It's time to protect detransitioners who've had their bodies altered and lives ruined
Chloe Cole: This is being recommended so flippantly now
Chloe Cole testified before the House Judiciary Committee on her experience with gender-changing treatments, and she tells ‘America Reports’ that children are directing their own medical treatment.
I tried to become a boy at 12. I tried to change back to a girl at 16. Now I’m 19. The "care" I received has left me with physical and mental challenges that I’ll probably carry for the rest of my life.
I was abused and lied to by the medical professionals I was told to trust. They lied to my parents, too. They’re still abusing and lying to countless young boys and girls.
My transition happened fast. At age 11, I knew I was a girl, even though I had a tomboy streak and struggled to make friends with other girls. While puberty was rough, it never occurred to me that I was "supposed" to be a boy.
A participant in the Detransition Awareness Day holds up a sign during a rally in Sacramento on March 10, 2023. (Courtesy Pamela Garfield-Jaeger)
Then I got a cellphone and discovered social media. I was constantly told I was a boy trapped in a girl’s body. I came to believe it. I decided I was a boy and my body had to reflect it, or life wasn’t worth living.
At age 12, I talked to therapists who repeated what I heard on social media. My parents tried to protect me. They pointed out that I’d been diagnosed with ADHD and showed signs of autism. But the therapists and doctors said my parents could either have a dead daughter or a living son, manipulating them into giving consent.
They also said that transitioning genders was reversible. By age 13, I was on puberty blockers and testosterone. At age 15, I had a double mastectomy. I didn’t hate my breasts, but the doctors told me I should cut them off anyway.
The puberty blockers gave me menopausal symptoms like hot flashes and lethargy. The testosterone lowered my voice and gave me muscles. I developed urinary tract issues. My chest was left with major wounds. And my mental health spiraled, especially when I realized that I wanted to have a family. I didn’t know if I could anymore. I lost 25 pounds and started struggling in school.
My detransition started at age 16. The medical professionals who pushed me to transition have shown zero interest in helping me. Some have tried to manipulate me into continuing my transition. They want to add insult to literal injury. And it turns out transitions aren’t reversible at all.
My chest is still bandaged where my breasts should be. My urinary tract issues have gotten better, but they’re still bad. When I look in a mirror, I sometimes don’t recognize my face, because the testosterone changed it. I’m a girl, but I sometimes see the boy those doctors tried to create.
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I couldn’t be more grateful for the 22 states that have banned or restricted gender transition procedures for minors. I’ve testified in many state legislatures and I hope more states will act. Yet many state lawmakers have also asked me what the next step is. My answer is simple:
Now it’s time to protect the rights of detransitioners like me and countless others who’ve had their bodies altered and lives ruined.
I’ve worked with Do No Harm to develop a "detransitioner bill of rights." It’s built around some of the things I wish I’d known when I started down this road at age 12.
I needed the facts. No one told me about the utter lack of reliable studies justifying the procedures I received. No one told me that I was getting experimental procedures based on off-label prescribing. No one told me about their side effects.
If I went through the process again, I bet no one would tell me that European countries are now restricting these procedures because the harms outweigh the risks. Our bill would give young patients and parents this information, so they can give the informed consent I couldn’t.
I needed transparency. When my parents and I first went to a gender clinic, we had no idea what it did, and my parents didn’t think it would immediately move me toward medication.
Doctors and surgeons need to tell the state what they’re doing to whom, and at what age. They also need to disclose whether the patients they’re treating have conditions like autism, depression, bipolar disorder and so on.
Our bill would bring this information into the open, making clear how unhinged these doctors are.
I needed insurance coverage. While my parents’ provider paid for all the transition work, it doesn’t cover the enormous costs of de-transitioning. If insurance is going to ruin a young person’s body, it should pay the price for the rest of their life. Our bill makes it happen.
Most of all, I needed – and still need – justice. Those therapists and doctors stole my teenage years. They nearly broke a mind and a body that were still forming. I will be dealing with the consequences for the rest of my life.
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Our bill ensures that every medical professional who helps a minor transition can be held personally liable for the damage they do. I know many people who waited a lot longer than I did to detransition. Our bill lets them sue their doctors for up to 25 years after they turn 18.
The transgender craze is sweeping the country. It’s only a matter of time before the wave of detransitioners swells, too. Every state should pass this "detransitioner bill of rights" to ensure that people like me get honesty, care and justice.
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Chloe Cole is the patient advocate at Do No Harm.
