Will Detransitioners Finally Get the Help They Need?

Texas fills the gap

Texas AG Ken Paxton and Trump’s DOJ have announced the opening of the nation’s first detransition clinic.

Despite the fact that Trump’s list of benefits pales in comparison to his list of overall harms for, well, the entire world, this is a good thing, a necessary thing. However, as I wrote about for Unherd, I don’t see this move as stemming from deep concern about this vulnerable population; I see it as catering to the base.

After all, because of Texas’s other big gender moves, many trans-identified people have already left the state. Detransition care is needed in blue sanctuary cities and states, from New York to Seattle. Any place that offers transition services should offer services to those who detransition, too; mostly they ignore it as a possible outcome.

I don’t think this detransition clinic will create more understanding of the need for such care, especially since we have very little knowledge about what that care should be—and that’s mostly because of who created it and the rhetoric they employ. It’s very hard to give the thumbs up to the man waging wars without congressional approval and making gas $5 a gallon.

That said: what choice do we have?

Of course, I prefer that the industry self-regulate, rather than having state and federal government direct medical care. But few in the industry have been willing to do so. One exception is Dr. Scot Glasberg, past president of the ASPS, who unintentionally became a vector for detransition care. I suggest listening to/watching this interview I conducted with him—which, I admit, made me feel better about the work I do. Sometimes staying nuanced, sticking with the evidence, and connecting one human being to another can go a long way.

But of course, that method yields too little and takes too long on its own. I hope this clinic will help lots of people, conduct research, keep good records, and contribute to the sparse evidence base about detransition.