Take Detransitioners Seriously
When Kristin Beck, a decorated Navy SEAL veteran, came out as a transgender woman in 2013, she became a high-profile advocate for the trans community—a role that earned her glowing coverage in left-wing and mainstream center-left media. But unless you’ve been reading right-wing websites in recent months, you might never know that Beck has since detransitioned and gone back to the name Chris Beck. Last month, Beck declared that he had “lived in hell for the past 10 years.” Most of the outlets that reported with enthusiasm on Beck’s initial transition have yet to cover the latest chapter in his life story.
Both of us are trans academics. One of us studies the history of trans activism; the other recently studied in depth. We strongly oppose efforts, in state legislatures and elsewhere, to target trans children and their families and pass laws restricting treatment options for , a condition that the American Psychiatric Association’s diagnostic manual defines as impairment or distress over an incongruence between should stop the reality of detransition, lest readers and viewers conclude that it’s a negligible issue. It’s not.
