Last week, Trump’s Department of Education became the first federal agency to recognize Detrans Awareness Day. It hosted conferences in Washington, DC that amplified select detransitioner stories to fuel the right’s crusade against trans youth. Organizers of the upcoming Trans Day of Visibility, meanwhile, are likewise stepping up their efforts by extending the day to a full week.
“Detrans Awareness Day” originally began in 2021 as a mostly online movement. But last Wednesday, Trump’s Department of Education co-opted the day in order to spread disinformation on the efficacy of gender-affirming care.
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According to Genspect, an organization that lobbies against gender affirming care and one of the lead organizers of the event, the purpose of the Detrans Awareness Day is “to bring together medical professionals, policymakers, and members of the public to meet detransitioners face-to-face to help facilitate meaningful change.”
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But for anyone harboring delusions that the intention was dispassionate discussions on the nuances of trans healthcare, the entire event was organized by far right groups dedicated to eradicating trans rights. This includes the Heritage Foundation (the authors of Project 2025), Moms for Liberty, and several other anti-trans organizations. What attendees got was a medical panel consisting solely of detransitioners, anti-trans activists and religious medical professionals.
According to The Handbasket, there was a medical panel to “discuss the current state of medical harm done to those who sought gender-affirming care and the right course of treatment for those with gender dysphoria.” There was also a legal panel and a social media panel “addressing social contagion, cell phone use, and online grooming.”
Three prominent detransitioners—Laura Becker, Soren Aldaco, and Chloe Cole—were featured as speakers. That number is likely low because detransition as a whole is rare. A 2021 review of 27 studies involving a combined 8,000 teens and adults who had undergone gender affirming surgeries found that 1% on average expressed regret. Of that 1%, an even smaller number went on to detransition, whereas for some the regret was temporary.
While Detrans Awareness Day found a dedicated audience of obsessed right-wing ghouls in Washington DC, the upcoming Trans Day of Visibility is an internationally celebrated holiday. It is observed on March 31 every year, but now—given the ongoing political attacks on the trans community—activists are pushing to spread it to a whole week.
In Iowa—where the state legislature recently amended its civil rights clause to exclude gender identity—and in California—where Gov Gavin Newsome recently expressed opposition to trans athletes—organizers are planning weeklong Trans Day of Visibility events. California legislators are even poised to adopt a resolution officially recognizing both the day and the week for trans visibility.
Rep Scott Wiener, the resolution’s sponsor, said, “In California, we believe it is ever more critical to uplift and support our 2STGI residents and reaffirm their right to live visibly, openly, authentically, and unapologetically, without exception.”
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