A biological female who began transitioning to live as a man, then de-transitioned, has reversed course and is “transgender" again and pushing back against the “anti-trans” movement.
Ky Schevers told ABC News that she identifies as “transmasculine” and “genderqueer,” meaning that she identifies with both genders. Reportedly, Schevers uses female pronouns “but heavily identifies with masculinity.”
When Schevers stopped taking testosterone, she turned to online forums about de-transitioning to seek advice and companionship. She began to spread what she learned through videos, blog posts, and other forms of content (via ABC News):
In this virtual community is where she began to adopt anti-trans beliefs that misogyny and a patriarchal society caused her to initially transition from female to male. In blog posts, YouTube videos, interviews and workshops, she spread and promoted these beliefs. These posts became a popular tool for anti-trans activists looking to discredit the trans community in the name of feminism.
Schevers said that many detransitioners she got to know online began associating with “far-right” groups. She described this as a “huge wake-up call:
"That was kind of a huge wake-up call," said Schevers. "It didn't make sense to ally with the people who were creating the oppressive conditions."
Her use of the hormone testosterone helped her embrace her gender queer identity, she now says.
When Schevers sees or hears anti-transgender detransitioners speak about their experiences, she thinks of her past self. She says she feels guilty, like she set the stage for them.
Schevers says she wants people to turn their attention to the dangers of anti-trans outreach to youth as well as the ongoing legislative attacks on trans Americans.
On “Transgender Day of Visibility” this year, the Biden administration issued guidance claiming that “gender-affirming” health care, such as hormone therapy, puberty blockers, and sex reassignment surgery, is, in some cases, reversible. The agencies promoted this service for children to help them explore their "gender identity," which they claim is different from biological sex.
“Providing gender-affirming care is neither child maltreatment nor malpractice,” one of the pieces of guidance published by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's National Child Traumatic Stress Network document stated.
Days later, Helena Kerschner, a 23-year-old woman who detransitioned after taking sex hormones, said in an interview with Tucker Carlson that this type of care is not as “reversible” as the Biden administration made it out to be.
“The White House actually just put out a chart yesterday that says that some of these steps are reversible, or partially reversible, but that’s such an oversimplification of the truth,” Kerschner said. “When you go on a cross-sex hormone, like, that’s going to give you not just physical changes but psychological experiences that you can’t just act like they never happened.”
Late last month, the Florida Medical Board voted to draft a rule prohibiting all state minors from receiving this type of health care. This came after board members heard testimonies about the devastating impacts of transgender health services. Some of those who spoke out are detransitioners.
Chloe Cole, an 18-year-old detransitioner, was one of them. Townhall has covered how Cole began transitioning at age 12 and received a double mastectomy at age 15. A year after the surgery, Cole realized she regretted her decision.
“All the talk about mental health, self-perception, pronouns, and ideology leads me to the question, why is a mental health epidemic not being addressed with mental health treatment to get at the root causes for why female adolescents like me want to reject their bodies?” Cole said to members of the Florida Medical Board.
In an interview with Catholic News Agency, Cole explained that complications from her surgery over two years ago have continued.
“The top layer of skin is not really healing over. It emits this fluid constantly, so I have to wear non-adhesive bandages over them all the time," she told CNA.
Since then, Cole has pushed for lawmakers to restrict this type of care for minors and is suing the healthcare system that provided her with hormone treatments and a double mastectomy. She recently slammed a study that showed that most transgender teenagers move forward with other treatments after receiving puberty blockers.
“I thought the argument was that it [puberty blockers] was just a ‘pause’ so that kids can make the decision once they’re older? Blockers are a harmful gateway drug to becoming patient for life before experiencing adulthood,” Cole wrote in a tweet.
In September, it was revealed that the gender clinic at Vanderbilt University Medical Center was performing this type of care on children because it’s profitable. Overseas, a gender clinic in the United Kingdom announced it would shut down after a review said there was a lack of consensus on how young people seeking gender services should be treated. A warning issued by England’s National Health Service shortly said that many children who identify as transgender are going through a “transient phase.”