Notices by Ky Schevers (reclaimingtrans@kolektiva.social)

I caught some TERFs getting upset at other TERFs for sharing information from antifascists about Matt Trihey, the nazi who showed up to the anti-trans rally in Victoria. They were more upset about this than the nazi showing up. According to them, sharing information from antifascist groups is bad because antifascists know that trans women are women but using that nazi's PA system and letting him open and close the rally is fine. They were defending the rally organizers for accepting Trihey's help. They made it very clear that they hate anyone who shows basic respect for trans people but are fine with a nazi showing up to one of their rallies.

When I was a radfem/TERF, I used people arguing with me to spread my views. It’s one of the most effective ways to spread propaganda. You know you’re not going to get everyone to agree with you, certainly not the person arguing with you but that’s not the point. You’re trying to reach people who will. Now that I left the anti-trans movement I never, ever debate or argue with transphobes. I block them. I’m careful about describing their ideology so as not to help them spread it. I fully support deplatforming, disruption, public humiliation, and other antifascist tactics. Those tactics make complete sense to my now because of my past as a TERF who focused on propaganda/recruitment/cultural influence. Listen to antifascists, not clout-chasing journalists.

lol, right-wingers are mad about the Kristen Stewart article in Rolling Stone with all the hot photos and of course some are saying it’s part of plot to spread queerness. Leave it to the Right to make up something that sounds like it’d be a lot of fun. Like of course I’d love to be part of a global conspiracy with Kristen Stewart to spread gay sex and genderfucking. Sign me up! That would be so bad ass.

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/kristen-stewart-gay-cover-right-wing-outrage-reaction-lgbtq-1234968387/

Lee and I were happy to return to It Could Happen Here to talk with Mia about healthcare bans in OH and explain why a group of detrans TERFs testified against the bans. Hint: they’re not really on our side but they pretend like they are so they can infiltrate queer/trans communities and spread their reactionary ideology. We explain how Max and Kitty Robinson, two ex-trans TERFs with ties to Janice Raymond herself, recruited detrans/desisted TERFs on tumblr to sign a collective statement that was submitted as testimony. Check out the podcast to learn about that and other weirdness that happened in Ohio.
https://omny.fm/shows/it-could-happen-here/ohio-anti-trans-pt-1

I'm not actually surprised that the Green Party has a TERF problem since I spent a decent amount of time as a detrans TERF talking to liberals/progressives who shop at farmers markets and they were easy marks for (crypto-)TERF talking points. It seems like transphobia been a problem among green/pro-environmental types for a while now.

I think it’s time I work on writing up the story about how I and other members of my old detrans TERF group ended up in contact with a gender therapist in WPATH who wanted to use detransition stories to push for more gatekeeping because they believed that “there were too many FtMs” and how this eventually lead to Carey Callahan presenting a workshop on detransition at the first USPATH conference. She showed short videos of me, Max Robinson and another detrans TERF. By that point, me and Max had been through a neopagan ritual to “heal” from being trans and “reclaim” our femaleness. It’s the same ritual I ended up talking about in the episode of Anti-Trans Hate Machine I was featured in. Of course, the folks at USPATH weren’t told any of this.

After she presented her workshop, Carey emailed a bunch of us to tell us how “evil” USPATH felt and how she felt caught up in some kind of spiritual battle. We were a good example of how a cult can figure out how to infiltrate and influence healthcare organization. Groups with really fringy views can learn how to hide them in order to get what they want. That was part of our whole strategy.

I’ve tried to interest journalists in this story before with no success. But given that some of these same people appear to have just influenced the governor of Ohio it seems like something more people should know about.

Uh, I just listened to the DeWine’s press conference after he vetoed HB 68 and he still plans to ban surgery for trans youth under 18, wants the state to collect data on trans youth and adults who transition, enforce counseling/therapy for children and adults before they can access transition and shut down informed consent clinics. This isn’t actually a victory. Not even close. Now the Ohio government plans to take more control over the healthcare of both trans youth and adults. This is why I say it’s important to fight both healthcare bans and gatekeeping. Both are threats to our autonomy and access to healthcare.

Like do you really want the government to start collecting data on every trans person who transitions? And this data will be reported to both the state and the public? What business does the state have forcing people to have therapy before they can make decisions about their bodies?

https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/politics/ohio-politics/ohio-republican-gov-mike-dewine-vetoes-bill-banning-care-for-trans-youth

So there’s a new detransition study that just started recruiting participants and so far many of the people spreading this study on Twitter/X have been transphobic detrans activists like Laura Becker, anti-trans groups like Therapy First (formerly GETA) and Our Duty, and conversion therapists like Sasha Ayad. Based on that I don’t have high hopes for how this study is going to turn out.

I took the study and found it frustrating because I couldn’t adequately communicate my experience of detransitioning. Like it doesn’t really cover how some people detransition as a result of internalized transphobia, converting to an anti-trans ideology and/or engage in conversion practices. I also had trouble communicating about how parts of my detransition were related to my genderqueerness/gender-fluidity. The study uses a fairly narrow framing of detransition that leaves out a lot of experiences.

There's also questions about past psychiatric diagnoses, traumatic childhood experiences and your gender as a kid, like what kinda toys you played with. The questions about childhood gender in particular seemed like something out of old school sexology and gender clinics. I'm concerned that the results of this study will be used to justify more gatekeeping in the name of preventing detransition.

I want good research on detransition but I don't trust this study and I don't see how it's going to help me as someone who detransitioned. I don't see how it's going to produce information that will help people avoid the kinds of problems and suffering I faced when I detransitioned. I can easily imagine how it could be used to create more harm though.

Remember the TERF who was calling for the elimination of trans women at Kellie-Jay Keen’s anti-trans rally in NYC? Her name is Amy Kreit, her son is trans and she was recently in an anti-trans documentary where she's framed as a “victim” because her kid transitioned. This is the kind of parent the recent NYT article is defending. Quite a few people who showed up to Kellie-Jay Keen’s anti-trans rallies during her US tour were transphobic parents of trans youth and many talked about how they were “liberals” who now felt like they had no where to turn except to conservatives. And fascists apparently.

Kreit, along with other anti-trans parents, has taken part in protests outside of hospitals and clinics that help trans youth in order to harass doctors and spread anti-trans propaganda. They aren’t just “concerned parents”, they’re part of the far-right anti-trans movement. The NYT is downplaying the militancy and harm of anti-trans parent groups, who've been one of the driving forces behind attacks on trans youth and trans healthcare. As someone who regularly sees these “skeptical parents” appear next to Proud Boys and other members of far-right groups at anti-trans rallies, I’m disgusted but unsurprised. At this point, not noting that many anti-trans parent groups work with the far-right is not just enabling transphobia, it's enabling fascism. The anti-trans movement is intertwined with the global far-right movement. The NYT is laundering fascism when it launders transphobia.