Detransition

{{short description|Cessation or reversal of gender transition}} {{pp-semi-indef|small=yes}} {{Use American English|date=July 2023}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2023}} {{transgender sidebar|medicine}} '''Detransition''' is the cessation or reversal of a transgender identification or of gender transition, temporarily or permanently, through social, legal, and/or medical means. This process may be based on a number of reasons, including a shift in gender identity, health concerns, social or economic pressure such as trans healthcare bans, discrimination, stigma, political beliefs, or religious beliefs. The estimated prevalence of detransition varies depending on definitions and methodology but is generally found to be rare.<ref name="Feigerlova">{{Cite journal |last=Feigerlova |first=Eva |date=2025-02-01 |title=Prevalence of detransition in persons seeking gender-affirming hormonal treatments: a systematic review |url=https://academic.oup.com/jsm/article-abstract/22/2/356/7933251 |journal=The Journal of Sexual Medicine |volume=22 |issue=2 |pages=356–368 |doi=10.1093/jsxmed/qdae186 |pmid=39724926 |issn=1743-6095 |quote=Among the reasons for discontinuation reported by the different studies were not only doubts regarding transgender identity but also financial barriers, side effects, poor compliance, social issues or goals of treatment met. The current literature shows that the decision to detransition appears to be rare. By not controlling for these factors, pooled estimates of the number of people who detransition due to a change in identity are likely to be overinflated because research blends different cohorts.|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Some studies use the term '''retransition''' rather than detransition, but the term is more commonly used to describe the resumption of transition or transgender identity following a detransition.<ref name="Expósito-Campos"/> Some organizations with ties to conversion therapy have used detransition narratives to push transphobic rhetoric and legislation.<ref name="Xtra" />

==Background and terminology== Gender transition, often shortened to just transition, is the process of a transgender person changing their gender expression and/or sex characteristics to accord with their internal sense of gender identity.<ref>{{cite web|ref={{harvid|''Fenway Health''|2010}}|title=Glossary of Gender and Transgender Terms|website=Fenway Health|year=2010|access-date=April 7, 2019|url=https://fenwayhealth.org/documents/the-fenway-institute/handouts/Handout_7-C_Glossary_of_Gender_and_Transgender_Terms__fi.pdf|archive-date=October 29, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181029123933/https://fenwayhealth.org/documents/the-fenway-institute/handouts/Handout_7-C_Glossary_of_Gender_and_Transgender_Terms__fi.pdf|url-status=live}}{{cite web|ref={{harvid|''Human Rights Campaign''|n.d.}}|title=Glossary of Terms|website=Human Rights Campaign|date=n.d.|access-date=April 7, 2019|url=https://www.hrc.org/resources/glossary-of-terms|archive-date=May 30, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210530172234/https://www.hrc.org/resources/glossary-of-terms|url-status=live}}</ref> Methods of transition vary from person to person, but the process commonly involves social changes (such as clothing, personal name, and pronouns), legal changes (such as changes in legal name and legal gender), and medical/physical changes (such as hormone replacement therapy and gender-affirming surgery).

''Detransition'' is the process of halting or reversing social, medical, or legal aspects of a gender transition, partially or completely. It can be temporary or permanent. Detransition and regret over transition are often erroneously conflated, though there are cases of detransition without regret and regret without detransition.<ref name="Expósito-Campos">{{Cite journal |last1=Expósito-Campos |first1=Pablo |last2=Salaberria |first2=Karmele |last3=Pérez-Fernández |first3=José Ignacio |last4=Gómez-Gil |first4=Esther |date=2023-05-01 |title=Gender detransition: A critical review of the literature |journal=Actas Españolas de Psiquiatría |language=en |volume=51 |issue=3|pages=98–118 | pmc=10803846|pmid=37489555}}</ref> The terms "primary detransition" and "detransition with identity desistance" have been used to describe those who cease to identify as transgender, while "secondary detransition" and "detransition without identity desistance" are used for those who continue to identify as transgender.<ref name="Expósito-Campos"/> ''Retransition'' is sometimes used as a synonym for ''detransition'' but more commonly refers to restarting or resuming a stopped or reversed gender transition.<ref name="Expósito-Campos"/> Those who undergo detransition are commonly called ''detransitioners'' or ''detrans''.<ref name="Expósito-Campos"/>

''Desistance'' has been commonly used in research literature but poorly defined. It is commonly being used to refer to children whose gender dysphoria subsides or who cease to identify as transgender during puberty. These definitions are often conflated. The definitions are primarily used to claim that transgender children who desist will identify as cisgender after puberty, based on biased research from the 1960s to 1980s and poor-quality research in the 2000s. It is sometimes used to refer to adults who ceased identifying as transgender prior to medically transitioning.<ref name="Karrington">{{Cite journal |last=Karrington |first=Baer |date=2022-06-01 |title=Defining Desistance: Exploring Desistance in Transgender and Gender Expansive Youth Through Systematic Literature Review |journal=Transgender Health |language=en |volume=7 |issue=3 |pages=189–212 |doi=10.1089/trgh.2020.0129 |pmid=36643060 |issn=2688-4887 |pmc=9829142 }}</ref><ref name="Expósito-Campos"/>

The term ''detransition'' is controversial within the transgender community. According to Turban et al., this is because, as with the word ''transition'', it carries an "incorrect implication that gender identity is contingent upon gender affirmation processes".<ref name="Turban">{{Cite journal|author1-link=Jack Turban|last1=Turban|first1=Jack L.|last2=Loo|first2=Stephanie S.|last3=Almazan|first3=Anthony N.|last4=Keuroghlian|first4=Alex S.|date=June 1, 2021|title=Factors Leading to "Detransition" Among Transgender and Gender Diverse People in the United States: A Mixed-Methods Analysis|journal=LGBT Health|volume=8|issue=4|pages=273–280|doi=10.1089/lgbt.2020.0437|issn=2325-8292|pmc=8213007|pmid=33794108}}</ref> The term has become associated with movements that aim to restrict the access of transgender people to transition-related healthcare by over-emphasizing the risk of regret and detransition.<ref name="Turban"/><ref>{{Cite news |last=Knox |first=Liam |date=2019-12-19 |title=Media's 'detransition' narrative is fueling misconceptions, trans advocates say |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/media-s-detransition-narrative-fueling-misconceptions-trans-advocates-say-n1102686 |access-date=2025-01-07 |language=en}}</ref>

==Occurrence== Detransition has been heterogenously defined in the literature, but available estimates indicate detransition is rare.<ref name="Feigerlova" /><ref name="Bustos">{{Cite journal |last1=Bustos|first1=Valeria P.|last2=Bustos|first2=Samyd S.|last3=Mascaro|first3=Andres|last4=Del Corral|first4=Gabriel|last5=Forte|first5=Antonio J.|last6=Ciudad|first6=Pedro|last7=Kim|first7=Esther A.|last8=Langstein|first8=Howard N.|last9=Manrique|first9=Oscar J.|date=March 19, 2021|title=Regret after Gender-affirmation Surgery: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Prevalence|journal=Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery - Global Open|language=en|volume=9|issue=3|article-number=e3477|doi=10.1097/GOX.0000000000003477|issn=2169-7574|pmc=8099405|pmid=33968550}}</ref> Advocates for Trans Equality's 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey (a cross-sectional nonprobability survey of transgender adults) reported a history of detransition in 13% of those who had pursued broadly-defined gender affirmation.<ref name="Turban">{{Cite journal|author1-link=Jack Turban|last1=Turban|first1=Jack L.|last2=Loo|first2=Stephanie S.|last3=Almazan|first3=Anthony N.|last4=Keuroghlian|first4=Alex S.|date=June 1, 2021|title=Factors Leading to "Detransition" Among Transgender and Gender Diverse People in the United States: A Mixed-Methods Analysis|journal=LGBT Health|volume=8|issue=4|pages=273–280|doi=10.1089/lgbt.2020.0437|issn=2325-8292|pmc=8213007|pmid=33794108}}</ref>

A review in 2024 analyzed detransition among those who received puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones. It found the studies used heterogenous methodologies and definitions of the term, with small time frames, low participation, and lack of consideration for patient-level data and confounding factors. The majority of studies were small cohorts from specialized gender clinics or were limited to pediatric/adolescent ages. Most were from the Netherlands, the United States, the United Kingdom and Denmark. It gave point-prevalence proportions of 1.6–9.8% for discontinuation of cross-sex hormone and 1–7.6% for discontinuation of puberty blockers among the transgender population. The review noted that the "current literature shows that the decision to detransition appears to be rare" and stated that estimates of those who detransition due to a change in identity are likely overinflated due to conflation between a change in identity and other reasons for discontinuation reported such as "financial barriers, side effects, poor compliance, social issues or goals of treatment met".<ref name="Feigerlova" />

=== Reasons === Reasons for detransition vary and may include internal factors such as a changed understanding of their gender identity, regret, physical health concerns or side-effects, or remission of gender dysphoria, or having met the goals of treatment. External factors include financial or legal issues, social and familial stigma and discrimination, difficulty accessing medical treatment, or cultural and ideological pressures.<ref name="Feigerlova" /><ref name="Expósito-Campos" /> Some people detransition on a temporary basis, in order to accomplish a particular aim, such as having biologically related children, or until barriers to transition have been resolved or removed.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Americo|first1=Lara|url=https://www.them.us/story/im-a-trans-woman-who-detransitioned-to-become-a-mom|title=I'm a Trans Woman Who Detransitioned to Become a mother|date=May 13, 2018|work=Them.|access-date=March 17, 2019|archive-date=August 16, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180816150043/https://www.them.us/story/im-a-trans-woman-who-detransitioned-to-become-a-mom|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Kanner|first1=Robyn|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2018/06/i-detransitioned-but-not-because-i-wasnt-trans/563396/|title=I Detransitioned. But Not Because I Wasn't Trans.|date=June 22, 2018|work=The Atlantic|access-date=March 17, 2019|archive-date=March 17, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190317140246/https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2018/06/i-detransitioned-but-not-because-i-wasnt-trans/563396/|url-status=live}}</ref> Transgender elders may also detransition out of concern for whether they can receive adequate or respectful care in later life.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Witten |first1=Tarynn |title=When My Past Returns: Loss of Self and Personhood - Dementia and the Trans-Person |journal=Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans* Individuals Living with Dementia |date=November 2015 |publisher=Unpublished |doi=10.13140/rg.2.1.1867.4641}}</ref>

The National Center for Transgender Equality conducted a survey of individuals who currently identified as transgender.<ref name = USTS>{{cite report |last1=James |first1=Sandy E. |last2=Herman |first2=Jody L. |last3=Rankin |first3=Susan |author-link3=Sue Rankin |last4=Keisling |first4=Mara |author-link4=Mara Keisling |last5=Mottet |first5=Lisa |last6=Anafi |first6=Ma'ayan |title=The Report of the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey |title-link=National Center for Transgender Equality#U.S. Transgender Survey (2015) |year=2016 |publisher=National Center for Transgender Equality |location=Washington, DC |chapter=De-Transitioning |chapter-url=https://transequality.org/sites/default/files/docs/usts/USTS-Full-Report-Dec17.pdf#page=115 |access-date=March 18, 2019 |archive-date=January 21, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180121184448/https://transequality.org/sites/default/files/docs/usts/USTS-Full-Report-Dec17.pdf#page=115 |url-status=live }}</ref> The results published in the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey found that 8% of respondents reported having ever detransitioned; 62% of that group reported having subsequently retransitioned.<ref name=":3"/><ref name = USTS/> 33% reported detransitioning because it was too difficult, 31% due to discrimination, and 29% due to difficulty getting a job. Others reported the reason as being pressure from parents (about 36%), family members (26%), spouses (18%), and employers (17%).<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Boslaugh |first=Sarah |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=agVnDwAAQBAJ&q=detransition+harassment&pg=PA43 |title=Transgender Health Issues |date=August 3, 2018 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-4408-5888-8 |pages=43–44 |language=en |ref=none |access-date=June 15, 2021 |archive-date=June 20, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220620144900/https://books.google.com/books?id=agVnDwAAQBAJ&q=detransition+harassment&pg=PA43 |url-status=live }}</ref>

A mixed-methods analysis of the survey's data published in 2021 found that the vast majority said detransition was in part due to external factors, such as pressure from family, sexual assault, and nonaffirming school environments; another highly cited factor was "it was just too hard for me."<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Turban|first1=Jack L.|last2=Loo|first2=Stephanie S.|last3=Almazan|first3=Anthony N.|last4=Keuroghlian|first4=Alex S.|date=May 2021|title=Factors Leading to "Detransition" Among Transgender and Gender Diverse People in the United States: A Mixed-Methods Analysis|journal=LGBT Health|volume=8|issue=4|pages=273–280|doi=10.1089/lgbt.2020.0437|issn=2325-8306|pmid=33794108|pmc=8213007|quote="Because the USTS only surveyed currently TGD-identified people, our study does not offer insights into reasons for detransition in previously TGD-identified people who currently identify as cisgender." "The vast majority of participants reported detransition due at least in part to external factors, such as pressure from family, nonaffirming school environments, and sexual assault." "It was just too hard for me" is shown in table 2.}}</ref>

==== Forced medical detransition ==== Some state legislatures in the United States have enacted or sought to enact laws which would force transgender people who were unable to flee to medically detransition by criminalizing or restricting their access to care.<ref name="ACP">{{Cite web |date=2024-08-06 |title=Attacks on Gender-Affirming and Transgender Health Care |url=https://www.acponline.org/advocacy/state-health-policy/attacks-on-gender-affirming-and-transgender-health-care |access-date=2025-01-02 |website=American College of Physicians |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Norton">{{Cite news |last=Norton |first=Tom |date=2023-02-28 |title=Fact Check: Has Tennessee passed bill to make trans youth "detransition"? |url=https://www.newsweek.com/fact-check-has-tennessee-passed-bill-make-trans-youth-detransition-1784115 |access-date=2025-01-02 |work=NewsWeek |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Greig">{{Cite news |last=Greig |first=James |date=2023-04-03 |title=The real-life cost of America's war on trans healthcare |url=https://www.dazeddigital.com/life-culture/article/59583/1/war-americas-trans-healthcare-forced-detransitiom-iowa |access-date=2025-01-02 |work=Dazed Digital |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Norton-Advocate">{{Cite news |last=Norton |first=Tom |date=June 1, 2022 |title=How Chase Strangio Became the Face of the Legal Battle for Trans Rights |url=https://www.advocate.com/politics/2022/6/01/chase-strangio-aclu-cover-twitter-trans-rights |access-date=2025-01-02 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Smith |first=Serena |date=2022-04-08 |title=Alabama will now force trans youth to detransition |url=https://www.dazeddigital.com/politics/article/55882/1/alabama-will-now-force-medically-transitioning-trans-youth-to-detransition |access-date=2025-01-02 |work=Dazed Digital |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Levin |first=Bess |date=2023-01-05 |title=Oklahoma Bill Would Ban Gender-Affirming Care for People Under 26, Could Force Some to Detransition |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/01/oklahoma-gender-affirming-care-ban-bill |access-date=2025-01-02 |magazine=Vanity Fair |language=en-US}}</ref> Arkansas was the first US state to ban transgender healthcare for minors, with the age limit being increased to 26 by August 2024. States have also sought to ban such care for those under 26, restrict access for all ages, or limit public and private insurance coverage of it. In 2024, over 112 bills in 40 states proposed bans on trans healthcare for minors. A study by the Williams Institute found that approximately 114,000 transgender minors lived in states which banned transgender healthcare, and approximately 240,000 transgender minors lived in states that banned it or proposed banning it in 2024.<ref name="ACP"/>

In May 2024, leaked documents from the NHS suggested said that transgender youth who received gender-affirming care from unregulated or overseas advisors could be forced to choose between medical detransition or being subject to safeguarding referrals and investigations. The documents called for the approximately 6,000 youth on the waiting list for NHS gender-affirming care to be interviewed and advised per the recommendations of the Cass Review not to receive gender-affirming care obtained via routes without "appropriate care", and if they were found to disregard the advice in a way the provider considers to put them "at increased risk", then to make safeguarding referrals.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Perry |first=Sophie |date=2024-05-06 |title=Trans children could be 'forced to detransition' under leaked NHS England plans |url=https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/05/06/nhs-trans-healthcare-detransition/ |access-date=2025-01-02 |work=PinkNews |language=en-US }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Wareham |first=Jamie |date=2024-05-04 |title=NHS England to tell some transgender children to medically detransition or face safeguarding referrals |url=https://www.wearequeeraf.com/nhs-england-to-tell-transgender-children-to-medically-detransition-or-face-safeguarding-referrals/ |access-date=2025-01-02 |language=en}}</ref>

Transgender prisoners are often forcibly detransitioned in many state and federal prisons within the US.<ref>{{Cite magazine |magazine=Wired |title=Prisoners, Doctors, and the Battle Over Trans Medical Care |url=https://www.wired.com/story/inmates-doctors-battle-over-transgender-medical-care/}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |work=NYT |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/25/us/ashley-diamond-transgender-inmate-out-of-prison-but-not-fully-free.html |title=Ashley Diamond, Transgender inmate, Is Out of Prison But Far From Free|date=September 24, 2015 |last1=Sontag |first1=Deborah }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.kcur.org/politics-elections-and-government/2023-02-16/a-missouri-bill-to-ban-gender-affirming-care-for-kids-expanded-to-include-incarcerated-adults |work=NPR (local) |title=A Missouri bill to ban gender-affirming care for kids expanded to include adults in prison}}</ref> Transgender prisoners have been subject to the same in the UK.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Owen |first=Greg |date=2023-11-13 |title=Trans inmate forced to detransition as prison doctors try to inject her with testosterone |url=https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2023/11/trans-woman-forced-to-detransition-in-prison-while-doctors-try-to-inject-her-with-testosterone/ |access-date=2025-01-02 |language=en}}</ref>

On March 12, 2023, a Saudi trans woman named Eden Knight died by suicide after being forcefully detransitioned. Knight wrote in a suicide note that her parents had hired an American private intelligence firm and a Saudi lawyer to relocate and forcibly socially and medically detransition her. After becoming dependent on the lawyer for food and shelter and fearing he would report her to U.S. immigration authorities, Knight wrote that she returned to her parents in Saudi Arabia. She secretly continued feminizing hormone replacement therapy, but after being found out twice she died by suicide.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Crimmins |first=Tricia |date=March 14, 2023 |title=Eden Knight, Trans Twitter presence, says she was forced to detransition in viral suicide note |url=https://www.dailydot.com/irl/eden-knight-detransition-death/ |access-date=March 14, 2023 |website=The Daily Dot}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Grieg |first=James |date=March 14, 2023 |title=A young trans woman has committed suicide after a forced detransition |url=https://www.dazeddigital.com/life-culture/article/58429/1/young-trans-woman-committed-suicide-after-a-forced-detransition-eden-knight |access-date=March 14, 2023 |website=Dazed}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Dodds |first=Io |date=March 14, 2023 |title=Saudi Arabian trans woman feared dead after family 'forced her to detransition' |website=The Independent |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/eden-knight-saudi-arabia-suicide-b2300816.html |access-date=March 14, 2023}}</ref><ref name="ViceNewsEdenKnight">{{cite magazine |last1=Zoledziowski |first1=Anya |last2=Marchman |first2=Tim |date=March 16, 2023 |title=A Young Saudi Trans Woman Is Believed Dead After Being Lured From the US and Forced to Detransition |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/eden-knight-believed-dead-after-forced-detransition-saudi-arabia/ |url-status=live |magazine=Vice |archive-url=https://archive.today/20230316120604/https://www.vice.com/en/article/jg5ey4/eden-knight-believed-dead-after-forced-detransition-saudi-arabia |archive-date=March 16, 2023 |access-date=March 16, 2023}}</ref>

=== Clinical pathway === As of 2023, there were no clinical guidelines for detransition.<ref name="Expósito-Campos"/> The World Professional Association for Transgender Health's 8th edition of its Standards of Care recommended that "health care professionals assessing adults who wish to detransition and seek gender-related hormone intervention, surgical intervention, or both, utilize a comprehensive multidisciplinary assessment that will include additional viewpoints from experienced health care professional in transgender health and that considers, together with the individual, the role of social transition as part of the assessment process".<ref name="SOC-8">{{Cite journal |last1=Coleman |first1=E. |last2=Radix |first2=A. E. |last3=Bouman |first3=W. P. |last4=Brown |first4=G. R. |last5=de Vries |first5=A. L. C. |last6=Deutsch |first6=M. B. |last7=Ettner |first7=R. |last8=Fraser |first8=L. |last9=Goodman |first9=M. |last10=Green |first10=J. |last11=Hancock |first11=A. B. |last12=Johnson |first12=T. W. |last13=Karasic |first13=D. H. |last14=Knudson |first14=G. A. |last15=Leibowitz |first15=S. F. |date=2022-08-19 |title=Standards of Care for the Health of Transgender and Gender Diverse People, Version 8 |journal=International Journal of Transgender Health |language=en |volume=23 |issue=sup1 |pages=S1–S259 |doi=10.1080/26895269.2022.2100644 |pmid=36238954 |pmc=9553112 |issn=2689-5269 |hdl=2445/189561 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

In August 2024, following recommendations in the Cass Review, NHS England announced plans for the first NHS service to support patients wishing to detransition. They said: "There is no defined clinical pathway in the NHS for individuals who are considering detransition. NHS England will establish a programme of work to explore the issues around a detransition pathway by October 2024."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Searles |first=Michael |date=2024-08-07 |title=NHS to launch first service for trans patients wanting to return to birth gender |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/07/trans-first-service-detransition-cass-review-birth-gender/ |access-date=2024-08-19 |work=The Daily Telegraph |language=en-GB |issn=}}</ref>

== Cultural and political impact == Controversy surrounding detransition within trans activism primarily arises from how the subject is framed as a subject of moral panic in mainstream media and right-wing politics.<ref name="Slothouber">{{Cite journal | doi=10.1080/13825577.2020.1730052| title=(De)trans visibility: Moral panic in mainstream media reports on de/Retransition| year=2020| last1=Slothouber| first1=Van| journal=European Journal of English Studies| volume=24| pages=89–99| s2cid=219079388| doi-access=free}}</ref> Detransition has attracted interest from both social conservatives and gender-critical feminists on the political right. Activists on the right have been accused of using detransitioners' stories to further their work against trans rights.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Ford|first1=Zack|date=January 25, 2018|url=https://thinkprogress.org/review-when-harry-became-sally-transgender-moment-4033a1b06dbb/|title=Conservative book 'When Harry Became Sally' attacks trans people while conveniently leaving them out.|work=ThinkProgress|access-date=March 14, 2019|archive-date=January 19, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190119005746/https://thinkprogress.org/review-when-harry-became-sally-transgender-moment-4033a1b06dbb/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="herzog2017a">{{cite news|last1=Herzog|first1=Katie|url=http://www.thestranger.com/features/2017/06/28/25252342/the-detransitioners-they-were-transgender-until-they-werent|title=The Detransitioners: They Were Transgender, Until They Weren't|date=28 June 2017a|work=The Stranger|access-date=November 13, 2017|archive-date=October 31, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171031194341/http://www.thestranger.com/features/2017/06/28/25252342/the-detransitioners-they-were-transgender-until-they-werent|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Bowen 2007" /><ref>{{cite news|last1=Tobia|first1=Jacob|url=http://www.papermag.com/perpetual-transition-brian-belovitch-2555638364.html|title=Inside One Person's Journey From Man to Woman and Back Again|author-link=Jacob Tobia|date=April 3, 2018|magazine=Paper|access-date=March 12, 2019|archive-date=March 22, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190322112334/http://www.papermag.com/perpetual-transition-brian-belovitch-2555638364.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Some gender-critical feminists see detransitioners' experiences as further proof of patriarchal enforcement of gender roles and medicalized erasure of gays and lesbians.<ref name="herzog2017a"/><ref name="Bowen 2007">{{cite news|last1=Bowen|first1=Innes|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6923912.stm|title=Are sex change operations justified?|date=August 1, 2007|work=BBC|access-date=December 22, 2017|archive-date=December 22, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171222054236/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6923912.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> Other feminists have expressed disagreement with this opinion, referring to those who hold these beliefs as trans-exclusionary radical feminists (TERFs).<ref>{{Cite news|last=Parker|first=Charlie|title=JK Rowling compares trans treatment to gay conversion therapy|newspaper=The Times|language=en|url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/jk-rowling-compares-trans-treatment-to-gay-conversion-therapy-t7z3kxnjn|access-date=August 26, 2021|issn=0140-0460|archive-date=August 26, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210826152549/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/jk-rowling-compares-trans-treatment-to-gay-conversion-therapy-t7z3kxnjn|url-status=live}}</ref> This attention has elicited in detransitioners mixed feelings of both exploitation and support.<ref name="Bowen 2007" /><ref name=urquhart>{{Cite web|last=Urquhart|first=Evan|date=February 1, 2021|title=An "Ex-Detransitioner" Disavows the Anti-Trans Movement She Helped Spark|url=https://slate.com/human-interest/2021/02/detransition-movement-star-ex-gay-explained.html|access-date=August 26, 2021|website=Slate Magazine|language=en|archive-date=September 1, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210901194702/https://slate.com/human-interest/2021/02/detransition-movement-star-ex-gay-explained.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2017, the Mazzoni Center's Philadelphia Trans Health Conference, which is an annual meeting of transgender people, advocates, and healthcare providers, canceled two panel discussions on detransition and alternate methods of working with gender dysphoria.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Rodriguez|first1=Jeremy|title=Trans Health Conference returns with new initiatives, future goals|url=http://www.epgn.com/news/local/12473-trans-health-conference-returns-with-new-initiatives-future-goals|work=Philadelphia Gay News|date=September 7, 2017|access-date=February 2, 2019|archive-date=February 3, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190203030425/http://www.epgn.com/news/local/12473-trans-health-conference-returns-with-new-initiatives-future-goals}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Herzog|first1=Katie|title=Philly Trans Health Conference Cancels Sessions on Detransitioning|date=30 August 2017b|url=https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2017/08/30/25382933/philly-trans-health-conference-cancels-sessions-on-detransitioning|work=The Stranger|access-date=January 30, 2019|archive-date=January 30, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190130110528/https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2017/08/30/25382933/philly-trans-health-conference-cancels-sessions-on-detransitioning|url-status=live}}</ref> The conference organizers said, "When a topic becomes controversial, such as this one has turned on social media, there is a duty to make sure that the debate does not get out of control at the conference itself. After several days of considerations and reviewing feedback, the planning committee voted that the workshops, while valid, cannot be presented at the conference as planned."<ref>{{cite web|ref={{harvid|''Mazzoni Center''|2017}}|website=Mazzoni Center|title=Response to the cancellation of workshops|url=https://www.mazzonicenter.org/blog/response-cancellation-workshops|date=August 29, 2017|access-date=November 1, 2017|archive-date=November 7, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107004149/https://www.mazzonicenter.org/blog/response-cancellation-workshops}}</ref>

Many ex-gay and Christian Right affiliated organizations also promote programs aiming to discourage transition and promote reversal or desistence of transition. A key characteristic of these organizations are the construction of "transgenderism" as a sin against God or the natural order. In the 1970s, Exodus International platformed Perry Desmond, an "ex-transsexual" who evangelized throughout the US and supported Anita Bryant's Save Our Children campaign. Another prominent characteristic is ex-transgender testimonials, which depict "the transgender lifestyle" as destructive as opposed to contemplation of God and encourage other transgender people to join them. These organizations portray "gender ideology" and "transgender ideology" as a social contagion threatening to the natural order.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Robinson |first1=Christine M. |last2=Spivey |first2=Sue E. |date=June 19, 2019 |title=Ungodly Genders: Deconstructing Ex-Gay Movement Discourses of "Transgenderism" in the US |journal=Social Sciences |language=en |volume=8 |issue=6 |page=191 |doi=10.3390/socsci8060191 |issn=2076-0760|doi-access=free }}</ref>

Ky Schevers, an "ex-detransitioner" whose detransition was prominently profiled by Katie Herzog<ref name="herzog2017a"/> and ''The Outline'',<ref name="outline">{{cite news |last1=Monroe |first1=Rachel |author-link=Rachel Monroe |title=Detransitioning: a story about discovery |url=https://theoutline.com/post/349/a-story-about-discovery?zd=1&zi=ieqmvy6w |access-date=March 18, 2019 |work=The Outline |date=December 4, 2016 |language=en |archive-date=July 29, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200729195521/https://theoutline.com/post/349/a-story-about-discovery?zd=1&zi=ieqmvy6w |url-status=live }}</ref> spoke about her experiences in a community of gender-critical feminist detransitioned women, drawing parallels to the ex-gay movement and conversion therapy.<ref name=urquhart/> Parallels drawn include suppressing rather than addressing or removing the underlying dysphoria, stating that not only their gender dysphoria but everyone's dysphoria was a result of internalized sexism and trauma, and language from the twelve-step program being used to describe the desire to transition.<ref name=urquhart/>

Schevers said that during the ''Bell v Tavistock'' ruling, her lawyer had connections to the right-wing and anti-LGBT-rights organization the Alliance Defending Freedom, which she described as pushing most of the anti-trans bills in the United States. Schevers later created Health Liberation Now! alongside Lee Leveille, who'd also previously been involved in detransition communities that were transphobic, to "give voice to folks who have complicated experiences with transition or detransition, retransition and shifting senses of self that goes beyond a lot of the TERFy areas that people are inevitably getting funnelled into". The group has reported on conversion therapy practices and maintains resources to help identify relationships between clinical conversion therapists and astroturfed campaigns led by anti-trans groups.<ref name="Xtra">{{Cite news |last=Falk |first=Misha |date=August 4, 2022 |title=Health Liberation Now! is challenging the way anti-trans groups weaponize detransition narratives |work=Xtra |url=https://xtramagazine.com/power/activism/health-liberation-now-detransition-227906 |url-status=live |access-date=September 13, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220804203555/https://xtramagazine.com/power/activism/health-liberation-now-detransition-227906 |archive-date=August 4, 2022}}</ref>

=== Litigation === Some individuals who later detransitioned have filed lawsuits against healthcare providers, alleging medical malpractice due to improper mental health evaluations.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Suratos |first=Pete |date=February 24, 2023 |title=Kaiser Permanente Sued Over Hormone Therapy |url=https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/kaiser-permanente-sued-over-hormone-therapy/3164935/ |access-date=January 20, 2026 |work=NBC}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rajagopal |first=Sai Shanthanan |date=2025-09-26 |title=Physician Exposure to Litigation in Gender Detransition Medical Malpractice Cases |url=https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12456709/ |journal=Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Global Open |volume=13 |issue=Suppl 5 |pages=14–15 |doi-access=}}</ref>

''Bell v Tavistock'' was a legal case brought by a detransitioner (Bell) and decided by the Court of Appeal (England and Wales) in 2021 on whether puberty blockers could be prescribed to children under 18 without prior court approval.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Bell and another -v- The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust and others|url=https://www.judiciary.uk/judgments/bell-and-another-v-the-tavistock-and-portman-nhs-foundation-trust-and-others/|access-date=21 January 2026 |website=www.judiciary.uk|date=17 September 2021 |language=en-US}}</ref> The High Court (Administrative Court) ruling, which was overturned on appeal, said that doctors of teens under the age of 18 may need to get authorization from the courts prior to prescribing puberty blockers.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Holt |first1=Alison |title=Puberty blockers: Under-16s 'unlikely to be able to give informed consent' |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-55144148 |access-date=21 January 2026 |work=BBC.com |publisher=BBC |date=1 December 2020}}</ref> The Court of Appeal overturned the decision stating "it was for clinicians rather than the court to decide on competence" to consent to receive puberty blockers.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Siddique |first1=Haroon |title=This article is more than 4 years old Appeal court overturns UK puberty blockers ruling for under-16s |url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/sep/17/appeal-court-overturns-uk-puberty-blockers-ruling-for-under-16s-tavistock-keira-bell |access-date=21 January 2026 |publisher=The Guardian |date=17 September 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Bell & Anor v The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust [2021] EWCA Civ 1363 |url=https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2021/1363.html |website=bailii.org |publisher=British and Irish Legal Information Institute |access-date=21 January 2026}}</ref>

The first case of a detransitioner winning a medical malpractice lawsuit in the United States was ''Varian v Einhorn''. Fox Varian, who transitioned at 16, was awarded $2 million in her case against her psychologist and the surgeon who performed top surgery on her due to them breaching the accepted standard of care. According to the New York Times, the lawyer who represented Varian sought to downplay the significance of the verdict stating "This was never a debate over the legitimacy of gender-affirming care... It was about whether medical professionals met the standards that covered their own profession.” Dr. Schechter, the president-elect of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) testified that the initial treatment was based on "assumption and inference" and that the health providers failed to follow the standard of care their organization has sought to promulgate.<ref name=nyt>{{Cite news |last=Jacobs |first=Andrew |date=2026-02-03 |title=Woman Wins Malpractice Suit Over Gender Surgery as a Minor |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/03/health/gender-surgery-malpractice-varian.html |access-date=2026-02-04 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

== External links == * {{Commons category-inline}} {{Gender studies}} {{Transgender topics}}

Category:Detransition Category:LGBTQ terminology Category:Gender fluidity