For several years now, the consensus among conservatives, moderates, and a certain portion of old guard leftists (such as the radical feminists) has been that the transgender movement will eventually run out of steam — that at some point, nature will angrily assert herself and the trend will be over. The transgender movement — at least as it pertains to minors — will end in a flurry of malpractice lawsuits, scrambling scientists, and a repudiation of the extremes of gender ideology by the mainstream. When it is all over, many predict, we will see transgenderism as the worst crime backed by the scientific community since the eugenics movement, condemned by the mutilated boys and girls left in its wake.
That might very well be the case, and there are good indications that these predictions may play out. Hundreds of families are banding together to sue the National Health Service’s gender clinic in the United Kingdom. An 18-year-old de-transitioner in the U.S. is suing the surgeon who mutilated her. Other de-transitioners are telling their stories publicly and calling on lawmakers to take action against the practices that left them with permanent physical damage. Legislators in some American states have heeded that call and passed laws; a backlash has begun in some European countries, as well. Those who are optimistic that the transgender movement will inevitably fail have good reason to believe that their hopes are coming to pass.
But as I noted in an interview and several columns a couple of years ago, there is another way this might play out. LGBT activists could simply say that the phenomenon of “de-transitioners” is due to society’s opposition to gender ideology — and that those who have begun to detransition had those doubts planted in their mind by the opposition of parents, or Christians, or anyone else who dares to suggest that changing sexes is either a bad idea or downright impossible. In this scenario, the very people who have been warning about the irreversible damage and the devastating fallout from the transgender movement will be blamed for that fallout. If it weren’t for those who oppose gender ideology, there would be no de-transitioners, and everyone would be happy.
As it turns out, they’re already working on that narrative. From a LSN report this week:
A left-wing study conducted in the Netherlands attempts to dismiss people who regret their attempts to “transition” to the opposite sex by claiming that they do so because of “internalized transphobia.”
The study, published last month in MDPI (Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute) as part of the organization’s “Special Issue on LGBTQI+ Health,” focuses on “identifying coping strategies” used by those who pursue cross-sex hormones and surgeries as they try to “transition” to the opposite sex.
