By Elizabeth Chesak
Arizona is on the precipice of becoming the first state in the nation to protect the rights of detransitioned individuals. I urge Governor Katie Hobbs to sign SB 1511, known as the Detransitioner Bill of Rights.
I serve as the coordinator of the Desisted & Detransitioned Women’s Caucus of Women’s Declaration International USA. WDI USA is the leading global organization that works to advance women’s sex-based rights. It does so by promoting the Declaration on Women’s Sex-Based Rights, which challenges the discrimination we experience from the replacement of the category of sex with that of so-called “gender identity.” WDI USA supports the Detransitioner Bill of Rights, in Arizona and elsewhere.
The mission of the WDI USA Desisted & Detransitioned Women’s Caucus, specifically, is to advocate for women and girls who previously believed they had a so-called “gender identity” by sharing our own stories and learning from the women who came before us. We do so in the hope that our efforts will contribute to the dismantling of “gender identity” ideology in language, law, and society. We have written our own Bill of Rights, which outlines the rights, reality, and political potential of desisted and detransitioned women, consistent with radical feminist principles.
Feminists fought to break free of sex role stereotypes, or “gender,” and the constraints placed upon them due to their sex. They fought to be able to vote, attend college, wear pants, hold jobs in traditionally male-dominated professions, and more. Historically, they were denied these rights on the basis of their sex, not a gender they subjectively “identified” with.
Feminists today continue the fight by rejecting outright the concept of “gender identity.” Every day, more women and girls accept themselves as female and realize they don’t need medical procedures to be themselves. Currently, more than a dozen detransitioned women and men have filed lawsuits against their former healthcare providers. Some of the youngest plaintiffs, Californians Layla Jane and Chloe Cole, had their breasts removed at only 13 and 15 years old, respectively.
Democrats need to wake up to the harms of “gender identity” ideology. It’s not too late to say, “I was wrong. What can I do to help?”
Enacting the “Detransitioner Bill of Rights” is a great place to start. Caucus member and Arizona resident Fernanda Lopez said in a statement Thursday, “Each patient who can be helped by this legislation will no longer face isolation, discrimination, and the pain of untreated iatrogenic harm. Arizonans should be able to trust that their medical providers are accountable, ethical, and responsible. SB 1511 will ensure that vulnerable people’s trust in medicine is not further broken.”
We call upon Governor Hobbs to sign SB 1511 into law.
Elizabeth Chesak serves as coordinator of WDI USA’s Desisted & Detransitioned Women’s Caucus.