Another adult victim speaks out

In the ongoing battle against the transgender agenda, it has been easiest to achieve a broad consensus against medical experimentation on children. It has always been more difficult to motivate activism against such treatment for adults, particularly among secular liberals who retain a strong commitment to autonomy. “Don’t trans the kids, but you can’t tell adults what to do with their bodies” is the safest line if you want to push for concrete victories. However, voices have gradually emerged to challenge the acceptability of trans “care” for vulnerable adults, as well, often including those with suicidality and other mental health comorbidities.

Earlier this year, I heard chilling in-person testimony from child gender clinic whistleblower Jamie Reed, who exposed the grisly ins and outs of “gender-affirming care” from the inside. As she went into excruciating detail for our audience, it almost seemed like she was manifesting a kind of post-traumatic stress disorder, still utterly wracked with guilt for what she had done in the guise of “care.” There was no pretense or polish. This was a raw, brutal confession.

At the same time, I noticed that she frequently referred to her legal spouse, Roxanne (then going by “Tiger”), as her “husband.” Jamie saw no tension in this because she and Roxanne were united in their drive to protect children against gender transition (including their own children), and Roxanne had freely chosen to undergo the treatment as an adult. Jamie was shocked that the radical left still insisted on branding her as a “transphobe” when, by her own description, she is “to the left of Bernie Sanders.”

However, Roxanne has recently chosen to go public with an announcement: She no longer wants to take testosterone, and she will be “detransitioning” to whatever extent possible as she reclaims her identity as a woman. Her testimony is heartbreaking, a litany of abuse, trauma, and toxic social contagion. Recently, she tweeted side-by-side photos of herself and her mother, taken by the same pedophile who abused both of them.

Her story is worth a careful reading because it demonstrates just how vulnerable a troubled adult can be to this ideology, even with the ability to consent. While Roxanne had always felt uncomfortable in her body, suffering sexual assault and taking on a lesbian identity from an early age, it was only after consuming lots of online content from people in the trans “community” that she thought she had fully “discovered” herself and pursued “treatment.” Thus indoctrinated and convinced that anyone not affirming her was hateful, she has said she “refused to read/look at anything other than affirming media related to trans issues.”

That began to change as Jamie began to speak out. The final nudge came when Roxanne met Prisha Mosley, a young detransitioned woman I also got a chance to meet (and protest with) earlier this year. Prisha was brave, gracious, and kind, and her example inspired Roxanne to open up with questions about her own experience that she had never honestly explored. There was no going back.

Another detail worth noting is that Jamie and Roxanne met at church, which Jamie elaborated on in response to a hostile comment assuming the church was conservative. Jamie corrects that not only was it the “rainbow trans flag” kind, but they were also specifically cooking meals for homeless LGBTQ people. But all her good deeds can’t save her from being branded as a child abuser anyway. One wonders if that “church” itself would welcome her back now.

Of course, Jamie and Roxanne’s story is not over. As more “refugees” escape the wreckage of the LGBTQ movement, Christians shouldn’t expect them to emerge magically aligned with conservative evangelicalism. The call to balance welcome with continuing to affirm the fullness of a Christian sex ethic is challenging, but it’s a challenge we shouldn’t shy away from. I tried to provide an example of this after meeting a gay therapist ostracized from his community for condemning transgender affirmation. Like Jamie and Roxanne, he has found that Christians to his right are much more forgiving than secular people to his left. But, hopefully, they will all find we still have something distinctive to offer.

In stormy times, we have an opportunity to offer a lifeline when the left pushes anyone who fails their latest doctrinal purity test out of the boat. We provide good news to refugees of the sexual revolution while not allowing them to remain perfectly comfortable where they are now. All we have to do now is be the church. Be “weird” in the best sense.