A woman who identified as a transgender man for most of her teen years, before ultimately detransitioning to her biological, female gender at 19, told The Tennessee Star that Tennessee’s ban on gender transition treatments would have successfully prevented her years-long stint on hormone treatments that resulted in a permanently lowered voice and other side effects.
Elle Palmer, now 25, told The Star she spent her early teenage years identifying as nonbinary after learning about gender theory online and explained this progressed to a desire to obtain treatment in order to formally transition to a transgender man by the time she was 15.
After seeing a series of mental health professionals, Palmer ultimately convinced her family, a gender therapist, and medical doctors to prescribe her hormones necessary to medically transition, but told The Star she determined to reverse the process just one week after relocating to attend college.
Palmer explained, “I told my parents, this therapy isn’t working, I don’t like my therapist, I want to see somebody else. And by this point, it was like late 2015, I had already been on Reddit for most of the year and I had started to learn the tips and tricks that the trans community on Reddit was spreading to get past gatekeeping at that point.”
She told The Star that users on the social networking website encouraged those seeking to transition participate a process that is, “definitely like doctor shopping,” advising those seeking to medically transition to “keep trying until you find someone who will prescribe it, basically.”
The advice did not solely come from public posts, either, as Palmer told The Star that Reddit users messaged her, when she was a minor, to offer advice with her transition from the female to male gender.
“I do remember adults. I do remember specifically there were adults who would privately message me and talk to me about being trans,” said Palmer.
This led Palmer to “force” her parents take her to seek therapy from a gender therapist. Six months later, Palmer said that therapist referred her to doctors at Planned Parenthood, who ultimately prescribed hormones.
Palmer continued to identify as a transgender man until after she left her parents’ home for college, when she told The Star she quickly gained a desire to transgender after noticing hair loss from the treatments.
“The funny thing is that as soon as I went to college, moved out of my parents house, a week later, I detransitioned,” she told The Star.
Palmer suggested Tennessee’s legislation would likely have given her the time to reconsider transgender treatments, adding at one point that she was not even aware of hormonal changes caused by puberty when she developed an interest in transitioning genders.
“I really don’t know how it would have changed things, but I do think it would have,” said Palmer, noting that a state law like Tennessee’s would have required her to seek treatment in another state. “I think it would have been easier for my parents to say no, and have a reason to say no.”
Palmer said her parents likely would have been able to cite the law, hypothetically telling their daughter, “Look, you can just wait until you’re 18.”
She told The Star, “We lived in central Montana, which is pretty far from any other [city.] If we had tried to go to a city, it would have been at least an eight-hour drive in any direction.”
Palmer recently traveled to Washington, D.C. to support Tennessee in the federal court case targeting its legislation banning transgender treatments for children, where she spoke to the media in defense of the law. She recently spoke at the Standing Up for Women and Girls in Washington event held by WDI USA and is currently raising funds to bring her advocacy to AmFest in Arizona.
– – –
Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Elle Palmer” by Elle Palmer.Â
