Trans for Trump: Meet the Americans who've transitioned gender and voted Republican for 'common sense' reasons

Former transgender liberal Americans cast their vote this year for President-elect Donald Trump because they feared Democrats would push gender-affirming care on minors.

Speaking to DailyMail.com, the detransitioners — who were voting Republican for the first time ever — said they supported Trump's view that gender treatments, like puberty blockers, hormones and sex-change surgeries, should be banned for people under 18 years old.

Republicans called for this on the campaign trail in a $200million ad blitz, and have said they would halt taxpayer funding for sex change treatments at all ages and block transgender people from entering the military.

While the Democrats' stance was that they would not dictate treatment plans to doctors, more recently they have shifted their stance saying children should not have sex-change surgeries at all.

Chloe Cole, who started to transition to a boy at 12 years old, said on X: 'I am a strong, intelligent woman. I voted for Donald Trump.'

Ms Cole, now 20 years old, stopped her transition at 17 — but not before doctors had prescribed her puberty blockers, testosterone and removed her breasts.   

She continued: 'At 15 years old, I lost my breasts in the name of gender ideology. My body will never be the same due to radical left policies. I support Donald Trump because he will end gender transition for minors.' 

Similarly, Nicolas Blooms — who began transitioning at 18 before detransitioning at 22 — also said he backed Donald Trump. The now 24-year-old said he took feminizing hormones but never got surgery.

He told DailyMail.com: 'The main reason I voted for Donald Trump is I don't want children to be going through medical transitions from such a young age.

'Donald Trump posted a recent video saying he wants to make sex changes for minors illegal. I 100 percent stand by that. 

'I believe that after going through medical transition and detransition that this is not something that kids should be playing with.'

Mr Blooms said the hormone therapy had left him regularly needing to use the toilet and with fat that had collected on his chest.

And Laura Becker, who transitioned at 17 before detransitioning at 22, also backed Trump, saying: 'If we can't agree on objective truth, if we can't agree on objective biological reality and agree that we should not be lying to people about who we are... then that's a red flag to me.

'Kamala can't be, you know, real about biological sex, and we already know that her administration, including her VP Tim Walz, has advocated for the transitioning of children.'

Many of the detransitioners who spoke to DailyMail.com — who had initially been far-left activists — said they felt a majority of people in similar situations backed Trump in this election, voting Republican for the first time.

A poll set up on X by detransitioner Prisha Mosley, which called for only detransitioners to vote, received 45 responses. Fifty-eight percent of the group backed Trump while only seven percent backed Kamala. 

Another 35 percent did not vote. The poll was not closed, and did allow anyone to respond.

The Trump campaign made opposition to transgender care for minors part of its campaign, saying in one advertisement that Kamala was for 'they/them', referring to pronouns used by people who do not identify as either male or female.

Trump has said he plans to stop the 'chemical, physical and emotional mutilation of our youth' by passing a law prohibiting transgender care for minors in all 50 states.'

Kamala Harris, on the other hand, tried to side-step the issue when she was asked about her views in an October interview with NBC News.

She said she would not put herself in the place of doctors who should make the decision 'in terms of what is medically necessary'.

At least 800 children 12 to 18 years old receive gender-affirming surgeries every year in the US, according to a 2023 JAMA study that analyzed data from nearly every state. The vast majority received breast or chest surgery.

Many detransitioners have argued the modern medical system tried to transition them when all they needed was therapy and help with their mental health. 

But supporters of transgender care for minors argue it is medically necessary, saying studies show if the care is denied children will commit suicide. 

A 2022 study from the University of Toronto suggested 82 percent of transgender individuals have considered killing themselves and 40 percent have attempted suicide. 

But many doctors also warn the effects of gender-affirming treatments on people, especially children, are poorly studied and can result in life-long complications. They also say they may not ease children's mental health.

Trump is also planning to re-instate his ban on transgender service members, which was removed by the Biden administration in 2020. The military is a major employer of transgender people, having more than 15,000 trans service members.

Further, the President-Elect has suggested he will remove legislation that protects against discrimination based on sexuality or gender identity. 

Detransitioners who have attended Trump rallies said they did not face discrimination.

Mr Bloom, who is based in Arizona, said: 'As much as people want to say the MAGA people are homophobic and transphobic, the vast majority of them just do not care.

'They don't care that I'm gay, they love that I'm gay — it is so liberating. 

'Whereas liberals just look at me with dirty looks. I get harassment, I get homophobia, I get bullying from liberals, even though all they talk about is love and compassion.'

He added: 'It was tough for me to see friends voting for Kamala. I had many people block me. As much as they think they are compassionate, they are not — they were not not being able to withhold judgement and actually listen.'

About 1.6 to 3million people in the United States identify as transgender, estimates suggest.