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rightwing gender critical crossover

SEGM Exposed Reloaded: The Shadow Money Behind a Leading Anti-Trans Think Tank

By: Lee Leveille and Quinnehtukqut McLamore

The Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine (SEGM), a fringe organization known for intentionally misrepresenting the state of evidence for gender-affirmative care and for collaborating with anti-trans and anti-queer hate groups, has been a key source for anti-trans legislation and policies worldwide. Their members and affiliates are not only cited by conservative governments, but have been paid large sums by these same governments as “experts.” Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida went so far as to appoint a member of SEGM—Patrick Hunter—to the Florida Board of Medicine, where he has worked to ban care for trans youth in the state. Such striking influence in an organization so young has made activists, researchers, and lawyers alike interested in SEGM’s infrastructure and finances—particularly because despite the organization being required to submit tax documentation as a 501(c)(3) non-profit, SEGM’s are opaque. Past reporting by researchers at Trans Safety Network (TSN) has noted that large chunks of SEGM’s early financing came from three large, anonymous donations on a GoFundMe, and that collaborations with known anti-queer hate organizations like American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds) and conversion therapy networks like International Federation for Therapeutic and Counselling Choice (IFTCC) helped launch the group’s influence.

Now, Health Liberation Now has been able to identify another source of funding for SEGM—as well as the overall assets and income reported to the IRS by SEGM in December 2020 and December 2021. During the first year of SEGM’s official tenure as a non-profit (occurring some time between July 1, 2020-June 30th, 2021), the EDWARD CHARLES FOUNDATION (website here) made a “charitable gift” to SEGM in the amount of $100,000, as per public tax records available on ProPublica (Form 990, Schedule I) obtained searching for any reference to SEGM’s tax identification number (84-4520593). This donation potentially represented more than half SEGM’s reported income for 2020 as per the Master File maintained by the IRS, which was previously unknown. This report aims to contextualize this large influx of cash with respect to SEGM’s background, activities as an organization, and policy influence. We not only detail what is known regarding SEGM’s history and activities, but provide a detailed timeline of all known fundraising efforts and key figures.

Read More »SEGM Exposed Reloaded: The Shadow Money Behind a Leading Anti-Trans Think Tank

When Ex-Trans Worlds Collide

Content notes: discussion of conversion practices (both secular and faith-based), suicidal ideation, child kidnapping, pedophilia, and child abuse.

Disclaimer: This piece is published by advocates in the name of public interest. It should not be construed as legal advice. If you’re from the US and need legal or other supports related to conversion practices, you can find information at Born Perfect.

Ideologically motivated detransitioned activists joined forces over the summer with leaders of ex-LGBT ministries to target class action suits demanding equitable health coverage for trans people in Arizona. Filing an amicus brief on July 7th,[1] notable figures such as Keira Bell, Sinéad Watson, and Carol Freitas collaborated with Kathy Grace Duncan of Portland Fellowship, a group that has been under fire for practicing faith-based conversion therapy on gay and trans people.[2] The brief was filed alongside one from Society for Evidence Based Medicine (SEGM), whose membership is closely linked with conversion therapy groups and practitioners.[3] The collective effort signals an organized attempt to undermine access to gender affirming care in ways that leave both trans and detrans people with limited medical or psychological support, all while conversion efforts towards trans people are on the rise.

Click below to read online or via PDF.

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Report: Wi Spa Protests Highlight Growing Collaboration Between Gender Critical Activists and the Far-Right

Content note: post includes depictions of police brutality, fascist activity, transmisogyny, racism, and references to pedophilia, domestic violence, sexual assault, and QAnon.

Several gender critical activists showed up to right-wing anti-trans protests at Wi Spa in Los Angeles, CA that took place on July 3rd.[1] At least one also attended a second round of protests organized by the same right-wing groups that took place on July 17th. Five have been identified and all five play active roles in the gender critical movement. Some have organized their own protests in the past.

The aim of this piece is to name which gender critical activists attended, give some background on who they are, describe what they did at the protests and how they’ve been describing the protests to other members of their movement. It will also note any connections these individuals have to the Right, including if they’ve been spreading right-wing media about the protests. Overall, gender critical activists’ actions and responses to the Wi Spa protests demonstrate their increasing alignment with the far-right.

Read More »Report: Wi Spa Protests Highlight Growing Collaboration Between Gender Critical Activists and the Far-Right

The Mechanisms of TAnon: Where it Came From

This is part two of a five-part series describing the TAnon phenomenon as it spreads in the United States. Parts include “What is ‘TAnon’?,” “Where it Came From,” “How the Hell We Got Here,” “Key Players and What to Watch For,” and “Strategies Moving Forward.” Each section has been separated due to length and will be accumulated into a full document for distribution at a later point.

It goes without saying that this series will be extremely upsetting to targeted marginalized groups (particularly trans + youth, women, Jews, and people of color), as well as survivors of childhood sexual abuse, sex trafficking, police brutality, and/or fascist/white nationalist violence. This piece in particular includes material referencing the assault and murder of Brandon Teena, in which he is deadnamed as well as having his identity and the nature of the transphobic hate crime against him erased in favor of psychological pathologization. There is also reference to the appearance of identified fascists at protests outside clinics providing care to trans youth, as well as brief coverage of the fascist-led, police-enforced Wi Spa protest on July 3rd. Hate material is cited extensively. Please read with care and take breaks as needed.

Author note 9.11.2021: The 7.3.2021 listing for Wi Spa has been updated to reflect new information about charges filed by the Los Angeles Police Department.

To understand TAnon, it’s necessary to trace the history of a number of key concepts and their origins, as well as the social context that they developed within. This section does so by creating a timeline that connects the threads between transphobic theories surrounding “body dissociation”, “follow[ing] the money” (which inevitably leads to Jewish funders), and detransition and how it connects to gender affirming care for youth and women’s rights. In doing so, the progression from theory-crafting to on-the-ground anti-trans actions becomes evident on a national and international level. The evolution of these theories and actions influence legislation, media coverage, and psychological and/or medical care.

For trans and trans-supportive readers who are still learning about detransition as a concept, it’s important to remember that anti-trans detransition narratives and talking points are a small, albeit highly influential, minority that does not represent everyone who could be or has been labeled as detransitioned. Prior to the formation of the anti-trans detransitioned women’s community in 2013, the term (particularly as a counter-argument against trans people’s right to self-identify) was practically unheard of. Many trans people and people exploring their identity have a history of detransition and view it as part of their overall path to understand themselves. The references that are included are meant to illustrate where certain talking points originated from and how the social conversation surrounding detransition has changed. This was primarily accomplished through the influence of key figures within the anti-trans detransitioned women’s community and the anti-trans feminist and parent groups they subsequently networked with. Readers should also be mindful that many such narratives include personal trauma that can have real, lasting impact for the individual. We can simultaneously hold empathy for the impact of that trauma and firm boundaries on how it is used in individual and collaborative political pursuits at the expense of trans people.

In addition, the concept of “rapid-onset gender dysphoria” (ROGD) and social contagion is periodically referenced because of its profound influence in all three of the aforementioned spheres, though it is by no means comprehensive. For timelines and in-depth breakdowns of this particular concept, see the writings from Zinnia Jones, Julia Serano, and Florence Ashley in the Additional Resources section. There is also occasional reference to “institutional capture” and “trans lobby,” though these weren’t expanded on in detail due to length.

Through the course of this research, it became evident that there are three phases characterizing the proliferation of TAnon: formation, solidification, and escalation. In the formation phase, spanning from 2010 through 2015, the aforementioned concepts begin to emerge and are slowly coalesced into theory. In the solidification phase from 2016 through 2019, theories become more concrete, key publications are released, talking points become more steadily implanted into the media and political climate, and foundational organizing efforts begin. The escalation phase, from 2020 onwards, involves the rapid expansion of increasingly extreme conspiracies in social media and the press, progressive fascist creep connecting with the fusion with QAnon, and “grassroots” actions targeting legislation, trans-supportive businesses, and medical infrastructure.

Read More »The Mechanisms of TAnon: Where it Came From

The Mechanisms of TAnon: What is “TAnon”?

This is part one of a five-part series describing the TAnon phenomenon as it spreads in the United States. Parts include “What is ‘TAnon’?,” “Where it Came From,” “How the Hell We Got Here,” “Key Players and What to Watch For,” and “Strategies Moving Forward.” Each section has been separated due to length and will be accumulated into a full document for distribution at a later point.

It goes without saying that this series will be extremely upsetting to targeted marginalized groups (particularly trans + youth, women, Jews, and people of color), as well as survivors of childhood sexual abuse, sex trafficking, or fascist/white nationalist violence. In addition, one famous #Save campaign regarding the care of a trans minor is referenced in this piece. As there are multiple #Save campaigns, it is referenced once by name and then censored out of respect for the trans youth. Hate material is cited extensively. Please read with care.

On January 29th, I came across something peculiar: a public, crowd-sourced Google map tracking over 700 clinics providing gender affirming care worldwide, many for minors. Called the “Gender Offenders” map, it aimed to “[n]ame and shame the gender clinic offender.” A Twitter account appeared just two weeks later, combining screenshots of the map with graphic descriptions, aggressive rhetoric, and even identifying specific clinics.

This was alarming but not exactly surprising. After all, we had just had an armed insurrection in DC after several years of increasing extremism, hate rallies, mass shootings and church or community center arsons targeting primarily Black and Jewish communities, and, well, Trump. The past year alone saw a dramatic increase in disinformation as COVID-19 spread, sometimes paired with harassment towards clinicians, Asians, and Jews (sigh – again). And then there was the weird “save our children from the international pedo ring that doesn’t exist” thing targeting Comet Ping Pong, which subsequently got stormed by Edgar Maddison Welch armed with his trusty AR-15 on a mission to save the kids.[1]

Yet the more we researched, the more disturbing it became. This wasn’t something on the fringes, it was part of a larger network of activity and overall pattern that could easily turn violent. The overlap with the aforementioned patterns had already begun and it was bound to get worse.

Let me introduce you to TAnon. Brace yourself; it is a shitshow of a ride.
Read More »The Mechanisms of TAnon: What is “TAnon”?

Team America- Terf Police: a Message to US Organizers from Blood and TERF [Transcript]

Editor notes: Following is a transcript of Episode 13 of the Blood and TERF podcast (audio format) based in the UK. We have graciously received permission to host a copy of the transcript as a warning and breakdown of resistance strategy to US readers. Credit for the podcast goes to M and E, and the labor of the transcript to a third comrade working with them.

This message pairs with Harry Josephine Giles’ Medium article Trans in the UK: What the Hell Are We Going To Do?, which is referenced in the podcast. We also received permission to mirror said article in full. We remain ever grateful to our trans comrades in the UK and their efforts to outreach resisters of organized transphobia stateside. With solidarity comes strength. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you.

Content notes for QAnon cross-over and all of its transphobic, antisemitic, and pedophilia-obsessed nonsense. This is a connection that we have noticed as well and are in the process of writing about in more detail. There’s also references to Islamophobia. Take care of yourself accordingly as you read.

M  0:25: Britain’s fucked. Every week we get bizarre updates about the latest maneuvers in the culture war. The situation has become so bad that the state is now explicitly anti-trans on a level of policy and totally beholden to fascist reactionaries. For many liberals this was a shock, because we always see ourselves as America’s progressive cousins, where a benign liberal technocracy would legislate the LGBT movement’s ideals into reality. This hasn’t happened. The counter-campaign has totally outmaneuvered us, and the reformist option isn’t really open anymore. Many of us had seen this as a uniquely British phenomenon. The Terf Island was so isolated that it could be considered a distant nightmare.

E  1:15: However, deep down we all knew, you all knew, that it could happen there too. After all, the American right in the age of QAnon, Pizzagate, Trump, Proud Boys, and triumphalist dominionism could always be counted on to pick up any weapon it could find for fighting the class war.

Read More »Team America- Terf Police: a Message to US Organizers from Blood and TERF [Transcript]

WoLF Stacks Signatories to Fabricate Legitimacy at United Nations

Women’s Liberation Front (WoLF) announced on March 14th, 2021 that they had submitted a report to the United Nations Independent Expert for the Human Rights Council, in which they “[call] for an end to the international implementation of “gender theory,” specifically in reference to gender identity ideology.”1 They claim to have been joined by “over 40 organizations” in support of this call. There’s just one problem: several of them are operated by the same people.

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Gender Ideology? Up Yours!

By Mallory Moore

Originally posted on Medium. Cross-posted with permission.

Editor notes: this post notes an important date correlation in the UK, namely the increase in propaganda material immediately surrounding the proposal to review the Gender Recognition Act in 2016. This pattern is also important in the US, as it overlaps with the election campaign of Donald Trump that relied heavily on rightwing media support. His campaign and eventual presidency served as a petri-dish for more cross-over between the right and left in following years.

Additionally, some links are in the process of being updated and replaced with archive links. This is due to them being broken, a desire to reduce traffic to transphobic sites, or protection against both. Any dead links that couldn’t be located will be noted.

Author note: updated 31st January 2019. Some amendments and typo fixes were made in response to feedback, where possible these have been annotated as such

I’ve been feeling recently a bit like the popular online discourse around transphobia and trans liberation is living in another world and to the extent that social media is very much still a media world that’s the truth. This was prodded most abruptly by yesterday seeing Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists (I’ll call them TERFs from now on) visibly annoyed that prominent Queer Theorist, Judith Butler, had written an article for the New Statesman on Gender Ideology and hadn’t condescended to mention them even once!

This gave me some pause for thought about the last several months worth of campaigning in both legacy and social media and the gap from my experiences offline regarding the wider issue of the fight over what is being billed as “Gender Ideology” in general.

Read More »Gender Ideology? Up Yours!