Walt Heyer (born October 25, 1940) is an American author, activist and speaker who underwent

gender reassignment Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most cultures us ...

and lived for eight years as a

trans woman A trans woman or a transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity, may experience gender dysphoria, and may transition; this process commonly includes hormone replacement therapy and so ...

before detransitioning in 1991.

Biography

Heyer was born in 1940 in Los Angeles to Charles and Mary Heyer. As a child, his grandmother "Mamie" made him a purple dress. When his parents discovered this, they would supervise all his visits and his father hit him. His uncle would sexually abuse him. After what he described as a misdiagnosis of

gender dysphoria Gender dysphoria (GD) is the distress a person experiences due to a mismatch between their gender identitytheir personal sense of their own genderand their sex assigned at birth. The diagnostic label gender identity disorder (GID) was used until ...

, Walt Heyer underwent gender reassignment surgery and lived for eight years as a woman named Laura Jensen, before regretting and reversing his sex change. His experience led him to support the view "that transgender people often experience regret after transitioning, arguing that what transgender people actually need is 'psychiatric or psychological help.'" In a 2020 video, Heyer described the source of his gender confusion as "being cross-dressed, being disciplined with a hardwood floor plank, and being sexually molested." Once "assistant manager of product planning for America Honda Motor Co", Heyer now works as an author and as a contributor to ''

The Federalist ''The Federalist Papers'' is a collection of 85 articles and essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay under the collective pseudonym "Publius" to promote the ratification of the Constitution of the United States. The co ...

'' and various other conservative media outlets. Left-leaning media watchdog and partisan advocacy group Media Matters for America has criticized Heyer as "a source of extreme transphobic commentary." Heyer's story is detailed in

Ryan T. Anderson Ryan Timothy Anderson (born 1981) is an Conservatism in the United States, American conservative political philosopher who is best known for his opposition to same-sex marriage. He is currently president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center. H ...

's 2018 book, '' When Harry Became Sally''. The now defunct progressive news website

ThinkProgress ''ThinkProgress'' was an American progressive news website that was active from 2005 to 2019. It was a project of the Center for American Progress Action Fund (CAP Action), a progressive public policy research and advocacy organization. Founde ...

criticized the book for overemphasizing detransition and Heyer for " reatinga career for himself of advocating against transgender equality based on his 'ex-trans' narrative." Heyer's 2019 opinion column in

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

was cited as one of the paper's ten most read articles of the year, and generated multiple published letters in response. In June 2020,

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

removed a video of a Heritage Foundation panel that included Heyer, citing its hate speech guidelines, a move which was criticized by various conservative media outlets including '' National Review'' and '' The Christian Post''.

Bibliography

*''Trading my Sorrows'' (2006) *''Perfected by Love'' (2009) *''Paper Genders'' (2011) *''Sex Change -- It's Suicide'' (2013) *''A Transgender's Faith'' (2015) *''Kid Dakota and the Secret at Grandma's House'' (2015) *''Trans Life Survivors'' (2018)

References

American political activists Living people People who detransitioned 1940 births Writers from Los Angeles Activists from Los Angeles {{US-activist-stub