This unfortunate reality has brought about the rise of the detransitioners, individuals who begin going through “gender-affirming care” through the use of puberty blockers, hormones, and even surgical treatments, and then later regret it. Many of the folks who have gone through these treatments as minor children later realize that it wasn’t the right direction, and decide to transition back to their biological sex. Tragically, many detransitioners still suffer the effects of the drugs and other treatments they went through without being properly informed by the medical professionals who facilitated the treatment, which has led to a slew of lawsuits being filed against the latter.

The biggest threat to “gender-affirming care” might come not from red states banning the procedures for minors, but from scarred, young women like Soren Aldaco, Chloe Cole and Prisha Mosley.

The three are among the growing number of detransitioners — former gender-clinic patients who were prescribed drugs and underwent breast removals in their teens as they sought to adopt an opposite-sex identity and later decided they weren’t transgender after all.

Now they’re suing the medical professionals who signed off on the puberty blockers, hormone therapies and surgeries, accusing the physicians of rushing them into treatment as a fix for their mental health problems without adequate screenings or warnings about the long-term physical and psychological risks.

“These lawsuits are rightfully a huge threat to the ‘gender-affirming care industry’ because they are exposing the dark side of a dangerous agenda that is hurting an untold number of vulnerable teens,” said Charles LiMandri, whose San Diego County law firm represents three detransitioners in partnership with the Center for American Liberty.

LiMandri also noted that “we’re going to see more and more of these cases,” and that “the more that come out, the more that will likely have the courage to come out.”

Those opposing the gender-affirming care industry, particularly when it comes to children, have often wondered why progressives are so adamant about pushing children to accept a different gender identity. There are likely a myriad of reasons, but, as is typical, money appears to be an overriding factor, especially when it comes to “gender-affirming” surgery, which can cost between $6,900 and $63,400 depending on the procedure.

Will this industry really do anything to a person for a few thousand dollars? pic.twitter.com/SUOnovmnn7

— Kaleena, MPAS (@thtlibertychick) December 7, 2023

Puberty blockers can also be quite lucrative for those involved in the industry.

Most of these treatments are still very expensive and often out of reach for people without the help of insurance. The cost of puberty blockers is approximately $1,200 per month for injections and can range from $4,500 to $18,000 for an implant. The least expensive form of estrogen, a pill, can cost anywhere between $4 to $30 a month, according to Simons, while testosterone can be anywhere between $20 to $200 a vial.

Given that there is a significant increase in young people identifying as transgender, those pushing these treatments stand to make quite a chunk of cash by encouraging children to believe they were born in the wrong body.

The billion-dollar U.S. sex-reassignment business is booming as people under 25 increasingly identify as transgender, including 1.4% of those aged 13-17, nearly double the 2017 figure. About 0.5% of all adults identify as transgender, according to a 2022 report by the Williams Institute, a public policy think tank at the UCLA School of Law focusing on sexual orientation and gender identity.

In red states, legislation has helped to cut down on the number of children undergoing these risky and costly procedures with 22 states prohibiting medical professionals from prescribing “gender-affirming care” to minors. However, as LiMandri pointed out, most blue states will never pass laws to protect children from these procedures. He said:

The state Legislature of California is not going to be outlawing this anytime soon. So the lawsuits are the best hope to bring sanity in states like California, Washington, Oregon, New York, Massachusetts, where the kids are basically at the mercy of these health care providers who have run amok on these issues and are just pushing an agenda.

I’ve written on several occasions about the importance of using the court system to go after those pushing gender ideology on children. This includes medical facilities as well as school districts, many of which have adopted policies allowing teachers and school staff to help children “transition” to the opposite gender without the parent’s knowledge or consent.

Detransitioners like Prisha Mosley, Chloe Cole, Kayla Lovdahl, and others are bravely working to hold accountable those who pushed them to undergo dangerous treatments to address mental health issues. In Arizona, America First Legal has sued Mesa Public Schools for instructing students on how to assert a different gender identity at the school behind their parents’ backs.

There is progress being made on this front. It is encouraging to see that more people are realizing that legislation is not the ultimate way to stop these people from victimizing children. Hitting them in the wallet, where it hurts, will be one of the most effective weapons against their efforts to profit from the mutilation of children.