Detrans (film)

Detrans: The Dangers of Gender-Affirming Care is a 2023 documentary short film produced and distributed by American conservative advocacy group PragerU. The film centers on interviews of two adults who self-identified as transgender, but later came to identify as cisgender. It has been described by the Human Rights Campaign's president as propaganda to "spread misinformation and stigmatize transgender people".

Plot
Detrans shares the stories of two individuals who transitioned, and who later "detransitioned" after their self-perception of their gender identity changed. 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. 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.

The film claims that the individuals interviewed were "manipulated by the trans movement".

Ad 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". PragerU's advertisements were "the first one displayed for most users of the social media platform throughout the day". PragerU has stated they chose to advertise on Twitter because it is "one of the least censored social media platforms".

Reception
Detrans was panned and has been described as propaganda by the Human Rights Campaign's president, as the short film did not mention that research shows that only around one percent of transgender individuals regret transitioning: "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."

On behalf of Truthout, Erin Reed wrote, "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. In response to the short film, James Factora, writing for Them, provided statistics about the low detransition rate and concluded, "As PragerU shows, [...] the right-wing isn't as concerned with facts as they are about feelings, to borrow a turn of phrase." In response to PragerU's timeline takeover, which promoted their film to all users on the platform using the hashtag "#DETRANS", Twitter users attempted to hijack the hashtag, flooding it with unrelated tweets as well as affirmative, counter-narrative stories about trans people. PragerU has stated that the short film was rejected by multiple film festivals.