DETRANSITIONER LAWSUITS
There are thousands of people worldwide suffering from the disastrous results of “gender-affirming care.” These harms are both physical and psychological with lifelong implications. Lawsuits in the United States are growing, and there are notable similarities in the stories of the plaintiffs for these lawsuits.
How many detransitioners are there?
No one knows how many detransitioners there are, mainly due to lack of follow-up by clinicians and little to no coverage by the mainstream press. Poorly done studies claim that detransition is rare, as low as 1 percent. However, according to an article in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, “Detransition Among Transgender and Gender-Diverse People—An Increasing and Increasingly Complex Phenomenon,” the great majority of detransitioners cannot be tracked because they choose to “disappear” from the medical system that caused their problems. Other studies, such as “The Detransition Rate Is Unknown” in the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior, confirm the unreliability of the 1 percent theory. See also Detrans Subreddit, which already has some 50,000 members, and Detrans AI, a search tool based on the Detrans Subreddit.
Another reason detransitioners cannot be reliably tracked is that practitioners rely on the World Health Organization’s codes defined by the International Classification of Diseases (ICD). Doctors use these codes for billing and tracking purposes for medical treatments. “Gender-affirming care” has codes for every patient “treatment.” But there are currently no codes for detransition care. Small wonder that detransition rates are claimed to be 1 percent! (For a list of codes in use, see ICD-10.)
The statute of limitations for medical malpractice lawsuits poses another problem for detransitioners: it is typically only one to three years. Most gender-confused people were compromised in their ability to understand informed consent when they embarked on the medical pathway, or they were too young to have made an informed decision. It can take years to regret having had “gender-affirming care.” Hence, they cannot sue. Anita Bartholomew in Sacrificial Lambs: A Liberal Reporter Exposes How the Progressive Left Harms Children in the Name of Gender Ideology urges her readers to contact their state legislators to address the problem of short statutes of limitations for gender medical malpractice cases. She says, “Expand the statute of limitations in just a few states … and the trickle of lawsuits we’ve seen so far will look like Niagara Falls.”
Why are people detransitioning?
According to a demographic survey of detransitioners in the r/detrans Subreddit, many detransitioned because they realized their perception of self was wrong and because of grave concerns about their health. The reasons for claiming an opposite sex identity are varied as stated in “Detransition and Desistance Among Previously Trans-Identified Young Adults” in the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior. Many felt lied to and were clearly too young to have made such a decision.
Detransitioners speaking out and the common patterns in their lawsuits
Individuals who have experienced the multitude of harms associated with “gender affirming care” are speaking out. YouTube is filled with their stories. Some of these courageous young men and women are filing lawsuits. Their stories share common patterns:
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Except for one case, the plaintiffs had a history of mental illness, trauma, and/or abuse and sought help from the medical profession.
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The plaintiffs ranged in age from early teens to mid-thirties when they identified as transgender.
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Their clinicians immediately pushed them into so-called “gender transition interventions” even though they were well aware of the plaintiffs’ histories of mental health problems or other factors like trauma and abuse.
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The plaintiffs agreed to the “gender transition interventions” without a full understanding of what the procedures would really do to them. The defendants deliberately hid or minimized this information from the plaintiffs and their families.
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As one would expect, after the “gender transition interventions,” the plaintiffs suffered serious side effects. They realized that their emotional and mental problems could not be solved by changing their physical bodies. If the plaintiffs tried to discuss this with their clinicians, the clinicians were dismissive or simply dropped them.
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Most of the plaintiffs’ lawsuits are still in process. Some plaintiffs agreed to or were forced into settlements, while other lawsuits were dismissed due to statutes of limitations. So far only one lawsuit has gone to a jury trial with an award of $2 million for the plaintiff. One lawsuit was dismissed because the plaintiff was not “sufficiently mentally impaired.” This begs the question: is it acceptable to perform experimental “gender transition interventions” on people who are not "sufficiently" mentally ill without informing them of the full risks? Aren’t the results of these interventions enough to warrant a lawsuit?
Who are the defendants?
The defendants are not fly-by-night shady operations. They are well-established, supposedly respectable organizations, and/or individual clinicians, who have continued to falsely present these harmful medical interventions as evidence-based. One defendant is the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), which heavily pushes “gender-affirming care.” An AAP doctor who was the clinician for gender-distressed children and the developer of the AAP guidelines for “gender affirmation,” Dr. Jason Rafferty, is the defendant in two of the lawsuits listed here. Another defendant, Planned Parenthood, blatantly admitted that gender-distressed patients are “cash cows” for their organization. Kaiser Permanente and Kaiser Hospital Foundation are listed as defendants for multiple cases.
The road forward for the detransitioners in these cases
Many of the plaintiffs continue to speak out publicly, many through the Independent Women’s Forum Identity Crisis series. Soren Adalco, Chloe Cole, Prisha Mosley, and Camille Keifel and others have made it their life’s work to prevent others from falling prey to the dangers of “gender-affirming care.” For further information on detransition, see Detrans Awareness Day, hosted March 2026 by Genspect, and the April 2026 panel discussion hosted by Partners for Ethical Care: After the Gender Experiment: Detransitioners Speak.
Meet the plaintiffs
The detransitioners in these cases all suffered unnecessary, life-long medical harm, as did their families. Though we have tried to compile all known cases, and will continue to add new cases, this is not an exhaustive list of detransitioners. Some prefer to remain anonymous or do not wish their stories be spotlighted.