Walt Heyer | |
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![]() Heyer speaks at the Church of God in Christ, Raleigh, North Carolina in 2016 | |
Born | Walter James Heyer October 25, 1940 [1] Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
Occupation(s) | Writer, activist |
Spouses | Sarah Horton (m. 1963–1984)
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Children | 2 |
Website | sexchangeregret.com |
Walt Heyer (born October 25, 1940) [2] is an American author, activist and speaker who underwent gender reassignment and lived for eight years as a trans woman before detransitioning in 1991. [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]
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. [8] After what he described as a misdiagnosis [9] of gender dysphoria, Walt Heyer underwent gender reassignment surgery and lived for eight years as a woman named Laura Jensen, [10] before detransitioning. 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.'" [11] 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." [12]
Once "assistant manager of product planning for America Honda Motor Co", [13] [14] Heyer now works as an author and as a contributor to The Federalist [15] [16] 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." [17]
Heyer's story is detailed in Ryan T. Anderson's 2018 book, When Harry Became Sally . [18] The progressive news website ThinkProgress criticized the book for overemphasizing detransition and Heyer for "[creating] a career for himself of advocating against transgender equality based on his 'ex-trans' narrative." [19]
Heyer's 2019 opinion column in USA Today [8] was cited as one of the paper's ten most read articles of the year, [20] and generated multiple published letters in response. [21] [22]
In June 2020, YouTube removed a video of a Heritage Foundation panel that included Heyer, citing its hate speech guidelines, [23] a move which was criticized by various conservative media outlets including National Review and The Christian Post . [24] [25]