Detrans Awareness Day Date in the current year: March 12, 2024

For a majority of people, their gender identity corresponds to their assigned sex; this is known as being cisgender. However, for a significant number of people sex assigned at birth and gender identity do not align; this is known as being transgender. “Transgender” is often use as an umbrella turn for various gender identities: trans men and women, non-binary/genderqueer individuals, third gender.

Many transgender people seek to transition, i.e. change their gender presentation and/or physical traits to match their internal sense of gender identity. This process may involve various components depending on the person’s wishes, age, transgender health care available to them, and jurisdiction. Gender transition may include adopting a new name and/or set of pronouns, changing one’s personal style (clothes, accessories, hairstyle, makeup, etc.), gender-affirming care (hormone replacement therapy and gender-affirming surgery), legally changing one’s name and/or sex marker on documents (if allowed in their jurisdiction), etc.

Sometimes people stop or reverse the gender transition process; this is known as detransition. Like transition, it is not a single event, but a process that can involve various physical, legal, and social changes to one’s gender expression.

The decision to detransition may be based on various factors, including a shift in gender identity, health concerns, discrimination and stigma, social pressure, and others. Only a small portion of detransitioners report detransitioning due to “transition regret”, i.e. realizing that transition is not for them; external reasons such as discrimination and social pressure have been reported much more often.

Since detransition has been very poorly studied, and many formal studies have been deemed political and thus unreliable, it is hard to estimate the rate at which detransition occurs. According to different sources, its incidence may vary from less than 1% to as high as 13%. It should also be noted that many people detransition only temporarily and then resume transitioning.

The observance of Detrans Awareness Day has been initiated by detransitioners who regretted their decision to transition and found little support from healthcare professionals and friends in their choice to detransition. The main goal of the observance is to shine a light on the experience of detransitioners and raise public awareness of their growing number, help detransitioners find the support and care they need and deserve, and dismantle the stigma associated with detransition.

Detrans Awareness Day events are held across the country on or around March 12 by detransitioners, their family members and supporters. They include rallies, marches, fundraisers, film screenings, and social media campaigns under the hashtags #DetransAwarenessDay, #DetransitionAwarnessDay and #iamdetrans.