WaPo: De-Transitioners Wield Influence In Shaping Anti-Trans Laws

[Carolyn Marie]

IDK how many of you can, or wish to, get past the pay wall for this article, but it's worth the read if you can.  It was distressing for me to read it, but it was important for me, and for y'all, to understand who these folks are, why they feel as they do, and the impact they are having on our community.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/12/06/detransitioners-transgender-care-laws/

 

 

What really ticked me off is not what Mosley felt about her own transition and it's aftermath.  It's that she now wants those feelings and beliefs to keep all of us, and any adults who come after, from having the ability or the right to make our own decision about our lives and bodies.  She thinks she knows what's best for everyone else, and wants to make sure she and her ilk, and her right wing supporters, take away our right to self-determination.

 

If anyone wants to de-transition, by all means go for it!  I won't stand in your way, and don't you dare stand in my way!

 

Carolyn Marie

[awkward-yet-sweet]

Well, I think everybody has a right to their own feelings about their transition process.  I think the detransition activists have a narrow view, applying their own experience to what everybody else is doing.  Not everybody does it the same way.  Due to being intersex, I'm non-op both by necessity and by choice.  My two MtF trans friends went with HRT and they are also non-op by choice.  It seems that public discussion of the transition process is dominated by talk of pediatrics and talk of surgery (especially a combination of the two).  I feel for the people who've changed their minds or been manipulated or feel like they were lied to.  That's gotta be awful.  But it seems to be rare.  

 

LGBTQ+ folks are a minority.  Trans folks are a minority of LGBTQ+ folks.  Detransitioners are a minority of trans folks.  So, we're seeing national discussion of a minority of a minority of a minority.  I guess nobody is backing up to take a look at the big picture?   

[MirandaB]

Here it is without a pay wall (I hope)

 

https://wapo.st/47KFyK9

[AllieJ]

Transition has some of the highest success rates of all medical treatments, and regrets are very rare, so how can they stop treatment to 98% of people because 2% got it wrong. There was a current affairs program on FtM surgical regret, and all the people highlighted admitted they were influenced to transition by online stories and influencers, not medical professionals. 

 

If it wasn't just pure hatred, they would of course be calling for stoppages of all other treatments with even higher dissatisfaction rates. These mindless proposals need to be challenged in law.

 

Hugs,

 

Allie

[Heather Shay]

Allie is SO right. 

[KatieSC]

There are several issues with Mosley is that she has a history of depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts. The other thing that makes me wonder about Mosley is her thoughts about her sexual assault. One of the questions that my counselor asked me in her assessment prior to beginning any gender-affirming hormones was how I saw transition changing my life. As I read the article, I note that Mosley talks about "...all that magic that was supposed to happen when I transitioned–the healing and euphoria..."

 

Somewhere the assessment missed on this child. Transition is not going to magically make everything all better no matter who you are. There should have been huge red flags raised. While counseling is not always mandatory, this is one of those cases where it is absolutely required, and I suspect that the train left the station fast. Mosley should have had some therapy to get to the root of the issues before anything permanent was done. 

 

For pediatric patients, I could see requiring not just one assessment, but two different assessments from different unrelated counselors. Sounds great in theory, but who covers the cost, and where do you find the qualified counselors. Other members of this forum recount how difficult it is to find one counselor. 

 

 

 

 

[KatieSC]

I clicked post before I was done. 

 

The one other big red flag with Mosley that makes me wonder about this woman is that she has a YouTube program now. She is now popular with the conservative crowd looking to eliminate us. I suspect she thought life would be magically better and then it was not. I do not suspect that she will regret detransition as much as I suspect she transitioned for the wrong reasons. We may never know the real story.

 

I agree with Allie about the success of transition. For the overwhelming majority of us, we know we are transgender. it is interesting in reviewing the medical literature regarding detransition and those who ultimately decide to continue transition after some time out of transition. There are many reasons why someone may choose detransition. it is not as simple as saying it is wrong. it I also barbaric in forcing a child to go through a puberty as the gender they do not desire to be. 

 

As for medical success, if it were purely based on success, gender-affirming care has and continues to be very successful if the standards are followed. Of note, even after 60 years of non-stop research and billions of dollars, the management of cardiac arrest still has a dismal failure rate, but the American Heart Association with a billion dollars of money on their balance sheet still pushes CPR and resuscitation. If it were a matter of only doing things based on success, CPR would have been ended decades ago. Probably a bad analogy, but it stands. 

 

I find it amazing that the press does little to tout the children who have successfully transitioned to adulthood. I suspect that is because many who have transitioned as teens, just want to blend into the woodwork. I doubt seriously that there are many of us on this forum that would not have appreciated being able to start transition prior to puberty. 

 

More emphasis on the success stories for both adults and children needs to occur. There is all of this doom and gloom being spewed across the country and backed by legislation. Nobody touts the everyday person who has benefited from transition. Last year, ABC had a show on about those who have transitioned, however, they emphasized performers. What they really needed to show is a cross-section of folks who are successful in their everyday lives making a difference.

[Davie]

3 hours ago, AllieJ said:

Transition has some of the highest success rates of all medical treatments, and regrets are very rare, so how can they stop treatment to 98% of people because 2% got it wrong. There was a current affairs program on FtM surgical regret, and all the people highlighted admitted they were influenced to transition by online stories and influencers, not medical professionals.

Well put, @AllieJ. Thank you.

[VickySGV]

Mosely is in the footsteps of Walt Heyer whose multiple, delusional, mental health issues allowed him to charm the socks off his therapists who did not catch on to his manipulation of them at the time away from his underlying problems.  Heyer went on to have a comfortable living from the ultra-conservative political side.  I have not heard of him recently but I do not know what has since happened to him. he would be 83 now. 

[Ivy]

Just because it didn't work the way you wanted for yourself, does not give the right to forbid anyone else from doing it.

I have heard of people who transitioned, then detransitioned, and then retransitioned.    

My perception of my own gender is nobody else's business.

[Carolyn Marie]

8 hours ago, RhondaS said:

Here it is without a pay wall (I hope)

 

https://wapo.st/47KFyK9

 

Thank you!

[Sally Stone]

It isn't at all surprising to me that many who have de-transitioned, feel the need to convince the rest of us we should feel the way they do and then do what they did.  Much of this comes from the "it's all about me" mentality and the influence that way of thinking has on one's view of the world.  These folks feel as though they are center of the universe and what others think and feel has no merit.   "It's all about me, therefore it has to be all about you as well." Clearly, it's a narrow minded view and it doesn't reflect reality.

 

Despite not reflecting reality, conservatives use the "it's all about me" crowd in attempt to try and legitimize their claims.  Of course we all know different, but that's because we look at the aggregate data instead of an individual instance.

 

 

[Ivy]

In my daily doom scroll, I usually include a look at a popular "conservative" website.  There is always something trans-related, and it is never remotely positive or even neutral.

This is a big world, and if you look hard and long enough, you can find someone, somewhere doing something weird.

I know people who have this on their TV 24/7.

I am not optimistic.

[awkward-yet-sweet]

7 hours ago, Ivy said:

I know people who have this on their TV 24/7.

I am not optimistic.

 

I do too.  Actually, husband's parents used to have FOX on the TV constantly in their home until a couple of years ago.  But viewers are decreasing overall as people cut the cord on expensive cable services.  Something is just unhealthy about consuming that much media, no matter the source.  Remember the days when "news" was something that came on for a half hour at 6pm?  Or arrived in a rolled-up paper on the driveway on Sunday and Wednesday?

[KatieSC]

7 hours ago, awkward-yet-sweet said:

Remember the days when "news" was something that came on for a half hour at 6pm?  Or arrived in a rolled-up paper on the driveway on Sunday and Wednesday?

I sure do remember those days. We also did not have to hear the opinions driving what news they wanted us to hear. They just reported what, when, and how, without the need to explain to us how we should feel or tell us what we should do.