On March 12, 2025, Republican lawmakers and conservative groups gathered to recognize “Detrans Awareness Day” on Capitol Hill. At first glance, this might seem like a simple effort to support individuals who have detransitioned. However, a closer look reveals that this so-called “awareness day” is not about compassion or care for those who detransition—it is a political weapon designed to attack the transgender community and justify harmful policies.
Rather than genuinely supporting people who have detransitioned, many Republican leaders and right-wing activists are using their experiences as proof that transitioning is inherently dangerous, that transgender identities are invalid, and that gender-affirming care should be banned. This cynical and misleading approach is both ignorant and deeply harmful to the broader transgender community.
The Truth About Detransition Rates
One of the most glaring issues with the Republican approach to detransition is that it grossly exaggerates how common it is while ignoring why it happens.
Here’s what research actually tells us:
- Detransition is rare. Studies show that the vast majority of transgender individuals who transition do not regret their decision.
- The 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey found that only 8% of trans individuals reported ever detransitioning.
- Of those, 62% detransitioned temporarily due to external pressures like family rejection, financial struggles, or discrimination.
- Only 0.4% detransitioned because they no longer identified as transgender.
- Most detransitions are caused by societal pressure, not a change in identity.
- A 2021 study in LGBT Health found that 82.5% of detransitioners did so because of external factors, such as family disapproval, financial instability, or threats to their safety.
- This means that if society were more accepting of transgender people, detransition rates would likely be below 1-2%.
- Regret after gender-affirming surgery is incredibly rare.
- A 2021 meta-analysis of 27 studies found that regret rates after gender-affirming surgery are less than 1%.
- For transmasculine surgeries, regret rates were under 1%; for transfeminine surgeries, they were under 2%.
- This is far lower than regret rates for other medical procedures, including knee replacements, plastic surgeries, and even vasectomies.
How Republicans Are Exploiting Detransition
Rather than engaging with the realities of gender identity and the struggles trans people face, Republicans have cherry-picked the rare cases of detransition to push harmful narratives. Their tactics include:
- Using detransitioners as political props.
- Conservatives frequently platform a small number of detransitioners who regret their transitions, using their stories to argue that transition should be restricted or banned.
- This ignores the fact that the vast majority of trans people who transition are happy with their decision.
- Falsely equating detransition with regret.
- Many who detransition do so temporarily due to external pressures, not because they were never transgender.
- Republicans intentionally ignore this, misleading the public into believing that transition is inherently harmful.
- Weaponizing “protect the children” rhetoric.
- Right-wing activists push anti-trans laws under the guise of protecting youth from “irreversible harm.”
- This ignores the fact that detransition rates for trans youth are just as low as for adults and that gender-affirming care has been proven to improve mental health outcomes.
The Harm This Causes the Transgender Community
By focusing disproportionately on detransition and misrepresenting it as a widespread issue, Republicans are actively harming the transgender community in several ways:
- Swaying public opinion against trans rights.
- When people hear misleading statistics about detransition, they may become more skeptical of trans identities and less supportive of trans rights.
- This can fuel misinformation and fear, making it harder for trans people to access the care and legal protections they need.
- Justifying bans on gender-affirming care.
- Republican lawmakers cite detransition as an excuse to push for bans on gender-affirming care, even though most medical experts agree that such care is safe and beneficial.
- In reality, banning this care increases rates of depression, anxiety, and suicide among trans youth.
- Forcing trans people deeper into the closet.
- By emphasizing detransition, conservatives pressure trans people to doubt themselves, making it harder for them to come out and transition safely.
- This contributes to higher rates of mental health struggles and suicide within the trans community.
What Needs to Be Done
Instead of using detransition as a weapon against transgender rights, we should focus on ensuring that all trans people—whether they transition, detransition, or retransition—have access to the support they need.
Steps Toward a More Compassionate Approach:
- Acknowledge that detransition exists but is rare.
- We can recognize the experiences of detransitioners without exaggerating their numbers or using their stories to undermine trans rights.
- Address the real reasons behind detransition.
- Instead of banning gender-affirming care, we should reduce the external pressures that push trans people toward detransition, such as family rejection and economic hardship.
- Promote accurate public education about trans healthcare.
- Lawmakers and the media need to be held accountable for spreading misinformation about gender-affirming care and detransition.
- Ensure that all trans people have access to affirming care.
- Transgender individuals should have access to well-informed, non-judgmental healthcare that respects their identities and needs.
Final Thoughts
The Republican celebration of “Detrans Awareness Day” is not about supporting those who detransition—it is a cynical ploy to fuel anti-trans policies and spread fear. Detransition is rare, and most cases are due to societal pressure, not a rejection of transgender identity. Instead of using detransition as an excuse to attack trans people, we should focus on making the world safer and more accepting so that trans people can live as their authentic selves without fear.
If conservatives truly cared about detransitioners, they would work to eliminate the discrimination and stigma that make transitioning so difficult in the first place. Until they do, their so-called “awareness” campaigns will remain nothing more than a mockery of trans experiences and a thinly veiled attack on trans rights.
Here are the sources that support the data and claims made in this blog post:
- 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey (USTS) – National Center for Transgender Equality
- Full Report: https://transequality.org/sites/default/files/docs/usts/USTS-Full-Report-Dec17.pdf
- Key findings on detransition: https://transequality.org/issues/resources/2015-us-transgender-survey
- 2021 Study in LGBT Health on Detransition Causes
- Published by NIH: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8213007/
- Meta-Analysis of Gender-Affirming Surgery Regret Rates (2021)
- Summary on Wikipedia with references: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detransition
- World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) Guidelines
- Standards of Care (Version 8): https://www.wpath.org/soc8
- Advocate Article on “Detrans Awareness Day” and Republican Push
- The 19th News on Trump’s Anti-Trans Executive Order
These sources provide evidence-based data on detransition rates, reasons for detransition, the low regret rates for gender-affirming care, and the political context behind the Republican use of detransition narratives.
