Tuesday 15 November 2022 07:35 PM De-transitioners warn of growing levels of online vitriol, doxxing, harassment ... trends now
Young people who used drugs or surgery to change their gender but later regretted their procedures and sought to reverse them are warning of worsening abuse from the transgender community they've walked away from.
De-transitioners, as they are known, speak of online vitriol, doxxing, harassment and death threats after they made the tough decisions to exit what they describe as inward-looking and even 'cult-like' trans groups.
Tensions between trans activists and de-transitioners spiked this month at a meeting of Florida's medical board, where sex change interventions for children were restricted. Insults were hurled, bomb threats were posted online.
Trans rights activists shouted over their opponents at the hearings, called out 'bigot' and 'shame on all of you', and vowed to dox board members, by publishing their private phone numbers and other details online.
The stakes are high. Trans activists face discrimination, many see themselves in a life-or-death civil rights struggle. By turning against that lifestyle and decrying puberty blockers for young people, de-transitioners undermine their cause.
A trans rights campaigner shouts 'shame on you' while pointing at a row of de-transitioners, seated in the bottom left, at a hearing of Florida's medical board on treatments for trans youth
Cat Cattinson, 30, a singer and musician from northern California, transitioned from female to male but later regretted her procedures and detransitioned. Trans campaigners harass those who exit the community and call detransitioners 'liars and grifters and just try to invalidate everything we say,' she says.
Cat Cattinson transitioned from female to male and went by the name Tony, but experienced medical problems and stopped taking the male hormone testosterone in an effort to detransition and reverse the procedure
Trans people eschew de-transitioners for 'invalidating their narrative,' Cat Cattinson, a de-transitioner from northern California, told DailyMail.com.
'I've seen the level of hate really escalate to the point that any time a new de-transitioner shares their story online, they get dogpiled by thousands of trans activists, bullied, ridiculed, and of course death threats,' said Cattinson.
'For every de-transitioner with a public platform, the new trend has been to call us liars and grifters and just try to invalidate everything we say.'
Cattinson, 30, a singer and musician, grew up as female but identified as male from the age of 13. She took testosterone, went by the name of Tony, and made plans for breast-removal surgery.
But the drugs started having negative effects on her heart, and deepened her cherished singing voice. She decided in 2020 to stop the injections and begin her de-transition back to being a woman.
She was among a group of de-transitioners that addressed hearings of Florida's medical board, which on November 4 voted to forbid the state's doctors from prescribing puberty blockers and hormones, or perform surgeries, until transgender patients are 18.
Republican politicians in Tennessee, Oklahoma, Texas and Oklahoma have taken steps to restrict such treatments for children, but the decision in Florida was the first time limits were imposed by a US medical board, albeit one aligned to Gov. Ron DeSantis.
A spokesman for the board said they had to draft extra law enforcers and hired a private security firm for the controversial hearings, as various social media users threatened to 'mail pipe bombs' to the 14-member panel.
'We had a lot of reason to be concerned,' the spokesman told DailyMail.com.
'It wasn't just this last meeting. It's been every meeting we've conducted on this issue.'
Many doctors, mental health specialists and medical groups argue that treatments for transgender youth are safe and beneficial, and some say they are necessary to prevent teen suicides, though rigorous long-term research is lacking.
Definitive data are hard to come by. According to Pew Research Center, some 5.1 percent of adults younger than 30 are trans or nonbinary. Somewhere between 8 and 13 percent of them revert to their gender at birth, according to various estimates.
A Reddit group called 'detrans' has 41,500 members who share their experiences about dodgy doctors, stigma and other issues, including ever more 'hateful, angry' online posts in transgender forums.
Cattinson says the growing number of outspoken detransitioners has changed the conversation.
'We're at a really critical time right now, where we have the opportunity to safeguard kids from making irreversible decisions they'll regret,' she added.
'Public awareness has helped us get to this turning point, where people are realizing what's going on and agree with us detransitioners.'
A detransitioner who goes by the name Shape Shifter also spoke in Florida. The 32-year-old from Massachusetts says he was 'brainwashed' into believing he was female and undergoing chest surgery, a penis removal and the creation of a 'neo-vagina'.
He soon regretted the procedures, which led to fistula and other devastating consequences. He says he realized he was simply a gay man who liked showing his feminine side, and began to detransition.
He told DailyMail.com he was 'still in shock' from the vitriol he experienced in Florida, where trans activists called him a 'Nazi', 'fascist' and a DeSantis lackey who was paving the way for the 'genocide of trans kids'.
'I'm already high anxiety person — this is definitely making me feel uneasy,' said Shape Shifter, who keeps his real name private for professional reasons.
A Massachusetts-based detransitioner who goes by the name Shape Shifter transitioned from male to female, but encountered appalling medical issues. He has since detransitioned, identifying as a gay man with a feminine look. He has faced intimidation and harassment after publically criticizing transgender ideology. He was branded a lackey of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for testifying at the Florida hearing, and is now considering whether to buy a gun for self-defense
'If somebody comes to my house, I don't know if I'll be able to defend myself, and I want to go buy a gun now and learn how to shoot, so I can defend myself. This is ridiculous.'
Vera Lindner tackles the issue in her soon-to-be released documentary, "Affirmation Generation, which profiles six detransitioners after what she calls an 'uncontrolled medical experiment
