‘I was indoctrinated into trans ideology’

A detransitioner has attributed his desire to change sex to “social contagion”.

Michael Kerr, 33, received ‘trans-affirming care’ and was prescribed female hormones at the Sandyford clinic in Glasgow after identifying as a woman. He lived for seven years as if that were so, and acquired a Gender Recognition Certificate.

But Kerr subsequently stopped taking sex-swap drugs, decided not to go ahead with irreversible trans surgery and now believes he was “indoctrinated into an ideology”.

Death threats

Kerr told The Times that as a gender-confused young man, acquaintances suggested to him he might be transgender and he thought that ‘becoming a woman’ would help heal past trauma.

After a two-year wait for an appointment at the Sandyford, Kerr was put on the pathway to gender transition following just two 30-minute sessions, rather than being offered counselling. Despite reservations over his treatment, he was encouraged to ‘keep going’ and ‘let the drugs do their job’.

Discovering detransitioner stories online, Kerr decided to stop taking female hormones. When he told his Sandyford doctor of this, she was reportedly “shocked” and offered little in the way of support and advice.

Kerr, who has received death threats for speaking out against the transgender movement, said: “I’m a walking advertisement of what’s wrong about the ideology. I just stress to people that no matter what you do, you’re not going to shut me up.”

Social contagion

• 8 Oct 2020

We’ve all become familiar with viral contagion. This briefing explains the concept of social contagion.

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‘Disfigured for life’

Earlier this year, in the first verdict of its kind, a jury in New York State gave detransitioner Fox Varian $1.6 million for pain and suffering caused by so-called trans-affirming care, with $400,000 for future medical expenses.

According to court documents, Varian – now in her twenties – was diagnosed with autism at 14 and struggled with anxiety, depression and an eating disorder.

The following year she started questioning her gender, but just five months before she underwent a double mastectomy, she reportedly told a counsellor that she was still unsure of her ‘gender identity’.

The court was told that her mastectomy was “wrongly presented” as a solution to her gender dysphoria, and the jury agreed that there had been a “departure from the standard of care”.

Speaking in court, Varian said that she immediately believed the surgery was wrong. She added: “It’s hard to face that you are disfigured for life.”