Sex Change Regret
Sex Change Regret is an American website founded by Walt Heyer, who himself underwent gender reassignment surgery and later regretted it. The site is aimed at people who regret transitioning or are considering detransitioning, and offers them a way to get in touch.
What you will find
The site features posts and news about detransitioners and lawsuits, a section with personal stories, videos, references to research, a list of resources, and a bookstore selling Heyer’s books.
Why it is included on this list
The site is one of the oldest English-language resources on regret after transition and is often cited in discussions about detransition. Its content is controversial: Heyer writes from a Christian perspective, and the regret figures cited on the site are much higher than those found in most published studies. It is therefore a site based on personal experience and opinion, not a research source. See also science and debate.
Who Walt Heyer is
Walt Heyer was born in Los Angeles on October 25, 1940. Among other jobs, he worked for Honda’s American division. According to the site, he underwent gender reassignment surgery in 1983. He then lived as a woman for eight years under the name Laura Jensen, returning to life as a man in 1991. Since then, he has been an author and activist. His books include Trading My Sorrows (2006), Paper Genders (2011), and Trans Life Survivors (2018), and he publishes in conservative media outlets such as The Federalist. An opinion piece he wrote for USA Today in 2019 was among the newspaper’s ten most-read articles. This list also includes a separate entry for Walt Heyer himself.
The site’s purpose and structure
The site summarizes its purpose as helping people detransition to the sex they were assigned at birth. The posts are organized into news, research, resources, videos, and personal stories. There is a bookstore and a donations page. Visitors can request a mentor through a form hosted on a church’s platform. The homepage states that up to twenty percent of people come to regret their transition. A brochure on the site advocates protecting young people from hormones and surgery.
Criticism and assessment
American media watchdog Media Matters described Heyer as a source of extremely transphobic commentary. In June 2020, YouTube removed a video of a panel discussion at the Heritage Foundation in which he participated, citing its policies against hate speech. Heyer’s personal history is that of one individual who received treatment in the 1980s; the healthcare of that time cannot automatically be compared with healthcare today. The twenty-percent figure is a claim made by the site itself; check which research it is based on before repeating it. Related American sites include TransRegret, an information site for people who are questioning or regret a transition, and TReVoices, the campaign website of trans man Scott Newgent. Research on regret is discussed under detransition.