Source: Women are Human
US — . On May 23, 2021, 60 Minutes aired a report “Transgender Healthcare”, which focused on individuals who feel they were rushed into transition and now regret it (known as ‘detransitioners’) . A young man, Garrett, was prescribed cross-sex hormones after his second appointment, had his testicles removed three months after starting on female hormones, and later got breast implants.
I didn’t get enough pushback on transitioning. I went for two appointments and after the second one, I had my letter to go get on cross-sex hormones. I had never really been suicidal before until I had my breast augmentation. And about a week afterward, I wanted to actually kill myself. I had a plan and I was gonna do it but I just kept thinking about my family to stop myself.
Grace Lidinsky-Smith became seriously depressed in her early twenties and developed gender dysphoria, but thought she had found the solution to her problems after learning about transgender communities online. She found a clinic and was given testosterone injections within months, and had a double masectomy four months later. Shortly after her masectomy, however, she began to feel like a part of her was missing. She stopped taking the hormones and complained to the clinic.
I started to have a really disturbing sense that like a part of my body was missing, almost a ghost limb feeling about being like, there’s something that should be there. And the feeling really surprised me but it was really hard to deny… I can’t believe that I transitioned and de-transitioned, including hormones and surgery, in the course of, like, less than one year. It’s completely crazy.
The four detransitioners profiled all said they’d learned about becoming trans via the Internet.
3:39 ‘Everyone is afraid to speak up’.
— mike connor (@mikeconnor504) May 24, 2021
Following the 60 Minutes report, CBS aired a bonus segment called 60 Minutes Overtime, which included an interview with Alphonso David, a lawyer and the president of the Human Rights Campaign. David expressed concern about suicidal young people who might be further victimized and marginalized by a “story taken out of context”. However, Lesley Stahl, the CBS journalist who led the Transgender Healthcare story, noted that she felt the detransitioners’ stories were worth telling. She said she could not remember any other 60 Minutes story she had worked where comments and criticisms began surfacing from advocates before the piece aired.
I think we spoke to more people on this story than any other story I can remember reporting on in my whole time at 60 Minutes. We wanted to be thorough. We wanted to be fair. And we wanted to understand every aspect of this story. And it was really focused on health care. That was the primary idea for the story. Health care.
A young person was given an orchiectomy three months into transitioning. 13-17 year olds are being given mastectomies. The numbers of detransitioners are in the thousands and that’s on all of you because you all attack anyone who questions or even discusses this.
— catsies (@catsiesXX) May 24, 2021
Me too. It’s a really tough situation and I’m happy at least a couple of us were on there- we deserve the whole 60 minutes but it’s true that it’s a start. Good work on the interview 💕
— Athena ☪️ (@mothergender) May 25, 2021
Important Note: Suicide is preventable. In the United States, those looking for support can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, which “provides free and confidential emotional support to people in suicidal crisis or emotional distress 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, across the United States.” (1-800-273-8255)
