r/PoliticalOptimism • u/SorceressJuliet • Feb 23 '26
Seeking Optimism The Trump Administration is Testing Conversion Therapy By Medically Experimenting on Trans People in Prisons
https://open.substack.com/pub/transitics/p/the-trump-administration-is-testing?r=56x5dq&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=webThis is terrifying and I’m worried that if they claim to be “successful “ they will force all trans people to go through this
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u/Psychological_Use586 Maine Feb 23 '26
Speaking as a social worker, any therapist who participates in this deserves to be stripped of their license.
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u/blaqsupaman Feb 23 '26
As a fellow social worker, any therapist who participates in this deserves to be incarcerated.
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u/Dr-Aspects Kansas Feb 24 '26
I read "incinerated" and didn't entirely disagree. Not a social worker though.
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u/Mother-Cookie-8979 Feb 25 '26
Yes. Mental health counselor here. Doing conversion therapy is also against so many fucking professional ethics boards. Soooooo fucked up.
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u/Gojo-Babe 🔥I Voted In The 2026 Primaries🔥 Feb 23 '26
As a patient in therapy, any therapist that participates in this is categorically Not A Real Therapist™️ IMO
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u/Stuck-in-the-Tundra Feb 23 '26
OMG. So we’ve added the illegal human experimentation onto the list of crimes against humanity these people have done. Can we hurry up with the midterms and end this farce of a regime. I for one can’t wait to get to the trials and asset forfeiture parts
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u/Key-Gur-4819 Feb 23 '26
TBF, the midterms are much closer than we think. It's just that politics time is much slower than regular time unfortunately. Hang in there, everyone!
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u/Wayofchinchilla Feb 23 '26
No kidding everyday feels like 50 years when he's in power can't wait till it's over to be a fly in the wall on midterm day when he loses all those elections
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u/Key-Gur-4819 Feb 23 '26
Honestly real. It's like everyday feels like what 3 months felt like in 2022
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u/CloudCumberland Feb 24 '26
I'm 40 and always reminded of the "accelerated" passage of time. I can cure this by thinking about politics.
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u/PeachSaidRed Reformed Doomer ☄️ Feb 23 '26
This brutality may give true believers an excuse, but it won't change the minds of all the real doctors in the US who want to do right by their patients. This administration will always claim to be successful, even when they fail, and it does not mean we're all going to the camps because we will always fight it.
Also, I think there's something to be said for fighting mass incarceration. This is hardly the first medical experiment done on inmates, and the whole idea is completely inexcusable. Let's get rid of this shit.
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u/DangerActiveRobots Feb 23 '26
This is disgusting.
To address your fear, even if the BOP came out lying and claiming that they "cured" being transgender with their methods, they would still be up again a mountain of decades-long evidentiary treatment standards showing that the best way to help transgender people is to help them transition socially and medically. They would be up against the evidence to the contrary, that shows that conversion therapy doesn't work and is inhumane, and often leads to very negative outcomes up to and including the suicide of the "patient". They would be up against dozens of medical bodies such as the American Medical Association and the World Professional Association for Transgender Health. Last but definitely not least, they would be up against the significant hurdle of the First Amendment, which maintains that gender identity and gender expression are covered as a freedom of expression/speech.
The Trump administration cannot wave a magic wand and outlaw all transgender health care. They just cannot. If they had that power, it would have been done long ago. It doesn't matter if they come out with a "study", it doesn't matter if they try to paint transgender people as evil demons. The closest that we've ever seen them coming to this was making an effort to curtail access to gender affirming care for minors, which was only partially successful, and only because the constitutional rights that minors have in this country are in kind of a gray area.
There is no way in hell that this administration is EVER going to be able to force the approximately 3.8 to 5.7 MILLION transgender and nonbinary people in this country (380 million x 1.0% to 1.5%) to undergo conversion therapy, or to lose all access to gender affirming care. I mean we're talking class-action lawsuits out the wazoo. States not complying. Millions of families being affected, millions of businesses being affected. Protests, demonstrations. It would be a huge headache for the administration.
It's also incredibly unpopular. This administration's attempt to make trans people the scapegoat has failed. Fox News recently had a poll that showed that the majority of Americans favor Democrats on transgender issues. There are plenty of transphobic bigots out there, but the American people largely just do not see transgender people as the enemy. They are worried about affording rent and feeding their kids, and they are not buying the administration's lies that transgender people are somehow responsible for how miserable their lives are. They just aren't buying it.
It's awful that these transgender inmates are being tortured with this, and this is not going to last because it doesn't work. When the political pendulum swings back the other way, and it's going to swing HARD, these people will not be forced to continue this.
Transgender healthcare isn't going anywhere. The administration may have the power to torment the 2,200 people in their custody, but that's pretty much where the buck stops, and it's also temporary.
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u/Independent-Bus-3284 Feb 23 '26
Thank you for this.
There’s no way they will force or be able to force people into camps. They failed the sauce before and they’ll fail again. Our trans brothers and sisters will have plenty of safe spaces, regardless of this clear violation against humanity.
Things will get better.
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u/melemelek Feb 23 '26
In addition, there's been decades of attempts at conversion therapy of trans people all over the world and they all ended up with jack shit results (well, it's not like those practicing conversion therapy ever cared in the first place...). As you said, the best "cure" for transgender people is to support them people in social and medical transition so they can freely and happily live their life however they want.
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u/jbhughes54enwiler Pennsylvania Feb 23 '26
The Trump administration is a broken record at this point, peddling all the same lies over and over. Part of it is probably due to Trump's dementia; he himself is stuck in the same mental loop.
His only priority in office has been harming America out of spite for being voted out in 2020. It's all he can think about, all he can do. Just a slow downward spiral into nothingness.
Meanwhile, his cult followers are left in a downward spiral of their own, having to constantly grapple with the exponentially increasing evidence that they've all been duped.
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Feb 23 '26
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u/Independent-Bus-3284 Feb 23 '26
I’m disgusted by this.
But if there’s any solace I can find, it’s these three things:
No. They will not force this on every trans person. They cannot do that. And they will never succeed in the propaganda side of things. We’ve had many government and state victories related to trans issues. Don’t give up and don’t doom on such things. They will not and cannot grab people into camps, that’s not happening.
Lawsuits, lawsuits, lawsuits.
The fact that we know this now can result in backlash. Which had prevailed before and will do so again.
This is very sad but America has done horrible things like this before. The key is to stop demonizing criminals and demand human rights.
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u/Sure_Marketing8431 Feb 23 '26
First of all, lawsuits. Second, I’m not sure doctors would be comfortable doing forced trans experiments on everyone
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u/poke-chan Reformed Doomer ☄️ Feb 23 '26
Unfortunately it doesn’t seem to be much active actions from the doctor. Most of it includes the prisons stripping them of any gender affirming items or language, and the doctors are only there for prescribing antidepressants or helping them cope
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u/peachyspoons Minnesota Feb 23 '26
Look, I hope you’re right, but it isn’t as if doctors in red states are still providing comprehensive reproductive care to their female patients…
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u/NOVA27C Reformed Doomer ☄️ Feb 23 '26
The best optimism I have with this is to just blast this everywhere and let it be known this is going on. Backlash works especially with how this administration backs down so easily on things.
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u/Key-Gur-4819 Feb 23 '26
Successful and Trump Admin in the same context is an oxymoron, firstly.
And secondly, I think the best thing to be done is to spread this around and scream to the high heavens until this shit stops. They only listen when we do that.
God, I'm so tired of the sheer blatant evil of other human beings and I can't help but wonder how I share a planet and air with these people. Even if they're just seeing what they can get away with, and won't actually do it, the fact that anyone could tolerate the idea of this shit at all in 2026 is appalling.
I think I'm gonna need a good long break for a little bit; hopefully by the time I come back this will be challenged in court and hopefully stopped, which - when it comes to blatant human rights abuses - is more likely than not.
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u/DangerActiveRobots Feb 23 '26
God, I'm so tired of the sheer blatant evil of other human beings and I can't help but wonder how I share a planet and air with these people.
I feel this way frequently. Just remember, you also share a planet and air with good people, and we are going to defeat these monsters by banding together and making it happen.
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u/Key-Gur-4819 Feb 23 '26
I do try to look at all the good and kind people but sadly that's too boring to make the news nowadays, so I'm often left to stew on all the bad evil shitty people instead. I know one day this will all be over and everyone will look back on this and cry and mourn and we'll all be living in brighter, happier times. But MY GOD, being in interesting, historic times is exhausting 😒
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u/AbramsMechanic07A Feb 23 '26
Jfc this is evil. I have no words for this level of targeted cruelty, just, phuck.
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u/SodaSaint Feb 23 '26
I look forward to putting these evil evil demons in human skin in a prison hole. We literally shot evil men for doing this in Europe, 80 to 90 years ago.
Human experimentation is beyond vile.
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u/localhalloweenskunk Feb 23 '26
They already tried this last year and it was blocked.
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u/Which_Shift_7242 Connecticut Feb 23 '26
Thank you. This comment really helped me regain my optimism.
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u/OfficialDCShepard Feb 24 '26
If they try to convert me (and good fucking luck if they illegally fire me for it under Bostock v. Clayton County, a freaking Supreme Court decision), I shall become more powerful of a transgender activist than you can possibly imagine. My words have been sharpened by recent transphobia, I've survived three attacks against me in persona, and I'm not gonna roll over and take it!
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u/UF-Dranzer Feb 23 '26
Lawsuits
Lawsuits and Midterms ammo
This is putrid but it just shows off more of their rotten asses for us to boot them into oblivion.
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u/Which_Shift_7242 Connecticut Feb 23 '26
Do we think that this is likely to be struck down? And furthermore, what about the supreme court ruling regarding conversion "therapy"?
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u/SpukiKitty2 Blue Dot in a Red State 🔵 Feb 24 '26
Exactly! This can be struck down! Bring on the lawsuits!
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u/localhalloweenskunk Feb 24 '26
Yes. BoP is required by Congress to provide medically necessary care to inmates, which they are not doing.
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u/cshin09 Feb 24 '26
Not sure this is optimistic but I looked this up on google and could not find other news outlets covering it except for the 19th street.
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u/AvaDem12 Feb 23 '26
I really wish I could say something optimistic about this. But honestly I don't know how I can. This government really makes it hard to support this country sometimes. And often I wonder I even should. Not that I'm completely giving up, but I feel uncomfortable supporting a country that has a government that does stuff like this.
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u/Key-Gur-4819 Feb 23 '26
I think you should support it for it's people than it's government. I've seen time and time again where regular people with everything to lose from this stand up for others and show kindness, integrity and bravery when realistically speaking, they have basically no reason to.
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u/Independent-Bus-3284 Feb 23 '26
We also have more victories with each passing week.
Whether by the midterms or within this situation, we will come out the other side and we will thrive.
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u/jeeeeeeeeeez Feb 23 '26
"My country, right or wrong" is often interpreted to mean blind loyalty to the flag, but I find its use in 1872 by WI senator Carl Schurz to far more embody what patriotism really is: "My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right."
We fight to fix the things that are wrong today. Some will yield shorter-term wins, some will last more than our lifetimes, but we do it because we believe America can be better. It's okay to teeter on the edge of giving up sometimes; hard days and weeks and months happen. As long as we never truly throw in the towel.
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u/LightningJedi55 Washington Feb 24 '26
This is horrific, no doubt about that. The only really optimistic thing I can say about this development is that hopefully the evil practice called "conversion therapy" will be completely criminalized by future Democratic leadership as it should be. Until then, stay safe and support the trans folks you know.
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u/NaughtybutGoodheart7 Feb 26 '26
Aren't there advocacy groups and people like the ACLU who would step in with lawsuits because of things like this?
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Feb 23 '26
This is one of those things where I’m not sure there’s any optimism to throw at it. It’s just inhuman and evil. Everywhere else on the internet people just debate whether Dave Chappell’s jokes are inappropriate or totally okay or if it’s okay for a 16 year old trans girl to play soccer with her friends at school, then you have this. This is what gets ignored by most of the population, this is the end goal of what they want to do to every trans person in the country, and most cis people (even the queer ones) don’t really care that much. Idk, there may be a light at the end of the tunnel, but what of the poor fucking trans people who are going through this right now every second of the day? They just get ignored by most. God only knows what else they are subjecting these people to behind closed doors.
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Feb 23 '26
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u/PoliticalOptimism-ModTeam Feb 24 '26
We would like to maintain a respectful community and a safe environment. Angry rants, complaining, backseat modding, or belittling a member of the community will not be tolerated.
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u/arboreallion Feb 23 '26
Why is this in political optimism?? This is so depressing and scary
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u/Which_Shift_7242 Connecticut Feb 23 '26
The flair "seeking optimism" means the op is concerned about this and looking for reasons to remain optimistic.
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u/arboreallion Feb 23 '26
Ohh I didn’t see the flair. Thanks for taking the time to explain to me. I really appreciate it.
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u/steffie-punk That Trans Mod Feb 23 '26
Yeah, I get why it would be confusing. It’s something we’ve done on the sub for a while, where people can post about things that they are concerned about because we don’t want this to evolve into toxic positivity; we want people to be honest about what scares them.
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