This is going to be an unpopular post, but: as trans and queer people, we need to be more accepting of detransitioners/retransitioners who are not transphobic.
For several years, I thought I was a detransitioner. It turns out that I was just a plural system and didn't know about it (we'd had a switch in main fronters in my median system from a genderfluid person to a cis girl).
To me, it seemed like my identity had changed. All I knew was that I'd used to think I was trans and now thought I was a cis person.
It was really hard to have trans people tell me, over and over, that they believed everyone had the right to self identify, but I didn't. They believed everyone had the right to bodily autonomy, but I didn't. They believed everyone had the right not to be misgendered, but I didn't.
My partner and a few friends stood by me and I had to watch the rest of my friends leave. Any new trans people that I met during that time wanted nothing to do with me, leaving me extremely isolated and alone. Terfs knew this and reached out to me many times to try to get me on their side.
All this, and I *wasn't even detrans*. Most trans people think they're cis at some point in their lives. All other detrans people I met during this time were queer and were using that label for reasons like going from identifying as a binary trans person to identifying as non-binary.
We need to allow everyone the right to identify as whatever gender they feel best fits them. We need to allow everyone the opportunity to experiment with gender, to change their gender labels, and to be wrong about their genders. This includes if people go from identifying as trans to identifying as cis.
“but what if young people medically transition and then regret it?”
These people exist. Have you spoken to them and listened to their experiences and feelings?
Some of them are nonbinary. Some of them stop medically transitioning because it’s achieved what they wanted. Some of them realised they felt pressured to perform their gender and transness a specific way. Some of them realise they’re cis. Some of them are still trans, just in different ways. A great many of them have love and support for the trans community.
Are you actually interested in people’s lived experiences that are infinitely diverse and complex? Or are you just hoping to use people as props in your own transphobic arguments?
And if you do genuinely have concerns about this, look at a range of people’s stories and learn from them. Think critically about the source of your information, their evidence and credibility, and what their goals might be. And consider the alternatives. Research what happens when people don’t have access to medical transition. And compare your concerns to different medical interventions like tonsillectomies and non transgender cosmetic surgeries.
Looked up the author of this story. Not surprised it’s by a TRA.
Ky Schevers is fighting back against the anti-trans movement she once took part in.
ByKiara Alfonseca
November 23, 2022, 6:30 AM
Ky Schevers is fighting back against the anti-trans movement she once took part in.
Schevers was assigned the sex of female at birth and later chose to start gender-affirming care by taking testosterone to transition from female to male in her mid-20s. She stopped taking testosterone, though, in the years that followed while she continued to explore and question her gender, later falling into an online anti-trans group of "detransitioners" – people who once did but no longer identify as transgender.
Now, Schevers says she has “retransitioned," identifying as transmasculine and gender queer, which means she identifies with both genders. Schevers uses she and her pronouns, but heavily identifies with masculinity, as defined by the LGBTQIA+ Health Education Center states.
She says she considers herself to be a part of the transgender community.
When Schevers initially stopped taking testosterone, she sought out advice and companionship in online forums about detransitioning. In this virtual community is where she began to adopt anti-trans beliefs that misogyny and a patriarchal society caused her to initially transition from female to male. In blog posts, YouTube videos, interviews and workshops, she spread and promoted these beliefs. These posts became a popular tool for anti-trans activists looking to discredit the trans community in the name of feminism.
A 50-year study in the Archives of Sexual Behavior performed in Sweden estimated that less than 3% of people who medically transitioned experienced "transition regret." Other studies have estimated similar results, some citing even lower figures.MORE: Amid anti-LGBTQ efforts, transgender community finds joy in 'chosen families'
Despite this low percentage, these individuals have become a focal point of anti-transgender legislation and activism.
More than 300 proposed bills across the country have targeted LGBTQ Americans in the last year, according to the Human Rights Campaign. Health care for trans youth in particular has become the target of such efforts.
Before the ages of 16-18, youth are treated with reversible treatments based on guidance from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Irreversible medical interventions, such as surgeries, are typically only done with consenting adults, or older teens who have worked through the decision with their families and physicians over a long period of time, physicians across the country have told ABC News.
Despite these common practices, officials in many states have launched efforts to crack down on gender-affirming care for minors. Some legislators have cited disputed research on this topic, stating that the majority of gender dysphoric youth will grow out of their dysphoria. The methodology in these studies has been highly critiqued.
Major medical associations support gender-affirming care for youth and adults. Transgender youth tend to have high rates of suicide, but those who transition often experience significantly reduced psychological distress.
A recent large study from Harvard found that gender-affirming surgery was associated with improved mental health outcomes in those who are transgender.
Another recent large study from Harvard found that even among those who do go on to detransition, it is often due to external pressures such as stigma and non-acceptance in their environments, rather than a sudden resolution of gender dysphoria.
But that's where “detransitioners" come in. Detransitioned activists have often testified in public hearings on policies concerning the transgender community.
"I was 30 and at the end of my rope when I transitioned … If I made this mistake as an adult, a young girl could too," said one detransitioned speaker at the Oct. 28 Florida medical board hearing concerning a ban on gender affirming health care for youth. "Not only did my surgery exacerbate my mental health issues, I now struggle with physical complications as well."
Another speaker at the hearing, who said she started gender-affirming treatments at the age of 16 and regrets it, spoke about struggling with her mental health while transitioning. She urged the board to ban hormones for people under 18 and surgeries for people under 21. "In 2019, I had a life-changing encounter with Jesus and began to find deep healing within myself. After nearly 4 years of being on testosterone, I decided to detransition and accept my womanhood," she said.
The Florida Medical Board later passed a ban on gender-affirming care for youth. The decision would prohibit providers from administering gender affirming care, including puberty blockers, hormones, cross-hormone therapy and gender-affirming surgery for people under the age of 18.MORE: Transgender youth health care ban approved by Florida medical boards
When Schevers was in similar circles, she said she tried to ignore her uncertainty about her gender and how it conflicted with the message she was promoting.
"I never liked people who call transitioning mutilation or call trans bodies mutilated...A lot of them called trans people delusional," Schevers said. "Living as a trans person was something that people did to survive and actually, I didn't think of it as crazy or irrational because I had lived that life."
She continued, "I get why someone would do this. Like, it did help me. I did get satisfaction from transitioning and I had to rationalize that experience and make it fit with this anti-trans ideology."
Schevers said cracks began to show in her beliefs as more of the detransitioners and other activists she worked with began to partner with far-right groups like the Proud Boys on an anti-trans platform.
"That was kind of a huge wake-up call," said Schevers. "It didn't make sense to ally with the people who were creating the oppressive conditions."
Her use of the hormone testosterone helped her embrace her gender queer identity, she now says.
When Schevers sees or hears anti-transgender detransitioners speak about their experiences, she thinks of her past self. She says she feels guilty, like she set the stage for them.
Schevers says she wants people to turn their attention to the dangers of anti-trans outreach to youth as well as the ongoing legislative attacks on trans Americans.
In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton also launched an effort to investigate gender-affirming youth care treatments as "child abuse" through the state department of child protective services. A state judge later issued a temporary injunction blocking the effort.
An Alabama law made it illegal to give any type of gender affirming care to anyone under the age of 18. This would criminalize parents and physicians.
Joseph Ladapo, Florida's surgeon general, released a memo in June saying treatments like sex-reassignment surgery, and hormone and puberty blockers are not effective treatments for gender dysphoria.MORE: Florida to ban gender-affirming care under Medicaid for transgender recipients
This memo contradicts guidance from organizations including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Public Health Association.
These organizations say that research does show that the aforementioned gender-affirming treatments are safe and effective. Some, like the American Medical Association, even deem it "medically necessary."
Gender exploration is an ongoing journey for Schevers, and she hopes the trans and gender queer youth in the U.S. continue to be able to access a journey of their own.
"I do feel more firmly rooted in who I am. It's easier for me to accept myself as someone who has, like, multiple genders," Schevers said.
Anyone else think she detransitioned and was treated horribly by the TRAs and faced regular misogyny from normies and figured it was just easier to go make to having a special identity?
I love you detransitioners and retransitioners. I love you FtMtF’s and MtFtM’s. I love you binary to nonbinary and nonbinary to binary. I love you lifelong genderfluids with long periods of each. I love you systems and plurals with complicated relationships to gender and transitioning. You’re all wonderful and I hope you have fantastic days.
