Political Detransitioners Are The New Ex-Gays

In the 1990s and 2000s, the "Ex Gays," claimed that being gay was a choice and that gay people were "recruiting" children. Now, political detransitioners are trying the same tactic.

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

“You’ve been lied to. You were not born this way, and you can heal. How many of you in this room were sexualized before the age of 18?” A man stands in front of a room, telling a group of LGBTQ+ people that it is early sexualization that led to their identity and that their identity was not an innate part of themselves. You’d be forgiven if you thought this was about “grooming” and “trans kids in schools,” but these words come from a PBS documentary on ex-gays released in 1998. Almost 25 years later, we hear similar things from political detransitioners - people who transitioned and then transitioned back to their old gender - paraded in front of medical boards. Right wing figures like Matt Walsh have made them central to their campaign to oppose all forms of gender affirming care and to deny rights to all transgender people. Even though the vast majority of trans people maintain their gender identity, the exploitation of the rare few who detransition to attack all transgender people echoes the 1990s and early 2000s. It is time we recognize this movement for what it is: the modern ex-gay movement.

If you went back in time and looked at the group Exodus International’s website in 2005, the height of the constitutional amendments against marriage equality, you would read a quote about the “cause” of homosexuality: “feelings of being an outsider among ones peers during childhood and adolescence, and instances of sexual abuse.” Their testimonial page had several examples of people who claimed their LGBTQ+ status was due to sexual abuse, porn consumption, absent fathers and mothers, or “the pressures of femininity” and not wanting to be a girl. These are all things that the political detransition movement use today in trying to end gender affirming care for trans youth and in trying to deny legal recognition to transgender people. One of the Directors of Genspect, the group who was partially responsible for the gender affirming care ban in Florida, claimed that being trans is porn induced. Parents of ROGD has claimed that being trans can be caused by sexual trauma, bad parents, and being bullied.

Among the primary “causes for being trans” that you hear about in right wing spaces today is “grooming.” LGBQT+ people are charged with grooming kids and “making them trans.” Teachers are identified as one source of being trans. This is not unique to modern times. In 2001, one of the primary “causes” of being gay as dictated by the ex-gay movement was that gay people were being “recruited.” In the study “Crafting bi/homosexual youth,” gay people are charged with “recruiting.” They even used parents rights arguments to argue against LGBTQ+ people in schools, everything is recycled!

“Crafting Bi/Homosexual Youth”

The testimonies are similar too - one detransitioner paraded in front of the Florida Board of Medicine in order to forcibly detransition all trans teens testified that it was trauma that “caused her to be trans” and that “finding God” led her to detransition. Florida’s board of medicine went on to vote in favor of ending gender affirming care for trans youth - members of the aforementioned group Genspect were part of the panel. The group of political detransitioners and their supporters flew out immediately after the meeting, which was held in an airport hotel, presumably to accommodate the out of state nature of the attacks on gender affirming care from these political detransitioners.

It is important to note that detransition is incredibly rare, and that most detransitioners eventually retransition. According to a 2015 survey, 8% of people reported detransitioning but 62% retransitioned into their gender identity. Some of the top reasons for detransitioning were things like pressure from a parent. Only 0.4% detransitioned after realizing that they “weren’t trans.” In another study in The Lancet, detransition was similarly rare with only 2% of trans youth detransitioning as of 5 years later. A study in Australia noted that 96% of trans youth stayed transitioned into adulthood. Less than 1% of a large UK gender clinic detransitioned into adulthood - of 3,398 patients, only 16 expressed transition regret. 10 of the 16 only detransitioned temporarily, later returning to being trans. A groundbreaking study in the journal Pediatrics noted that 5 years later, only 2.5% of youth desist. We are left with only one conclusion to draw: detransition is rare and temporary. Yet, detrans voices are getting extremely large platforms among conservative activists in a similar manner to the ex-gays in the early 2000s.

Recently, a LGBTQ Nation article was published titled “Darling of the “detransition” movement comes out again as transgender.” Ky Schevers used to be a major voice in the detransition movement and was featured in many TERF blogs and interviews. In the year 2000, however, she retransitioned and now speaks against the political detransition movement that she was a part of. She speaks about the use of addiction treatment modalities like 12 step programs which were central to the ex-gay movement in the 90s and early 2000s. Ky herself makes a similar comparison, noting that “it’s very similar to ex-gay communities where there’s a story out there that people ‘change’ and it’s great and everything, but no one really changes. They learn to keep their desires under control.”

It is important to realize that most ex-gays meet the same eventual conclusion that most detransitioners meet. Ky’s story is not unique. Most of the founders and leaders who took part in Exodus International have since come back out as gay now that being gay is more accepted. Although the damage is done, there are lessons that can be learned from the ex-gay movement that can be applied to the fight for transgender rights in our time. The exploitation and elevation of the rare voices who move away from their identity, often with coercion, should not be used to curtail rights - especially as we know so many of them return to their identities. Conversion therapy does not work and only makes things worse - LGBQT+ youth threatened with conversion therapy are 250% more likely to commit suicide.

Detransitioners deserve our love and support. It is important that we help those who are stuck in situations where they feel they must detransition for safety or because of lack of family acceptance. Some people simply determine that transition is not right for them, and they should be helped too. Everybody’s journey with gender identity and expression is unique to them. The problem comes when political detrans people determine their lived experiences are applicable to everyone else, and that they must prevent transition for everyone else and testify against trans people in hearings. These people are sadly being used in the same way ex-gays in the early 2000s were being used. We must shine a light on how this movement is nothing more than the recycled ex-gay movement of days past.