Welcome to Family Policy Matters, a weekly podcast and radio show produced by the North Carolina Family Policy Council. Hi, I'm John Rust and president of NC Family, and each week on Family Policy Matters, we welcome experts and policy leaders to discuss topics that impact faith and family here in North Carolina. Our prayer is that this program will help encourage and equip you to be a voice of persuasion for family values in your community, state, and nation. And now, here's the host of Family Policy Matters, Tracy DeVett Griggs. Thanks for joining us this week for Family Policy Matters.
Are your children or grandchildren safe from the allure of the radicalism of the gender confusion plaguing our young generations? Today's guest will share his story on just how quickly this confusion can take hold and offer hope for how steady, sane parenting can Help provide the lifeline for children who get caught in its powerful current. Today, we're joined by Luke Healy, whose story of transition and detransition is featured in a documentary series called Identity Crisis from the Independent Women's Forum. Luke Healy, welcome to Family Policy Matters. Thank you very much for having me.
All right, well, Luke, I understand, first of all, that you just signed on as an ambassador with Independent Women's Forum, the first male invited to do so. And it was specifically because of this very powerful story that you have.
So, why did you think it was important for you to officially join this organization? IWF has really empowered me to tell my story. Their handling of our first documentary that we did together and the identity crisis series that they've done interviews with other detransitioners has been really powerful. And the way they conducted themselves with getting that interview and getting the important information that I think needs to get out there has been really powerful. Powerful.
And in terms of why I need to share my story, I don't think I'm a particularly special case. As a matter of fact, that's why I do think I need to share my story: because I think my story is becoming more and more universal among men my age and women my age. And I think we need to get it out there because these experiences that I had, I'm hearing more and more people coming to me and saying, I had this too, I have this too. What do I do? Parents coming to me.
So we need to show them that this isn't some impossible thing to get over, and this isn't some impossible case that can't be solved.
Okay.
Well, tell us your story then. Where and how did your journey through gender confusion even begin?
So around when I was 10 years old, I was a pretty shy kid. I wasn't sporty like my brothers, and I was really into reading. I was a little more insular than a lot of the boys my age, but I also started getting involved on the internet.
So around that age, I started getting into different internet spheres, websites like Tumblr and such, and getting dragged into that, I began unfortunately fraternizing with adults, and these adults would discuss topics with me that were not usual topics of conversation in my hometown, like homosexuality, transsexualism, other sexual topics, being exposed to inappropriate material. And over time, these adults preyed on my insecurity and my not being sure about who I was in the world at the time. And they had a ready-made explanation for it, which was transgenderism, right? If you're uncomfortable being an adolescent or pre-adolescent boy, well, maybe you're a girl. And this explanation, while obviously ludicrous, is a little...
Easier to accept, I think, at certain ages and with certain predispositions than the more obvious and the more correct explanation that sometimes being that age is just awkward and uncomfortable. All right.
So you're an adult now.
So looking back at your child self, are you amazed at the audacity of these people to approach children on the internet? I'm astonished. My mother and I have discussed this before. I do not even see a purpose for me to have a friend who is 17 years old now. In the past, I've had younger cousins and stuff, and I mean, that's a little different, but there's no reason that I would even ever desire to hang out with a 17-year-old.
I don't mean that to be unkind to 17-year-olds, but it's just at my age, what do I have in common, right? 16, 15. And we're talking about I was 10 years old talking to 30-year-olds. I mean, that's a whole different ballgame right there. You know, I don't think all of them were outright purposefully predatory, but that being said, there's no reason for an adult to desire any kind of fraternity or friendship with someone that age for the most part, unless they're a mentor or maybe a family member.
So I am completely. Astonished by it, especially in their presumption and comfort to talk about such egregious topics with a minor, which I myself now would never even think to approach such a subject with a child if I was even talking to one at all. You said it happened very quickly.
So, how long was it from the first time you felt a question about your identity and your decision to when you began transitioning? Fortunately, the answer is complicated because my parents, in their bravery, my father and mother, both said no to medical transition. But once I was around 13 years old, I quote unquote came out, which is what homosexuals and transgenders call it when they notify people of their new decision of life. And I decided to tell them, and I was immediately, my mental health plummeted, and I was put in, you know, they just wanted to figure out what was wrong with me. Why is our kid self-harming?
Why is our kid just acting completely differently? And they put me in therapy where I was recommended all sorts of treatments, all sorts of egregious treatments at that age. To luckily, what my parents said no. But I did start being. affirmed immediately by these institutions being told I was indeed a woman that my parents were just ignorant my school started calling me a different name my peers started calling me a different name and then I started occasionally cross-dressing but it was discouraged by my parents which is a good thing but I started physically transitioning once I was 18 I went on and off with hormones until I was around 21 and that's when I was 21 to when I detransition was when I was consistently on hormones and seeking out consultations for surgeries etc I know you mentioned that you were getting one message from your parents, another message from your medical professionals and therapists.
But talk about the message. What kinds of things were your parents saying to you during this time? My parents are both healthcare professionals and they were concerned mostly about the health problems. That year, I guess 2013, 2014-ish, I mean, Laverne Cox and Caitlin Jenner and all these high-profile transgender identified individuals, they were just getting in the news, I think, if I remember right.
So this wasn't a main Mainstream discussion like it is today. I mean, there were people in my town who probably didn't know what a transgender person was, right? I mean, there are probably people in many towns around America who didn't know what it was quite yet. It wasn't on CNN every five minutes. And so a lot of the discussions for them were just about reading these studies of like, which was essentially there is no studies.
There was no good, reputable studies on the health effects of pumping a 13-year-old boy full of estrogen. And they were deeply concerned about the consequences of that, which we today are more and more finding more and more evidence of the consequences of that. And I'm very fortunate that, you know, and people like Chloe Cole who have suffered the physical effects of starting these interventions while being a minor.
So, you know, they were mostly concerned about the health effects and they were also worried about my social involvement with adults who were clearly perverted. On the other hand, then, talk about what kind of messages you were getting from healthcare professionals and especially from the therapist who your mom thought was going to be helping you. Yep, healthcare professionals never really questioned me for the most part on like why, why did this boy suddenly think he's a girl, right? Looking back, I think as a now logical person, a now sane person, if a boy told me they were a girl, I'd be like, well, first of all, no, you're not, but also, why are you thinking this? This is basically psychosis.
It is a denial of physical reality.
So what is making you think this way? But there was no questions like that. The question of whether or not I was a boy or a girl was already settled in their minds. And some of them, I think, were prescribed these algorithms, particularly by places like Planned Parenthood and Kaiser Permanente was where I got most of my therapy from was Kaiser. They are prescribed algorithms that require them to reply in certain ways to these kind of distresses.
But there were egregious cases of doctors basically coaching me to tell my parents that I was going to kill myself if I didn't receive these treatments. I was coached to tell them that by teachers, by therapists, by other people that are supposed to be protecting our children. And they're actually harming them. Was there one thing or many things that made you decide this wasn't the right road for you? There were, I would say, one thing and many things.
So many things just began to come up later on in me transitioning. Throughout my transition, I saw other transgender people. There's many like famous cases of it now. Dylan Mulvaney, Leah Thomas, who were just these outright transvestite perverts, essentially, you know, preying upon women, invading women's spaces. And while I'm not saying I was a perfect person, I certainly didn't identify with the fetishistic angle of it.
But I started to realize that, you know, these people and the doctors, you know, helping them do what they were doing were doing the same thing to me. I started looking into Dr. Peterson talking about the WPATH files, seeing these doctors basically selling these things to people. I had phone calls with surgeons that sounded like used car salesmen. It just became really apparent to me that I was being sold something.
And what became more apparent to me much more importantly was that God created me as I was and that he imbued me with certain traits in every one of my cells that makes me a male and that that creation is inviolable and beautiful and the desire to destroy it or distort it is ultimately satanic pursuit to self-destruction and I think societal destruction. Wow.
Okay.
Well, I think you feel pretty strongly about it.
So talk about why then you, and you speak very well about, you know, you seem very informed and very knowledgeable about this. It's emotional, I'm sure, but that doesn't sound like that's where it's coming from.
So why did you decide to speak publicly? What happened that propelled you into that? Using kind of a backwards story here from after I started speaking, I will say that since I've spoken, multiple parents have reached out to me with kids suffering the same thing. And before I started speaking, I knew that was the case. And moreover, the remote.
Removal of gender dysphoria from my person. Is a miracle beyond my understanding, but I believe that every person who's transgender identified can have it too. It was something that I was so entrenched in for 10 years plus. That caused me so much misery that was removed from me one day by a power beyond my understanding, I think. And I want that for everyone who was like me.
You know, I approach people who were like me in a way that I hope is always informed by my experience of suffering in this way. And I think we should all do that because these people are, their suffering is genuine, many of them. Their pain is genuine. It's just that their pursuit of the solution is wrong. The solution they seek is wrong to solve this pain.
And we need to, I think, minister to them basically in effect. And that was my calling: trying to minister this sort of spiritual experience of overcoming this to others in order to save them from further physical, emotional, and mental calamities before it's too late. Right. Give us just a few statements that you might make to parents or young people who are being drawn into this. What are some common things that you might tell people?
I think one of the central arguments is that there is no such thing as sex changing. There is no science to it. There is no there is nothing to the idea of sex changes and sex changing besides ideological malcontents. fomented this ideology a long time ago. And there's nothing to it and it comes from very sinister, sexualized, perverted places.
The idea that men can become women or vice versa. The consequences of it, health-wise alone, are harrowing. You know, you can do some Google searches on surgeries and things I won't get into here that are just horrifying, especially on children. And then in terms of parents, There is no conciliation to be had. The minute that you conciliate even the smallest social transition, you're giving up the whole game.
It's very important to see that the social transition part of this is not harmless. It is the root of it, actually. Before they even had physical transitioning methods, the social transitioning was the birth of this whole movement.
So, giving the saying, oh, well, I'll call my child a different name, I don't think is wise and I think it is too conciliatory. We should insist that children's sex and their name at their birth of who they are, of who God made them to be, is again inviolable and cannot be overcome by any movement or ideology. Before we close, we're about out of time, but tell us what you're doing now. What's your life like now? My life today is great.
I have an awesome relationship with my family. I get to work with people like I mentioned, Chloe Cole. I get to work with International Women's Forum on this. But, you know, just my life outside of this, you know, outside of talking to people about gender and things like that, my life is really good now. It's a life that I couldn't imagine living when I was trapped in this ideology.
My life then was every day was chaos and misery, and I was always teetering on the edge of complete disaster. And today, my life couldn't be any more different from that. I have a great relationship with my mom, my dad, my brothers, my friends. And I have a really good relationship with the Lord, and I have a really good relationship with myself and who I am, and I'm comfortable being who I am.
Well, Luke, I'm so happy to hear that. And thank you so much for sharing your story. I'm sure there are a lot of people out there listening that have people in their lives that will benefit from your story.
So thank you.
So we're just about out of time. Before we go, where can people go to watch your episode and the entire documentary series of Identity Crisis? International Women's Forum has a website, so my documentary is part of the Identity Crisis series. I believe it's posted to YouTube and it's also posted to X. Luke Keely, thank you so much for being with us today on Family Policy Matters.
Thank you for listening to Family Policy Matters. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to the show and leave us a review. To learn more about NC Family and the work we do to promote and preserve faith and family in North Carolina, visit our website at ncfamily.org. That's ncfamily.org and check us out on social media at NC Family Policy. Thanks and may God bless you and your family.
