Gender dysphoria was, for years, seen by psychological professionals as a treatable mental health disorder. And for years, individuals suffering from it found relief from their illness. During that time, researchers indicated that 97 percent of children who were suffering from gender dysphoria grew up to accept their biological sex as reality.
That is, until progressive activists moved to disassociate gender dysphoria from psychologists’ lists of mental illnesses, promoting propaganda that aimed to have the public believe the disorder was actually a naturally-occurring condition, rather than an illness.
From that point, researchers observed a 4,000% increase in claims of gender dysphoria among children over a period of ten years.
Today, former transgendered people are speaking out about the regressive models being utilized by progressives in medicine, and those who are seeking to profit from their mental health conditions.
Walt Heyer, a well-known former transgender, has written extensively on the regret he carries over the permanent changes he was convinced would improve his internal peace and acceptance. Over the course of eight years, Walt had surgeries and hormone therapies, doing all the things he was led to believe would lead to his freedom as the woman he wanted to be. Only, they didn’t help, and eventually Walt had to reverse all the procedures he had done in his pursuit to become mentally healthy.
“At first I was giddy for the fresh start,” Heyer said. “But hormones and sex change genital surgery couldn’t solve the underlying issues driving my gender dysphoria.”
Today, Walt curates a website called SexChangeRegret.com, offering insights and testimonies from other individuals who have gone through sex change surgery only to realize their mistakes.
“I detransitioned more than 25 years ago. I learned the truth: Hormones and surgery may alter appearances, but nothing changes the immutable fact of your sex,” he said.
Heyer isn’t the only high-profile individual who has expressed regret and has reversed course on their decision.
James Shupe was the first person in America to have a court recognize his gender as “non-binary” (meaning neither male or female).
“After convincing myself that I was a woman during a severe mental health crisis, I visited a licensed nurse practitioner in early 2013 and asked for a hormone prescription,” Shupe recently wrote in a piece for Daily Signal. “Although she’d never met me before, the nurse phoned in a prescription for 2 mg of oral estrogen and 200 mg of Spironolactone that very same day.
His journey had begun.
These stories are becoming all too common, and we cannot help but wonder what the fallout will be ten years from now when all those children society has encouraged to go through gender transition will miss puberty and will be unable to find their real identity.
Transgenderism is not settled science; the science around biological sex, however, is.
That’s why legislation like HB 321 by Rep. Savannah Maddox is so important. The bill would prohibit medical professionals from prescribing medication that would block natural hormones or puberty when in the interest of alter a child’s biological sex. It needs to receive proper attention so that children in Kentucky can be protected from this predatory social experiment.
If you want to protect children, please call your legislators and ask them to support HB 321. You can find your legislator here.
Please click here if you’d like to be added to our email updates, and click here if you’d like to make a tax-deductible contribution towards ensuring that the Family Foundation can continue to be your boots on the ground in Frankfort.
