EXCLUSIVE: Oli London, a TikTok influencer who recently detransitioned after identifying as transgender, was ‘horrified’ after a LGBT activist said during a congressional hearing last week that ‘detransitioning’ is not ‘a real thing.’
On Wednesday, LGBT activist Jessie Pocock was asked about individuals who decide to detransition.
‘I’ve just never heard of a case of anyone detransitioning, so I honestly don’t think it’s a real thing,’ Pocock told Rep. Michael Cloud, R-Texas, during the hearing.
During an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, London said this type of rhetoric not only denies the stories of people like himself but also contributes to the hatred and bullying of those who regretted their attempts to change gender.
‘You know, there’s thousands and thousands of kids that have gone through these horrifying gender surgeries. And in places like Oregon, 15-year-olds can have these genital reassignment surgeries without the consent of their parents. I mean, that is absolutely horrifying,’ London said after watching the hearing.
‘Whatever people agree on — trans issues, LGBT — these are kids. You know, the fact that a kid can go behind their parents that can do this is absolutely shocking. And Cloud was just trying to highlight that there are kids out there, and they need their voices heard, and they shouldn’t be silenced.’
‘Now, she’s (Pocock) a very prominent LGBT activist, head of an organization speaking before the House Oversight Committee. So, she obviously has a lot of influence and power. She was saying that these people do not even exist. People like me don’t exist,’ London told Fox News Digital.
Pocock is the CEO of Inside Out Youth Services, a group that claims to support ‘lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, asexual, queer, questioning and two-spirit (LGBTQIA2+) youth’ in El Paso County, Colorado.
‘People like these 18-year-olds that have had their bodies altered in unnatural ways, and now they live to regret it. She is saying they don’t exist. And, you know, this was a committee meeting about combating violence against LGBT people. Well, I have to say, people like this woman are the reason why people that detransition get hate,’ said London, who has openly shared his detransition journey on TikTok to spread awareness over the decision.
‘They get bullied. They get abuse because people like her in a position of power that say these people don’t exist. You know, that shows that these people don’t care about detransition. They don’t care about it. They just care about the dream being sold that everyone who is trans is happy. And it’s simply not the case,’ he added.
During the hearing, Cloud pushed back against Pocock’s claims, defending the decision adults and young people make to detransition and said that he is ‘curious on how we’d work to protect kids.’
Fox News’ Houston Keene contributed to this report.