Anna stands outside a Seattle event, his voice shaking as he describes 17 years of medical transition.
“I was just a lost teenager,”
he says, explaining how childhood trauma and societal pressure pushed him into being transgender. Now living as a gay man, Anna feels he was misled by medical professionals and activists into irreversible surgeries and hormone therapy. His experience, vocal on platforms such as X, is a deeply personal window into the contentious discussion on gender-affirming care, medical ethics, and policies governing transgender care around the globe.
Anna was diagnosed with gender dysphoria in about 2008 at an LGBT center. Throughout the 17 years since then, he has had hormone replacement therapy, facial feminization surgery, genital reconstruction, and an orchiectomy. Now in his 30s, Anna has detransitioned and says he is a gay man. He blames his original transition on unresolved child sexual abuse trauma he says was not addressed during medical screenings.
Anna accuses “gender ideology activists” of coercing him into transition, claiming they portrayed his distress as evidence of being transgender. His story, retold extensively on X, resonates for people who say they believe that the medical system did not properly treat what was really going on in their minds.
Anna’s experience has been grasped in intense medical and political disputes. To date in 2024, 26 states in the U.S. have prohibited minors from receiving gender-affirming care based on tales similar to Anna’s in order to make the argument that these treatments result in regret. Detransitioners Chloe Cole, who helped pass Wyoming’s “Chloe’s Law,” and Keira Bell, whose UK court victory transformed youth care guidelines, are figures in arguments for change. Opponents of any system in which adults can use hormones under minimal gatekeeping say that it can ignore mental health complications.
However, transgender rights advocates counter that detransition stories—while valid—are rare and often politicized to justify broad bans. Medical studies show regret rates for gender-affirming care are low, typically under 3%, with rigorous mental health screenings standard in most protocols.
Anna’s story reflects global shifts in transgender healthcare policy. The UK’s Cass Review, published in 2024, urged caution in treating minors, prompting stricter guidelines for psychological assessments. Sweden and Finland have similarly restricted youth access, citing insufficient long-term data. In the U.S., legal battles are intensifying, with lawsuits from detransitioners like Cristina Hineman raising questions about medical negligence.
Organizations like Health Liberation Now! aim to support detransition without fueling anti-trans narratives, advocating for better mental health resources. While detransition remains uncommon, Anna’s experience underscores the need for individualized care that thoroughly evaluates psychological and social factors before irreversible steps are taken.
