A brief, compassionate history of trans activism, as told by detransitioned voices

From medical gatekeeping to identity politics
Before the 1980s, the only recognized group were “transsexuals” – people with severe, lifelong dysphoria who sought medical transition under strict rules such as the 1979 Harry Benjamin Standards of Care. Christine Jorgensen’s 1950s headlines illustrate this era: one had to prove medical need and accept gate-keeping to obtain hormones or surgery.

The 1980s pivot
During the 1980s, older, well-off cross-dressers who wanted hormone therapy without surgery began publishing newsletters that popularised the word “transgender.” They argued the older label was too narrow; by lobbying LGBT organisations they replaced “transsexual” with an umbrella term that let anyone opt in, regardless of dysphoria or medical intent.

Splitting the gay liberation template
Detransitioners see this shift replaying the 1950s–60s gay movement divide:

• Quiet “passing” transitioners (the assimilationists)
• Loud activists who celebrate visible gender non-conformity and seek to abolish gender norms (the radicals).
  The bathroom-bill controversies of the 2010s are cited as the moment public push-back began, triggered not by stealth trans people but by confrontational activist demands.

Unforeseen consequences
With gate-keeping gone, detransitioners say the new model:

• Dilutes classical transsexualism under an ever-wider “dysphoria” umbrella.
• Encourages teens to interpret ordinary gender non-conformity as proof of an inner “gender identity.”
• Creates ethical dilemmas when irreversible medical steps are offered on the basis of self-declaration rather than clinical need.

Empowering takeaway
Understanding this history helps questioning people see that today’s identity-based system is recent, not inevitable. Non-medical paths—embracing gender non-conformity without hormones or surgery—remain valid, time-tested ways to live authentically.