Transgender activists and their allies lashed out at the Washington Post on Monday after they published an opinion piece by a transgender woman who said her transition was harmful and unnecessary.
The piece was entitled “What I wish I’d known when I was 19 and had sex reassignment surgery” by Corinna Cohn who was born a male but transitioned at 19 years old.
“From the day of my surgery, I became a medical patient and will remain one for the rest of my life,” wrote Cohn.
“I shudder to think of how distorting today’s social media is for confused teenagers. I’m also alarmed by how readily authority figures facilitate transition. I had to persuade two therapists, an endocrinologist and a surgeon to give me what I wanted,” Cohn continued. “None of them were under crushing professional pressure, as they now would be, to ‘affirm’ my choice.”
Many transgender supporters objected to the article being published and they excoriated the Washington Post on social media. Many objected to the piece on the basis that Cohn had been a vocal critic of the extremism from the transgender lobby.
“WTF is the WaPo doing publishing this bull s***,” replied one social media user.
“WaPo bravely publishes another op-ed by a bitter older trans woman taking the side of far-right bigots banning affirming healthcare for trans youth, comparing it to ‘fad diets’… ‘Democracy Dies in Darkness’ but trans kids die on the @PostOpinions page,” replied Morgan Artyukhina.
“It’s infuriating to see the @washingtonpost opinion page continually platforming anti-trans narratives. Corinna Cohn is a trans woman who has lobbied against trans rights and is being used as a tool by anti-trans orgs. WaPo doesn’t give the same platform to happy trans people,” tweeted gender writer Alejandra Caraballo.
“I don’t want to give them any more clicks on this piece, but I’m disappointed in WaPo for publishing an OpEd by someone agitating against gender-affirming care, especially in this moment when so many states seem intent on harming trans and nonbinary kids by denying such care,” responded another critic.
“Their experience in 1991 is not representative of outcomes today. Many of their disappointments appear cultural, not surgical. Shame on @PostOpinions for printing this without context,” said a transgender user.
Others called the piece “honest and poignant” and applauded the Washington Post for publishing it.
Here’s more about the transgender debate:
Transgender athletes and the state of women’s sports www.youtube.com