed to allow academics to publish using fake names, thus relieving them of responsibility and accountability that are foundational to academic freedom.

Byrne has also published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior, the “academic” platform of choice for transphobes for over 50 years.

MIT Civil Discourse project

In 2023, the Arthur Vining Davis Foundation funded a project on “civil discourse” at MIT. The four organizers are Alex Byrne, Anne McCants, Linda R. Rabieh, and Brad Skow. Invited speakers skew anti-trans.

  • November 9, 2023: Has Feminism Made Progress? with Mary Harrington and MIT’s Anne McCants
  • February 26, 2024: Can We Trust Medical Science? with Vinay Prasad and MIT’s Peko Hosoi
  • April 8, 2024: Did Elites Eat the Social Justice Movement? with Freddie deBoer and MIT’s Edward Schiappa
  • March 3, 2025: Should American Society Commit to Colorblindness? with Coleman Hughes and MIT’s Sandy Alexandre
  • April 15, 2025: Is Social Media a Threat to Democracy? with Jesse Singal and MIT’s Adam Berinsky

Trouble with Gender (2023)

In 2022, Byrne was invited by Luvell Anderson and Ernie Lepore to contribute a chapter on pronouns for the Oxford Handbook of Applied Philosophy of Language. That was dropped after Byrne posted a link to a draft to Twitter, prompting colleagues and the lay public to criticize the chapter and the author. The 2024 published version did not include Byrne and had three chapters on pronouns:

  • 12. Pronouns and Gender, Cameron Domenico Kirk-Giannini and Michael Glanzberg
  • 13. How to Do Things with Gendered Words, E. M. Hernandez and Archie Crowley
  • 14. Beyond Pronouns: Gender Visibility and Neutrality across Languages, Iz GonzĂĄlez VĂĄzquez, Martina Rosola, and Anna Klieber

Byrne had contracted with Oxford University Press to publish Trouble with Gender: Sex Facts, Gender Fictions. Byrne even got fellow anti-trans activist Nina Paley to make a cover. After peer review, the editors decided not to proceed, saying “the book does not treat the subject in a sufficiently serious and respectful way.”

Oxford University Press philosophy editor Peter Momtchiloff added in response:

The decision not to proceed with Alex’s book manuscript was editorial in nature. By way of clarification, let me assure you that the manuscript underwent peer review, and Alex was given comments on the manuscript from me and from four expert readers. On the basis of these assessments, my judgement was indeed that the work was not appropriate for publication by OUP. And Alex’s submission for the Handbook also went through a process of review by expert readers.

Byrne took to anti-trans publication Quillette to complain.

Polity then agreed to publish Byrne’s book, which has been blurbed by all the usual anti-trans suspects, including Daniel Kodsi, John Maier, Steven Pinker, Jesse Singal, Christina Hoff Sommers, Kathleen Stock, Janet Radcliffe Richards, and Nina Power.

Trump Administration 2025 HHS report

On May 1, 2015, The Trump Administration released Treatment for Pediatric Gender Dysphoria: Review of Evidence and Best Practices (aka Gender Dysphoria Report) as a pretext for banning healthcare for trans and gender diverse youth.

Byrne is cited throughout the document and was revealed through EXIF data to have compiled an appendix.

Byrne was not forthcoming about being involved, according to Daily Nous:

One of Byrne’s colleagues at MIT emailed him over the weekend, saying “I’m getting a LOT of email about the social media posts claiming you compiled the Appendices to the HHS report Treatment for Pediatric Gender Dysphoria. Among other things, people want to know if the claims are true. I don’t know what to say. Any guidance is appreciated.” Byrne replied, “Thanks. I have seen this floating around on social media. I’m afraid I can’t shed any light on this – I’m sorry!” When the colleague asked if they could share his response, Byrne wrote, “Sure (not at all helpful, admittedly).”

References

Weinberg, Justin (May 5, 2025). Philosopher’s Apparent Role in Government’s “Treatment for Pediatric Gender Dysphoria” Report Revealed by Metadata (updated). Daily Nous https://dailynous.com/2025/05/05/philosophers-apparent-role-in-governments-treatment-for-pediatric-gender-dysphoria-report-revealed-by-metadata/

Reed, Erin (May 1, 2025). Fact Check: Trump’s HHS Review On Trans Care Filled With Pseudoscience, Pushes Conversion Therapy. Erin in the Morning https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/fact-check-trumps-hhs-review-on-trans

Arthur Vining Davis Foundation (February 29, 2024). MIT Initiative Models Civil Discourse on Challenging Topics. https://www.avdf.org/news/mit-initiative-models-civil-discourse-on-challenging-topics/

Coleman, Rachel (February 13, 2024). What’s at Stake in Sexual Difference? A Review of Trouble with Gender: Sex Facts, Gender Fictions by Alex Byrne. Public Discourse https://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2024/02/92644/

Gambotto-Burke, Antonella (September 22, 2023). Can you really demand to become a woman? The Australian https://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/review/can-you-really-demand-to-become-a-woman/news-story/4f709c353731cde443966a020b5dc950 [archive]

Weinberg, Justin (April 18, 2023). What It’s Like to Be a Philosopher with Unpopular Views on a Controversial Subject (multiple updates). Daily Nous https://dailynous.com/2023/04/21/what-its-like-to-be-a-philosopher-with-unpopular-views-on-a-controversial-subject/

Hipwell, Kim (February 16, 2022). The Preposterous Pronoun Pantomime Of Alex Byrne. Medium https://kim-hipwell.medium.com/the-preposterous-pronoun-pantomime-of-alex-byrne-a5399feb6cea

Bogardus T (2020). Evaluating Arguments for the Sex/Gender Distinction. Philosophia 48 (3):873-892. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11406-019-00157-6

Fausto-Sterling A (2019). Gender/Sex, Sexual Orientation, and Identity Are in the Body: How Did They Get There? The Journal of Sex Research 56;4-5, 529-555 https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2019.1581883

van Anders SM (2013). Beyond masculinity: Testosterone, gender/sex, and human social behavior in a comparative context. Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology, 34, 198-210. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yfrne.2013.07.001

van Anders SM (2015). Beyond sexual orientation: Integrating gender/sex and diverse sexualities in Sexual Configurations Theory. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 44, 1177-1213. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-015-0490-8

Selected anti-trans writing by Byrne

Byrne A (2024). Another Myth of Persistence? Archives of Sexual Behavior 53, 3705–3709 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-024-03005-1

Bogardus T, Byrne,A (2024). Ashley on Gender Identity. Journal of Controversial Ideas, 4(1), 2 https://doi.org/10.35995/jci04010002

Byrne, Alex (June 16, 2024). In Defence of John Money. Quillette https://quillette.com/2024/06/16/in-defence-of-john-money/

Byrne, Alex (2023). Trouble With Gender: Sex Facts, Gender Fictions. Polity, ISBN  978-1509560011

Byrne, Alex (December 15, 2023). Trans Typologies: A Brief History. Quillette https://quillette.com/2023/12/15/trans-typologies-a-brief-history/

Byrne A (2023). Pronoun Problems. Journal of Controversial Ideas, 3(1), 5 https://doi.org/10.35995/jci03010005

Byrne A (2023. More on “Gender Identity”. Archives of Sexual Behavior 52, 2719–2721 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-023-02695-3

Byrne A (2023). The Origin of “Gender Identity.” Archives of Sexual Behavior https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-023-02628-0

Byrne, Alex (November 4, 2022). Patriarchy and the Original Position. Part of Sex, and the Politics of Sex: with Tomas Bogardus, Holly Lawford-Smith, and Eric Sampson [moderator]. 6th Annual Meeting of the Philosophy, Politics, and Economics Society. New Orleans. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qR2SPnmvwPY1azc82CdqfuR8nLnx39K0/view?pli=1

If politics is the art of the possible, political philosophy is the science of the possible. What kinds of societies could there be, not just for Homo economicus, but for Homo sapiens, a recent product of a long lineage of primate ancestors? One obvious—in political philosophy, often ignored— feature of sapiens is sex. Unlike economicus, humans come in two distinct sexed forms, female and male. And one striking apparently universal feature of past human societies (including at least many contemporary societies), is patriarchy: the dominance of males in political and social decision-making. As the historian Yuval Noah Harari says, it is plausible that some ‘universal biological reason’ accounts for patriarchy. If that is right, then patriarchy may seem inevitable, or at least hard to avoid. The first part of the paper outlines some evidence for Harari’s ‘universal biological reason’. The second part brings the first part to bear on Rawls’s use of the original position, and the subsequent feminist adoption of it by Susan Okin. I will argue that ignorance of one’s sex in the original position fails to deal with the problem of patriarchy, and that the Rawlsian approach should be abandoned.

Byrne, Alex (April 17, 2023). Philosophy’s No-Go Zone. Quillette https://quillette.com/2023/04/17/philosophys-no-go-zone/

Byrne, Alex (2023). Pronouns [rejected draft]. https://philpapers.org/archive/BYRP-3.pdf [archive]

Byrne A (2022). The Female of the Species: Reply to Heartsilver, Journal of Controversial Ideas 2(1), 11; https://doi.org/10.35995/jci02010011

Byrne A (2021). Gender Muddle: Reply to Dembroff. Journal of Controversial Ideas 1(1): 1-24. https://doi.org/10.35995/jci01010005

Byrne A (2020). Are Women Adult Human Females? Philosophical Studies 177, 3783–803. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11098-019-01408-8

Byrne, Alex (January 9, 2019). What Is Gender Identity? Arc Digital https://medium.com/arc-digital/what-is-gender-identity-10ce0da71999

Byrne, Alex (2018). Skepticism about the Internal World. in The Norton Introduction to Philosophy. W. W. Norton & Company 978-0393624427

Byrne, Alex (November 2, 2018). Is Sex Binary? Arc Digital https://medium.com/arc-digital/is-sex-binary-16bec97d161e

Byrne, Alex (December 1, 2018). Is Sex Socially Constructed? Arc Digital https://medium.com/arc-digital/is-sex-socially-constructed-81cf3ef79f07

Resources

Alex Byrne (alexbyrne.org)

MIT (mit.edu)

Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)

X/Twitter (x.com)