A radical LGBT activist told Congress on Wednesday she does not believe detransitioning is a ‘real thing’ as she admitted to helping children as young as 12 change their sex without talking to their parents.
Speaking before the House Oversight and Reform Committee, Jessie Pocock said she believes children as young as 12 could start to go through hormonal treatments and surgeries to change their sex even if their parents do not agree.
‘In our community, the age of consent to mental health therapy is 12 years old,’ Pocock, the CEO and Executive Director of Inside Out Youth Services Advocacy Organization, said in response to a question from Rep. Michael Cloud.
She then went on to deny that children who transition their sex at a young age regret the choice later in life and try to reverse what they have done.
Her testimony came amid ongoing hearings over the rise in violence against LGBT Americans following a shooting at a gay club in Colorado Springs last month.
Jessie Pocock, the CEO and Executive Director of Inside Out Youth Services Advocacy Organization in Colorado Springs, denied that formerly transgender people detransitioning is a ‘real thing’ as she shared how her organization helps children transition sexes without the permission of their parents
Pocock said during the hearings on Wednesday that her organization in Colorado Springs — where the deadly massacre occurred — seeks to ensure that transgender children feel ‘safe and protected.’
The organization supports ‘lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, asexual, queer, questioning, and two spirit (LGBTQIA2+) youth,’ according to its website.
Among its values, which form the acronym INSIDE OUT are ‘intersectionality,’ ‘openness’ and ‘engagement’ — though it also lists more obscure values like ‘dancing/dance,’ ‘nourishment’ and even ‘unicorns,’ according to FOX News.
‘We are constantly filing reports of abuse and neglect,’ she claimed, before Cloud, a Republican from Texas, cut her off.
He said that schools and churches are legally obligated to report cases of abuse before asking Pocock whether she thought parents have a right to know about their child’s plans to transition.
‘Do parents have a right? Should they be informed of what’s going on?’ he asked before reiterating: ‘Do they have a right to know what’s going on in their kids’ lives?’
Pocock responded that she thinks ‘those of us who are protecting and supporting young people are there and trusted with the things they are dealing with.
‘In terms of parents’ rights to know at schools, I mean here in Colorado, parents don’t have a right,’ she revealed, saying: ‘If a young person is questioning their gender or their sexuality there are laws in place that say they have the right to process that with the help of their trusted counselor and so forth.’
At that point, Cloud asked her about her work with 13 year olds and asked her about the age of consent — which is when she made the claim that 12 year olds can start to transition their sex.
‘So we have laws that enable young people to connect with trusted adults who can support them,’ Pocock said, claiming: ‘That is so important. It prevents suicide.’
‘And so we serve young people at 13 because we know they come to us.’
But that wasn’t the end of the discussion.
Republican Rep. Michael Cloud laid into Pocock for her comments saying parents are concerned their children are making irreversible decisions at an immature age
Inside Out Youth Services Advocacy Organization in Colorado Springs supports ‘lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, asexual, queer, questioning, and two spirit (LGBTQIA2+) youth,’ according to its website
When Cloud continued to push Pocock about the numerous reports of people seeking to reverse the surgeries and hormone treatments they received, Cloud denied that detransititoning is a ‘real thing.’
‘I can’t really speak to individuals’ personal experience,’ she said. ‘You know, someone’s gender is a really personal experience.
‘But I can tell you, I’ve been in this work a long time, I know a lot of trans folks, close friends family members. And I’ve just never heard of a case of anyone detransitioning, so I honestly don’t think it’s a real thing.’
Cloud then pushed back against her claims, saying, ‘There’s a number of cases in the news right now’ of people detransitioning from being transgender.
‘And the concerns that parents have is we’ve all had awkward teen years where we’ve questioned things and existence, and a lot of things. And the question is kids who are maybe making a permanent decision even without the input of their parents and making irreversible decisions.
‘There’s some who’ve talked about [how] they can’t have kids anymore and they wish they could in a lot of cases,’ he continued. ‘And I’m curious on how we’d work to protect kids.
‘I wish we had more time because I think this is an important issue to get into, but thank you for being here,’ Cloud concluded.
Following the exchange, Chloe Cole, an 18-year-old former transgender child who was on hormone blockers at 13 and had a double mastectomy at 15 before deciding to detransition a year later offered to travel to DC to prove that people who detransition are real.
‘Detransitioners are pretty used to being told they don’t exist,’ she tweeted. ‘I don’t mind coming to DC to clear up any confusion, lol.’
Chloe Cole, an 18-year-old former transgender child who was on hormone blockers at 13 and had a double mastectomy at 15 before deciding to detransition a year later offered to travel to DC to prove that people who detransition are real
She tweeted that she doesn’t ‘mind coming to DC to clear up any confusion’
Pocock’s testimony came the same day survivors of mass shootings targeting LGBT nightclubs detailed the violence they endured as they criticized what they deemed to be inflammatory political rhetoric.
‘We are being slaughtered and dehumanized across this country, in communities you took oaths to protect,’ said Matthew Haynes, the owner of Club Q in Colorado Springs — where a gunman killed five and injured 25 people last month.
‘LGBTQ issues are not political issues. They are not lifestyles. They are not beliefs or choices. They are basic human rights.’
His coworker Michael Anderson, who was bartending on November 19 when the gunman walked in and started firing, also told the horrors he faced that night.
‘I saw my friend lying on the floor, bleeding out, knowing there was little to no chance of surviving the bullet wound,’ he said.
Those who spoke at the hearings on Wednesday blamed the rising attacks on LGBT Americans on state legislation like a 2016 North Carolina bill that required transgender individuals to use the restrooms that corresponded to the sex on their birth certificate and Florida’s so-called Don’t Say Gay bill.
LGBT people are now nearly four times more likely than non-LGBT people to be the victims of violent crimes, according to a study by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law.
‘We just want to live. Is that so much to ask?’ said Brandon Wolf, an activist and survivor of the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting in which 49 people were killed and 69 were wounded.
The hearings come one month after a gunman opened fire at Club Q in Colorado Springs, killing five people and injuring 25 others. Joshua Thurman cried at the news
Law enforcement officers were seen walking through the parking lot of the club the morning after the fatal shooting on November 19
A makeshift memorial was set up at the site with bouquets of flowers and a sign reading ‘Love Over Hate’
Earlier in the hearings, Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace called out the threatening rhetoric of a transgender activist, who tweeted that Supreme Court justices should be ‘accosted’ and ‘never know peace again.’
Mace, a conservative who has supported LGBTQ+ rights in the past – including voting for the recently signed Respect For Marriage Act – confronted Alejandra Caraballo, a trans woman and clinical instructor of Harvard Law School’s Cyberlaw Clinic, who was speaking at the hearing.
The representative asked Caraballo and four of the other witnesses at the hearing if they considered rhetoric that could be deemed violent as a ‘threat to democracy,’ to which Caraballo agreed.
At that point, Mace brought out a tweet she had made after the Dobbs decision that reversed Roe v. Wade.
In the tweet, which now appears to have been deleted, she writes: ‘The 6 justices who overturned Roe should never know peace again. It is our civic duty to accost them every time they are in public.
‘They are pariahs. Since women don’t have their rights, these justices should never have a peaceful moment in public again.’
The justices she was calling out are all conservatives: Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett.
Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace called out one of the activists testifying on Tuesday for calling for violence against the Supreme Court justices in the wake of the Dobbs decision, which overturned Roe v Wade
Alejandra Caraballo had tweeted that Supreme Court justices should be ‘accosted’ and ‘never know peace again’
Mace then told a personal story of being ‘accosted’ by a constituent in Washington on January 5, which she fully blamed on extremist rhetoric on social media and at public events.
She added: ‘I carry a gun everywhere I go when I am in my district and I’m at home, because I know personally that rhetoric has consequences. I’ve had my car keyed, I’ve had someone trespass in my house as recently as August. I’ve been doxxed on social media about where I live and I’ve had to have security everywhere I go.’
She went on to say that she carries a gun often because she can’t afford the additional security needed.
Mace then showed one more tweet from Caraballo from earlier in November in which the activist calls the Supreme Court ‘illegitimate’ and an ‘organ of the far right’ and asked ‘yes or no’ if she felt Supreme Court Justices should be accosted.
Caraballo called it ‘not an accurate representation’ of her statements, before Mace pointed out that in June, a heavily armed 26-year-old man was detained near Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh‘s house, and allegedly told authorities he wanted to kill the conservative jurist and then himself.
Mace wrapped up by stating: ‘It’s clear to me that we have to call out the threats to our democracy emanating from where they come, whether it’s the right or the left.’
