Detrans (film)

Detrans: The Dangers of Gender-Affirming Care
Produced byPragerU
Starring
Distributed byPragerU
Release date
  • 2023 (2023)
Running time
21 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Detrans: The Dangers of Gender-Affirming Care is a 2023 documentary short film produced and distributed by PragerU, an American conservative advocacy group. The film centers on interviews of two adults who once identified as transgender, but later reverted to identify with the sex they were assigned at birth.[1] It has been described by LGBTQ organization Human Rights Campaign's president as "propaganda" to "spread misinformation and stigmatize transgender people".[1][2][3]

Plot

Detrans shares the stories of Daisy Strongin and Abel Garcia, two individuals who transitioned and later detransitioned after deciding they were not transgender.[2] It also includes Leor Sapir, a Manhattan Institute for Policy Research fellow, as well as attorney Harmeet Dhillon, who has brought cases against health care providers who perform gender-affirming surgery, representing individuals who chose to undergo surgery when they were under the age of 18.[1] In less detail, the film also showcases Chloe Cole, Prisha Mosely, and Camille Kiefel, all of whom have detransitioned and now advocate against the rights of transgender people.[4]

The film claims that the individuals interviewed were "manipulated by the trans movement".[4] It also criticizes the practice of providing gender-affirming care to minors, though Strongin and Garcia were legal adults when they began medically transitioning.[2][5]

There are also brief statements from Oli London, Elle Palmer, and Laura Becker.

Advertising campaign

Detrans was released as part of a US$1 million campaign and advertised on X (formerly Twitter) as part of a "timeline takeover", which showed a single ad to all users promoting the hashtag "#DETRANS".[2][6] Users were not able to mute or block the hashtag,[5][7] and PragerU's advertisements were "the first one displayed for most users of the social media platform throughout the day".[6] PragerU has stated they chose to advertise on X because it is "one of the least censored social media platforms".[1][2]

PragerU also stated that YouTube rejected their application to advertise the film there "almost immediately upon submission".[2][3][7] A YouTube spokesperson clarified that the ads were prevented from appearing in users' home feeds due to a policy enacted in 2021 that restricted political ads from appearing there,[a] and noted that PragerU's other ads promoting the film "do not violate [Youtube's] ads policies and are currently running across [its] platforms."[2]

Reception

Detrans was panned by LGBTQ groups, and has been described as "propaganda" by the Human Rights Campaign's president Kelley Robinson:[2][6]

"So-called documentaries like the one peddled by PragerU do nothing more than spread misinformation and stigmatize transgender people. Given the growing threats of violence faced by the transgender community, offering a platform to this type of hate-filled propaganda is not just immoral–it's dangerous. Today's timeline takeover is another stain on the platform."[3]

In a piece for HuffPost, Ian Kumamoto expresses a similar sentiment, referring to the film as "fear-mongering" and "pure anti-trans propaganda", and calls the advertising campaign "a massive misinformation campaign."[9] Of the people featured in the documentary, he says that "while their stories are valid — and definitely involve some instances of medical neglect — there’s no nuance or context provided, and it’s clear that the documentary’s aim is to make it seem like all kids are endangered by trans acceptance."[9] Kumamoto's piece publicizes email correspondences between himself and PragerU staff, including one interaction where a press representative did not give any names in reply to a question about which individuals produced and directed the documentary, and another interaction where a spokesperson told him that the organization had put resources into promoting DeTrans in order "to reach a massive audience on the dangers of gender affirming care", which the spokesperson then called a "social contagion".[9] Kumamoto also says that the documentary includes "very few expert sources" and that Dhillon is "hardly an objective source" and refers to Oli London's inclusion in the documentary as a "gag".[9]

For Truthout, journalist Erin Reed writes, "The story of Daisy's platforming to attack transgender people has many echoes of the ex-gay movement of the 1990s and early 2000s... a focus on being broken, a search for religious redemption, a framing of LGBTQ+ identities as a 'choice' or something people are coerced into, and a story of being 'healed.'"[4]

In response to the short film, James Factora wrote in Them: "As PragerU shows, [...] the right-wing isn't as concerned with facts as they are about feelings, to borrow a turn of phrase."[10]

An Advocate article reported that the film included content from at least one transgender social media influencer who did not consent to its inclusion and did not find out that she appeared in the film until it had already been released. This "led to an uptick in hateful messages" directed toward her.[11]

In response to PragerU's timeline takeover, which promoted their film to all users on the platform using the hashtag "#DETRANS", Twitter users expressed frustration that they could not block or mute the hashtag. Some users attempted to take over the tag, flooding it with unrelated tweets as well as affirmative, counter-narrative stories about trans people.[5][7]

PragerU has stated that the short film was rejected by multiple film festivals.[2]

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ This policy was later rescinded,[8] and as of June 2025 does not appear on YouTube's advertising policy page.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Why PragerU is 'taking over' X on Thursday". Deseret News. 30 October 2023. Archived from the original on 3 November 2023. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Yurcaba, Jo (27 June 2025). "PragerU buys 'takeover' ad on X as part of $1M campaign to promote polarizing 'Detrans' film". NBC News. Archived from the original on 3 November 2023. Retrieved 27 June 2025.
  3. 1 2 3 "Human Rights Campaign Condemns X, Elon Musk for Accepting Timeline Takeover of Transphobic, Fact-Free "Documentary"". Human Rights Campaign. 2 November 2023. Archived from the original on 3 November 2023. Retrieved 27 June 2025.
  4. 1 2 3 Reed, Erin (3 November 2023). "$1 Million PragerU "DETRANS" Ad on X Echoes So-Called "Ex-Gay" Movement of 1990s". Truthout. Archived from the original on 4 November 2023. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  5. 1 2 3 Messman-Rucker, Ariel (24 December 2023). "Why Is An Anti-Trans Documentary Taking Over X? The Controversy Explained". PRIDE. Equal Entertainment LLC. Archived from the original on 28 April 2025. Retrieved 24 December 2023. Many users expressed anger about the film's advertisements and being unable to block or mute the #Detrans hashtag...Some users began to flood the #DeTrans hashtag with positive trans stories and even photos of cats in an attempt to down [sic] out the actual ads.
  6. 1 2 3 Silberling, Amanda (2 November 2023). "X runs 'timeline takeover' ad promoting anti-trans film". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 4 November 2023. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  7. 1 2 3 Condon, Ali (2 November 2023). "Anti-trans documentary takes over X – but users are fighting back". PinkNews. Archived from the original on 3 November 2023. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  8. ↑ Grant, Nico; Mickle, Tripp (9 June 2025). "YouTube Loosens Rules Guiding the Moderation of Videos". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 17 June 2025. Retrieved 29 June 2025.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Kumamoto, Ian (8 November 2023). "I Watched This Documentary — Which Is Pure Anti-Trans Propaganda — So You Don't Have To". HuffPost. Archived from the original on 17 November 2024. Retrieved 29 June 2025.
  10. ↑ Factora, James (3 November 2023). "A Right-Wing Organization Bought a "Takeover" on X for Its Anti-Trans Propaganda Movie". Them. Archived from the original on 4 November 2023. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  11. ↑ Wiggins, Christopher (7 November 2023). "PragerU Misuses Transgender People's Images in Propaganda". The Advocate. Archived from the original on 10 March 2025. Retrieved 11 July 2025.
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