PERSON: Chloe Cole

Chloe Cole (born July 27, 2004) is an American activist who opposes gender-affirming care for minors and supports bans on such care following her own detransition. She has appeared with conservative politicians and in the media, supporting and advocating for such bans. Cole says that she began transitioning at 12 and detransitioned at 17 after having undergone treatment which included puberty blockers, testosterone, and a double mastectomy.

Cole is from California’s Central Valley. She reported facing mental health challenges as a minor, which included being on the autism spectrum. She is a detransitioner and describes herself as a “former trans kid”. Cole says that she was diagnosed with gender dysphoria at 9 years old and was treated by Kaiser Permanente clinics in the San Francisco Bay Area between the ages of 13 and 17.

She has described herself as having been a “tomboy” who did not fit social norms and only started thinking about transitioning after creating an Instagram account and reportedly being recommended lots of LGBTQ content, particularly content containing transgender boys, telling The Daily Signal Podcast that “social media introduced this idea that I could be a boy”.

Cole says that she began transitioning at 12 years old, and that she had been sexually assaulted during her eighth grade year and began binding her breasts afterward.

In February 2018, she was prescribed the puberty blocker Lupron at age 13. A month later, she started testosterone injections, which she continued for two years. Cole had a double mastectomy at age 15 in June 2020.

Less than a year after the surgery, she realized she may want to breastfeed someday, which she would not be able to do. At 17, she reverted to using her birth name and detransitioned. Cole has said that her doctor did not follow the standards of care from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) and that she did not know detransitioners existed until she was one. When she expressed regret to her gender care specialist, they offered to recommend a surgeon for breast reconstruction, which she decided not to pursue.

Cole’s parents have stayed out of the media spotlight. Cole says she does not hold them responsible for consenting to her treatment and surgery and that they “received intense social pressure and pressure from medical professionals”.

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