Detransition Awareness Day

Mar 12, 2025, 3:00PM

At the America First Policy Institute (AFPI), we are committed to standing up for truth, protecting our children, and ensuring that harmful ideologies do not take root in American institutions. Recently, we hosted an eye-opening and deeply personal discussion for Detransition Awareness Day—a day to recognize those who have walked away from gender ideology and to shed light on the devastating consequences of radical medical interventions on children.

This event brought together powerful voices—detransitioners, policy experts, medical professionals, and parents—all united in exposing the real-world harm caused by the rush to affirm gender confusion instead of addressing underlying mental health struggles. Their testimonies were heart-wrenching, infuriating, and ultimately inspiring.

A Fight for Truth and Accountability

Leading the discussion was Chris Schorr, Senior Policy Analyst and Acting Director for the Higher Education Reform Initiative at AFPI. He set the stage by explaining how gender ideology has infiltrated medical and educational institutions, replacing science and common sense with radical activism. He pointed out how the American Psychiatric Association shifted its stance in 2013, abandoning efforts to help children overcome gender confusion in favor of promoting irreversible and often dangerous medical interventions.

Dr. Jared Ross, an emergency medicine physician and medical advocate from Do No Harm, provided a chilling overview of how the rate of gender dysphoria in children has skyrocketed by over 100 times since 2013. He cited research showing that nearly 1 in 1,000 minors in the U.S. are on cross-sex hormones and revealed how so-called “gender-affirming care” fails to address underlying mental health issues, such as depression, anxiety, and autism, while instead pushing vulnerable children toward permanent medical alterations.

“This is an industry,” Dr. Ross emphasized. “And it is making billions off of confused children.”

A Detransitioner’s Powerful Testimony

One of the most moving moments of the event came from Simon Amaya Price, a young man who desisted from identifying as transgender after years of believing the lie that he had been born in the wrong body.

At just 14 years old, Simon’s pediatrician pressured his father with a horrific false choice: “Would you rather have a dead son or a living daughter?” This manipulative rhetoric is a common scare tactic used by activists, and it has convinced countless parents to allow their children to be medicalized. Simon was one of the lucky ones—his father refused to go along with it.

“I was not put on hormones, I was not operated on, my father did not affirm me, and I’ve grown up to be a healthy and happy 20-year-old man,” Simon declared. “I am living proof that children don’t need medicalization. They need time, patience, and guidance.”

Simon also called out the multi-billion-dollar industry profiting off of young people’s distress. He cited a study showing that depression and anxiety more than double after gender-affirming surgeries, and he pointed out how detransitioners are often abandoned by the very doctors who once encouraged them to transition.

A Mother’s Nightmare: The Classroom-to-Clinic Pipeline

Erin Lee, a mother from Colorado, shared the terrifying story of how her 12-year-old daughter was secretly groomed into gender ideology at school.

Her daughter was recruited into a secret “art club”, which turned out to be a gender and sexuality indoctrination session where adult activists convinced her that she was a transgender boy. These activists told her:

• That puberty blockers and top surgery were her only options.
• How to find gender-affirming therapists without telling her parents.
• That her parents weren’t safe and that she shouldn’t trust them.

When Erin and her husband removed their daughter from school, they were threatened with child protective services. Their own pediatrician even pushed the “affirm or suicide” myth on them.

“We were bullied at every turn,” Erin said. “We had to fight for a year to save our daughter from this cult.”

Thankfully, Erin’s daughter desisted before undergoing any medicalization. Now 16, she has begun speaking out publicly about her ordeal. But millions of children are not as lucky. Erin warned that schools across America are actively socially transitioning children behind their parents’ backs—and parents must wake up and fight back.

Fighting Back: Real Policy Solutions

This is not just a cultural battle—it is a policy battle. And we at AFPI are fighting for real legislative solutions.

1️⃣ State Laws to Protect Vulnerable Children

• Texas Representative Steve Toth shared his work on The Vulnerable Youth Protection Act, which introduces severe civil penalties for doctors, teachers, and counselors who push children down the path of transition.
• Arkansas is following Texas’ lead, and similar bills are moving in other states.

2️⃣ The Detransitioner Bill of Rights

• Dr. Jared Ross introduced AFPI’s model legislation, which includes:
• Informed consent laws ensure parents and children are given full transparency about the dangers of gender transition.
• A 20-year statute of limitations allowed detransitioners to sue doctors and clinics that harmed them.
• Insurance coverage mandates ensure that medical reversals and corrective procedures are covered.

3️⃣ A Blue-State Strategy

• Erin Lee’s organization, Protect Kids Colorado, is working on a ballot initiative to ban gender surgeries on minors, and similar efforts are taking place in California and other deep-blue states.
• Even in liberal states, the majority of voters reject child medical transition—when given the opportunity, they vote to protect kids.

The Road Ahead: Supporting Detransitioners

Detransitioners are often silenced, ignored, and vilified by the same institutions that once celebrated them.

Simon shared how he receives death threats regularly, and Erin emphasized how many detransitioners are isolated and in desperate need of financial and legal support.

We can all help by:

✔ Amplifying detransitioners’ voices on social media.

✔ Supporting organizations like Campbell Miller Payne, a law firm dedicated to helping detransitioners sue medical providers.

✔ Pressuring lawmakers to pass laws that end medical transition for minors and hold bad actors accountable.

Join the Fight

This event made one thing abundantly clear: we cannot stand by and allow this child medicalization machine to continue operating unchecked.

As AFPI continues to fight back, we urge all Americans to:

📢 Educate yourself and share the truth about gender ideology.

✍ Support legislative efforts in your state.

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Protect your children by getting involved in your local schools.

We must be the voices for the thousands of children being led down a dangerous path.

The time to act is now. 💪🇺🇸