Michael Shellenberger: You are the first known detransitioner in Canada to sue their health care providers. Can you describe your lawsuit?

Michelle Zacchigna: I believe there’s a growing trend of recklessness in so-called “gender-affirming care,” and I think my experience with it exemplifies that trend. I have filed my suit against eight healthcare professionals, including doctors, psychologists, and therapists to have that belief tested by the justice system. Distress related to my gender was treated to the exclusion of other serious mental health issues which went undiagnosed for years. Blind affirmation of my stated identity closed the door to alternative treatment options.

What happened to me should never happen again. I was prescribed testosterone hormone therapy in 2010 after three appointments. My doctors did not do a fulsome screening of me for other mental health diagnoses or developmental disabilities. In 2012, with my doctor’s recommendation, I paid to have my breasts removed.

But the drugs and surgeries didn’t address my mental health needs; the parts of my life that I expected to change never did; and I stopped taking testosterone in 2016. I continued to identify as transgender until the end of 2020.

[Some of this is behind Michael’s paywall, but enough of it is in the clear for gripping reading. We are starting to see more of these lawsuits, and that kind of liability may be the only way to stop this lucrative exploitation of faddish pseudo-science, especially relating to pediatric sex-change therapies and surgeries. — Ed]