TransNormal Podcast

In this heartfelt and eye-opening episode of Trans Normal, Jo Ellis and co-host Dr. Laura Targownik talk with a rural family doctor who’s spent nearly a decade providing full-spectrum medical care — including gender-affirming treatment — to patients in small-town America.What makes this conversation especially powerful is her dual perspective: she’s not only a physician who’s helped trans patients navigate the system — she’s also the parent of a trans child. That personal journey challenged how she sees medicine, parenting, and what it really means to affirm someone’s identity.Together, the three explore:What gender-affirming care actually looks like inside real clinics — not political talking pointsThe shifting legal landscape that’s restricting care in many statesThe emotional and ethical challenges of balancing caution with compassionThe difference between prescribing hormones for a patient and supporting your own child through transitionWhy “shared decision-making” and informed consent matter more than everHow empathy, science, and parenting instincts can coexist — even when politics say otherwiseThis episode goes far beyond headlines — it’s about humanity, trust, and what it means to do the right thing when both your patient and your child are counting on you.Due to the increasing risk to doctors who provide GAC and parents of trans children, we took extra steps to protect our guest's identity.🎧 Hosted by: Jo Ellis & Dr. Laura Targownik 👤 Guest: Family physician and parent of a trans child in rural U.S. 📍 Topics: Trans healthcare, parenting, puberty blockers, informed consent, medical ethics, rural medicine, compassion in practice

Dr. Kinnon Ross McKinnon, Assistant Professor of Social Work at York University, is one of the world's foremost academic voices on the science of detransition. This year, his research team published the results of the largest study of self-declared detransitioners, with nearly 1000 people who had embarked on a gender transition, and then thought otherwise.In this conversation, Dr. McKinnon sits down with Transnormal host Dr. Laura Targownik talk about how his research shifts the narrative about detransition; despite how it is portrayed in the popular media, every detransition story in unique; while regret is not universal, it is common, and is not always a result of people feeling they made an incorrect decision at the time.

We cover the groundbreaking DARE study and the following:Why detransition happens (regret, stigma, discrimination, fluid identity)

The four types of detransition experiences revealed in the study

How media and politics often distort these stories

What the future of gender-affirming care should look like

This is a rare, nuanced look at detransition—beyond the headlines, beyond the culture wars.

#detrans #trans #regret #gender

In this special episode, Dr. Laura Targownik (co-host of the TransNormal Podcast) sits down with adolescent psychiatrist Dr. Tyler Black, chronic disease epidemiologist Dr. Gideon Meyerowitz-Katz, and newspaper columnist Mr. Adam Zivo to discuss the science and politics of pediatric gender affirming care, with specific attention to the controversy surrounding the recently published McMaster University systematic reviews and the subsequent political fallout

Dr. Gordon Guyatt is one of the original architects of Evidence Based Medicine, the framework that clinicians use to determine how we know whether a medical treatment actually works for a disease. But in the last month, he has become more widely known as the researcher who decided to go all-in on supporting gender affirming care for adolescents and young adults, despite being a lead author on a study showing that there was no clear benefit of this therapy over the potential harmsIn this interview, we discuss how he came to this position, his distancing of his research from the Society of Evidence Based Gender Medicine who sponsored it, and on the challenges of being a dispassionate scientist while also being an advocate.

In this episode, hosts Jo & Laura sit down with sports journalist and athlete Karleigh Webb to tackle one of the most heated debates of our time: trans inclusion in women’s sports.From hormone rules and puberty advantages to team culture and fairness, the discussion goes deep into what it really means to compete, belong, and create space for everyone. Karleigh shares her firsthand experience as a women’s tackle football player and journalist covering LGBTQ sports, while Jo and Laura raise tough questions about fairness, safety, and storytelling.This is a candid, respectful conversation about inclusion, competition, and the future of women’s athletics. Whether you’re for, against, or just trying to understand, this episode gives you a rare chance to hear all sides of the debate in one place.

About our guest: Karleigh Chardonnay Webb. Karleigh is a sports journalist/producer with 30 years in the game. She is currently a writer-contributor to the LGBTQ sports site Outsports.com and the sports producer for the Transpositions, a weekly trans-centered news magazine on YouTube. When she not being a journalist she a training coordinator for Trans Lifeline and she's a competitive athlete in running, cycling, triathlon and for last three season tackle football.In football she is a member of the Connecticut Ambush of the Women's Football Alliance as was a league All-American selection in 2024.

In this episode, we dive into two powerful stories shaping today’s trans discourse. First, a raw look at new U.S. military policies forcing out transgender service members, canceling promised early retirements, and adding discharge codes that could harm future careers. Then, we break down groundbreaking research from Dr. Keenan McKinnon on why people detransition, revealing a far more complex picture than the headlines suggest.Finally, we sit down with Theresa (@theresaverity), a UK woman who transitioned as a teen in the early 2000s through the now-closed Tavistock clinic. She shares her childhood experiences, the moment she realized transition was possible, and how it’s shaped her happy adult life—offering a rare success story in a debate too often dominated by regret narratives.This episode blends policy, data, and deeply personal stories to highlight the need for compassion, nuance, and evidence in conversations about trans lives.

We originally recorded this episode with a guest, but then had an audio issue. We attempted to re-record, but the guest was a no-show... so here's a quick up date from us regarding Jo's Kill Tony appearance and Laura's heartfelt concern for the situation surrounding Dr. Beth Upton.

This week: an in-depth interview with Dr. Tyler Black, a Canadian child psychiatrist and suicidologist. Dr. Black offers a compassionate and evidence-informed perspective on gender-affirming care, particularly for youth. He explains that while gender-affirming care is often framed as controversial, it is grounded in clinical best practices that prioritize reducing a child’s distress—not rushing toward irreversible interventions. He emphasizes that puberty blockers are a pause, not a push toward transition, and are used thoughtfully in coordination with families and medical professionals.Dr. Black also challenges the idea that medical transition is being recklessly promoted. He stresses that what protects trans kids most from suicidality is not any specific medical treatment, but consistent support, affirmation, and being genuinely supported by family and community.The conversation critiques the simplistic narrative that “gender-affirming care saves lives,” not because it’s untrue, but because it distracts from the real complexity. Dr. Black explains that suicide prevention isn’t just about treatment—it’s about ensuring kids feel safe, loved, and accepted, which dramatically reduces risk regardless of medical choices.The episode closes with reflections on empathy, parental fear, and the cultural shifts affecting how trans youth understand and express themselves. All three voices—Laura, Jo, and Dr. Black—emphasize the value of listening, rejecting ideological extremes, and supporting nuanced approaches to trans care and identity.

Follow on X: Jo Ellis - @JoEllisReally | Laura T - @laura_tee_mdgi | Dr. Tyler Black @TylerBlack32

In this episode, the hosts tackle the intersection of transgender rights, legal precedent, and conservative identity through two in-depth interviews—one with an attorney, Dilan Esper @dilanesper who has 25 years of experience in law and another with Rachael Mae, aka "The Trans Conservative" @Rachael_ICU a transgender conservative woman. The result is a nuanced and provocative exploration of how law and ideology intersect with lived experience in today's political climate.The episode opens with a legal deep-dive featuring a seasoned lawyer who breaks down the implications of the recent Skrmetti v. United States ruling, a case that reached the U.S. Supreme Court and has significant implications for transgender rights—particularly around state power and federal anti-discrimination protections. Dilan explains the legal reasoning behind the majority decision, noting its potential to undermine parts of civil rights laws that include gender identity. He emphasizes that while the ruling does not entirely strip protections for transgender people, it signals a tightening legal atmosphere where states may gain broader leeway to pass laws restricting gender-affirming care or trans participation in other aspects. The conversation includes a forward-looking analysis, as the attorney offers predictions about how this ruling may influence future Supreme Court cases, especially those involving health care bans for adults, the military, and other concerns that states could raise.

The second half of the episode shifts gears with a personal interview featuring a trans woman who identifies as a conservative. She reflects candidly on what it means to navigate conservative spaces as a transgender person and how her values align—and often conflict—with both the MAGA-aligned right and far left LGBTQ+ advocacy.

She distances herself from the more extreme rhetoric of the far-right but affirms her belief in limited government, personal responsibility, and incremental change. She critiques aspects of LGBTQ+ activism that she views as overly ideological or alienating to moderate Americans, while also voicing frustration with conservatives who are moving to the other extreme. Her perspective challenges assumptions on both sides of the aisle. She expresses skepticism about the effectiveness of “visibility politics” and suggests that real change for transgender people might come not through identity-based organizing alone but through building cross-ideological coalitions that include people like her. The interview is marked by complexity—she defends the right to gender-affirming care for adults but questions its regulation for minors, and she sees a place for trans voices in conservative media and policy discussions. She doesn't define herself by being trans but she says she just "happens to be trans".Together, the two interviews illuminate a critical moment in the national conversation on gender and rights. The episode doesn’t offer easy answers but instead encourages listeners to consider the legal, political, and personal tensions shaping trans lives today. With expert insight and personal candor, it offers a rare and respectful platform for voices that are often oversimplified or ignored in mainstream discourse.

In this episode we discuss the recent announcement by Hendrix, aka @legaltweetz "The Pissed Off Lawyer" X account, who announced they were detransitioning the same day they were to be a guest on our podcast. As we expected, the announcement made Hendrix unavailable to us and we hope to reschedule. We also discuss the recent Simone Biles and Riley Gains exchange and Jo's "Operation Conservative Psyop" plan to infiltrate stand-up comedy as an authenticate way to advocate for trans military service.