Chloe Cole vs Pride in Protest (vs me)

“I never discuss anything else except politics and religion. There is nothing else to discuss… Nothing of importance can be separated entirely from its social effect, which is politics, or from its ultimate value, which is religion.” — GK Chesterton

On Tuesday lunchtime this week, I went to publicly confront ‘Pride in Protest’ again, this time not so passively at Hyde Park’s Archibald Fountain. According to their Facebook event:

“On the 25th of June, NSW Parliament will be giving us … ANOTHER TERF… CONFERENCE!!!

On a Tuesday afternoon that could otherwise have been used to pass the Equality Bill, member of the NSW Legislative Council and Certified Cooker™ John Ruddick is slated to host an anti-trans conference in NSW Parliament, importing Chloe Cole, a bigoted detransitioner who mingles with America’s… far-right, and other grifters to rattle off the stalest anti-trans talking points you may ever have to hear.

We will be marching from Hyde Park to NSW Parliament and we need your help to drown out this nightmare blunt rotation.”

Later that afternoon I chatted with Chloe briefly, and no, she’s not a bigot, but clearly she’s been hurt by the system and by people who should know better, including the Pride in Protest mob. Later that evening I travelled to Canberra to listen to both Chloe and Courtney Coulson, and took some notes as follows:

It sounded like Chloe was experiencing non-gender dysphoria issues growing up, including poor / lack of good female role models, early puberty, and a femininity perception that felt burdensome. Until she found an identity-giving online trans community.

I am reminded of a podcast debate which I blogged about yesterday, where Desmond Fambrini said, “Kids cannot make that decision on their own, but with people they can. Because that’s what I think, I don’t think a kid should be able to wake up and, call me controversial and actually, multiple people in my community don’t like me for this right. But if somebody at 16 is depressed… and they go ‘I want a transition, and I want the double mascectomy’.

I don’t think they should be able to get that immediately, I think there should just be like the American Psychological Association says, significant screening. You need a doctor’s opinion, parent opinion… significant amounts of therapy, hormone blockers, to extend the amount of time that could actually be, you know where this can be considered, and then once every box is checked, to make something that drastic, ’cause you’re talking about a drastic decision…”

The health profession failed Chloe, who went by Leo for some years, with shorter hair, looking up to boys and men around her. Her parents didn’t expect the professionals involved to not gatekeep. Therapy made her worse, and her parents had questions, to which the doctors would emphasise: being transgender is innate, the transition regret rate is low, and if Chloe doesn’t transition, her risk of suicide increases. As much as I want to believe she’s a rare case, in the US at least, she’s not a rare case. This situation is not comparable to that of say, Walt Heyer.

Chloe was not suicidal, she just had other problems that could have been dealt with without the need to transition — she needed to be given opportunities to better understand herself. But her parents were made to feel that there was no choice. Starting on Lupron, she felt lethargic, menopausal at 13. There were hot flashes and uncomfortable sensations, until she started on testosterone a month later, which swung her mood in the opposite direction.

Social dynamics changed for the seemingly better for her, she made new male friends etc. For a while it was exciting, then the loneliness set in. Then at some point she re-identified with being female, and subsequently became depressed. Then she actually became suicidal, but her surgery was approved nevertheless — at 15 years of age she underwent top surgery. After the short honeymoon though, the aftercare reminded her of what had been done.

She realised something beautiful had been taken away from her for life. But it felt too late, as everyone had already knew her as a brother, son etc. All at a time that she was starting to contemplate what marriage and family would look like to her. In learning about sexuality and family during psychology class, she had an epiphany that she wanted to be a wife and have children — this regret broke her, and led her to give up on her studies at one point.

In desiring to detransition, she feared losing community, doctors’ support etc. The future felt uncertain. But she decided to move forward with or without support. The doctors didn’t help with her detransition, and so-called friends abandoned her. Even with the support of her family, she felt alone until she stumbled upon the online detransition community, with similar stories. She finally felt compelled to tell her story, their story, starting with Twitter. She didn’t have high expectations, but the rest is history.

Courtney Coulson shared her even more broken story. Her father abandoned her family when she was young, and the relationship between gender dysphoria and being on the autism spectrum is understated, things that her psychologist didn’t quiz her over in transitioning. Further, her mother shopped around for autism spectrum disorder diagnosis for Courtney when she was younger.

The testosterone effects on Courtney were really bad, at no point did the doctor consider whether she should stop taking testosterone. There is no clear medical guidance available for detransitioning, though the women’s health clinic she attended provided some guidance. It appears the profession broadly just avoided to be seen as non-affirming, thereby complicating her complex case even further.

Her advice to young people? Puberty is confusing, it is tempting to be edgy as a teenager. It appears she detransitioned due to a desire to regain physical health, and after realising the impact of her mother’s views on gender on Courtney.

Then there’s the final speaker for the night, Dr Andrew Amos, academic psychiatrist. He argued that gender affirming care is an ideological cult, not medical treatment, and is critical of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists’ response to the Cass Review, which I touched on in my last blog post. It’s no surprise that Dr Jillian Spencer was made an example of in recent times, and that Denton’s Only Adults? Good Practices in Legal Gender Recognition for Youth report suggests that avoiding an inquiry at all cost is a strategy for ensuring the house of cards doesn’t collapse.

Other points from him is that schools are having too much of a say on a child’s gender transition depending on jurisdiction. Professionals who should know better can be too passionate, leading to emotional manipulation. I hate to say this, but it’s better to have an Australian inquiry in response to the detransition phenomenon sooner rather than later, this issue will not be going away and needs to be addressed. I am confident that there’s no need to completely ban puberty blockers, but it appears that the health profession need to migrate back to the gatekeeping model before the situation gets further out of hand.