‘We’ve cried out for help’: Detransitioners say Washington cares more about men in women’s sports than their fight for justice

Detransitioners are frustrated with Washington’s slow movement and seeming preference for fighting transgender women in women’s sports over preventing permanent mutilation to children and vulnerable adults, they told Heartlander News.

“Men with the power are not using it, and we’ve cried out for help,” Prisha Mosley, a detransitioner and ambassador at Independent Women, told Heartlander News. “I feel like it’s easier to get people to care about sports than medical scandals because more people watch sports than keep track of medical scandals, but I think that people really have a hard time grasping how deep it goes and how bad it is.” 

Though Washington has introduced some federal legislation to protect children from transition harm, the efforts appear stalled as the midterms approach and lawmakers become consumed with campaigning.

Soren Aldaco, another Independent Women ambassador and detransitioner, said she had wondered why efforts to ban gender procedures on children have made slow progress when it “feels like something that a lot of people across the political spectrum can get behind.”

Due to Title IX, there is an underlying legal framework protecting women against discrimination in sports. Deliberations over whether biological men can compete in women’s sports come down to arguments over how Title IX should be applied, while medicalization issues do not have the same reference point.

Aldaco emphasized that even as federal legislation to protect children advances, work must be done on the state level.

“Because we are a coalition of states, to get the larger culture to change, it’s going to require … us to go and get things changed state by state, instead of only focusing on our federal government,” she said.

Aldaco is one of several detransitioners who submitted a declaration in the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) lawsuit against the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH). The lawsuit alleges that WPATH provided means for medical providers to make false claims to parents to then sell them medical transition services.

Claire Abernathy, another Independent Women ambassador and detransitioner, told Heartlander News that because legislating the gender medicalization issue is “uncharted territory,” it can be “a bit of a push” to get politicians united in addressing it. 

Abernathy noted that some states try to “ban it all in one bill,” though a “gradual” process is a more realistic path to victory for protecting children from gender reassignment experiments. She pointed to New Hampshire as a model, noting that the state banned different procedures for transitioning children through separate legislation.

Federal bills stalled

Lawmakers have introduced some federal legislation such as the Chloe Cole Act, which would ban any chemical or surgical mutilation of a child for gender transition purposes if signed into law. The legislation made it out of committee in July, though it does not appear to be on the schedule for a full House vote. 

Rep. Bob Onder, R-Missouri, introduced the act in 2025 and reintroduced it in February of this year after it was transmitted to Congress by the Trump Department of Justice (DOJ).

Other introduced legislation includes the STOP Act and the PROTECTS Act, which would ban gender transition procedures for minors and taxpayer funds supporting transition procedures for minors, respectively. Both bills are currently stalled in committees.

The House passed the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, which was received by the Senate, though its progression has also been stalled since last year.

Matt Sharpe, senior counsel and vice president of public policy at Alliance Defending Freedom, told Heartlander News that men competing in women’s sports is a visual signal of unfairness, often broadcast to a national stage.

“Seeing Riley Gaines pushed off a podium because Leah Thomas, a male, dominated women’s swimming at the NCAA championship [and] seeing our clients in Connecticut losing out on championships and medals to two male athletes in track and field [served as] very visual reminders of the unfairness, and I think that’s what led to a lot of lawmakers championing this issue and taking it up to protect fairness in women’s sports,” he said.

Sharpe noted that there has been much work on the state level to ban gender transition procedures for minors.

“In the 27 states that have prohibited these drugs and surgeries, that was a huge step. But in those 23 other states we may not be able to get a strong law right out of the bat. So, the question is, what can we do to start making gains?” Sharpe asked.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order in February 2025 to rescind all federal funding for schools that allow biological males to compete in women’s sports, and an order in January 2025 that any institutions receiving federal education or research grants must “end the chemical and surgical mutilation of children.”

Former White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in March that Trump added some priorities to the SAVE Act, including banning “gender transition surgeries for minors.” Leavitt said in July that Trump “wants to see as much of the SAVE America act passed as possible by the August recess” and that his patience is “running out” with Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune.

The SAVE Act, primarily concerned with election integrity and requiring voter identification at the polls, is still awaiting Senate passage.

“The Trump administration remains focused on restoring Gold Standard Science as the guiding principle of health policymaking, and this effort continues with the President’s push to pass the SAVE America Act, which includes a provision to permanently ban transgender mutilation surgeries for children,” White House spokeswoman Allison Schuster told Heartlander News.

“The Biden administration spent four years pushing a radical agenda of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and sex-change surgeries for children. President Trump pledged to restore common sense, and he has delivered by consistently taking strong action to protect children from these dangerous, life-altering medical practices,” Schuster said.

Financial incentives drove the rapid expansion of gender programs and clinics, according to a Health and Human Services (HHS) report released Aug. 13, titled Wolves in White Coats. Children receiving puberty blockers, hormones, surgeries and related gender services might require recurring visits and follow-up care into adulthood, the report notes, effectively crafting “captive patients.”

Mosley told Heartlander News that detransitioners get referred back to the very surgeons who harmed them as they may “understand” the post-procedural complications.

“They’re doing pseudoscience and harming other people. I can’t turn around and expect them to help me,” Mosley said. “I don’t need my gender affirmed again. I need help recovering from very serious iatrogenic (medically induced) harm.”

The ongoing fight for justice

Mosley expressed disappointment with unfulfilled promises made to her by the DOJ and the FTC.

“I don’t think people are being punished and serious crimes regarding fraud and the harm of children and mentally ill people and gay people have been committed… but they’re all just getting away with it. I think that the people who are supposed to be standing up for us are kind of spineless, and it’s painful,” she continued.

Mosley added that several legal actions have only resulted in “very small fines and then creating detransitioner clinics, which I don’t really think should be in the hands of the people who harmed us.”

Mosley started the path to “transition” her gender at 16, undergoing a double mastectomy at 18. She is now suing her health care providers for medical malpractice, negligence and fraud.

Oral arguments are set for Sept. 29 at the North Carolina Court of Appeals, the Center Square first reported.

Mosley said the Chloe Cole Act is a good start but that legislation “should be stronger,” as there are no protections for vulnerable adults when it comes to gender transition procedures.

Camille Kiefel, a detransitioner, told Heartlander News that she was 30 when she had a double mastectomy – or top surgery – which was the recommended procedure by medical professionals after just two brief Zoom calls. Kiefel said she was suffering from depression at the time and had a “fixation” over her breasts and voiced interest in a “chest reduction.”

“I didn’t understand that they were going to completely remove the nipples from my body,” Kiefel said. “The surgeon didn’t explain to me that she was going to be removing my milk ducts. I didn’t understand that, and that’s a conversation that should have come up because at the time, I didn’t have interest in breastfeeding, [but] now I want to be a mother, and I can’t do that.”

Kiefel reached a settlement with her health care providers in April and started a nonprofit called Detrans Help to provide detransitioners with resources they may need.

“Detransitioners deserve justice. We need someone to defend us. We’ve already put ourselves on the front line and exposed gruesome and embarrassing medical details about our lives. … We’ve risked and shared enough,” Mosley told Heartlander News. “Someone should be standing up and defending us. … But men with the power are not using it, and we’ve cried out for help.”

The Department of Justice said it “will pursue evidence of unlawful conduct, seek accountability where violations are established, and work to secure resolutions that provide meaningful assistance to individuals suffering harmful consequences from so-called ‘gender-affirming care’ they received as children.”

“Protecting children is a top priority for the Department of Justice, including investigating potential violations of federal law in connection with sex-rejecting procedures provided to minors,” the Department told Heartlander News in a statement.

(Featured image: Detrans, a PragerU documentary)