Chloe Cole, a 19-year-old woman who was put through sex change procedures as a young teenager, told lawmakers Thursday on Capitol Hill that she was the victim of the “one of the biggest medical scandals” in American history.
Cole made the comments during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on “The Dangers and Due Process Violations of ‘Gender-Affirming Care’ For Children.” Cole was one of the several witnesses, including a former teammate of transgender identifying swimmer Lia Thomas, who spoke about the dangers of gender ideology.
“This needs to stop. You alone can stop it. Enough children have already been victimized by this barbaric pseudoscience,” Cole said. “Please let me be your final warning.
Incredibly powerful plea from detransitioner @ChoooCole to the lawmakers seated before her: "This needs to stop. You alone can stop it. Enough children have already been victimized by this barbaric pseudoscience."
"Please let me be your final warning." pic.twitter.com/pdiOVyAHL1
— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) July 27, 2023
“I speak to you in the hope that you will have the courage to bring this scandal to an end, and ensure that other vulnerable teenagers, children, and young adults don’t go through what I went through,” Cole said.
Cole told lawmakers that she started to experience gender dysphoria at 12, and soon after, she began to be “transitioned” as her family was sent down a path of “ideological deceit and coercion” by doctors.
She said she was put on puberty blockers right away, and they began to put her on testosterone at 13. At 15, she underwent a double mastectomy despite the fact that she did not have breast cancer.
“Before I was able to legally drive, I had a huge part of my future womanhood taken from me,” she said, explaining that her voice had been permanently altered and that her fertility was unknown due to the procedures that were done on her.
“Their [the doctors] theories were wrong. The drugs and surgeries changed my body, but they did not, and could not change the basic reality that I am and forever will be a female,” she said.
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She said that she had only became suicidal after she underwent the transgender procedures, despite the doctors claiming it would help her mental health.
“I didn’t need to be lied to. I needed compassion. I needed to be loved. I needed to be given therapy to help work through my issues, not affirm my delusion that by transforming into a boy it would solve all my problems,” she said.
Cole, who was testifying on her 19th birthday, was thanked by Republicans for her words. “You’re a beautiful, brave woman. Thank you for being here,” Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) said at the end of her testimony.
Shannon Minter, one of the other witnesses and a woman who identifies as a man, claimed Cole’s story was “the exception, not the rule” because most young people who undergo transgender procedures “really need them.”
Cole responded by saying that she was not familiar with any positive outcomes for children who are “transitioned” at a young age.
At the state level, Republicans in roughly 20 states have moved to ban sex change surgeries and hormonal procedures on minors.