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Benjamin Ryan Profile picture
@benryanwriter
Feb 2 • 24 tweets • 14 min read • Read on X
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A Legal First That Could Change Gender Medicine

At 16, Fox Varian got a mastectomy while undergoing a gender transition. She sued her psychologist and plastic surgeon for leaving her ‘disfigured for life.’ Benjamin Ryan reports from the courtroom.

Read the @TheFP article: thefp.com/p/a-legal-firs…

Follow and support my Substack, where I cover pediatric gender medicine: benryan.substack.com. I was the only reporter to attend the entire three-week trial and will be providing more in-depth reporting and commentary on the case.

The opening of my Free Press article:

Fox Varian had a turbulent childhood. Her parents split when she was seven, triggering a three-year custody battle that ultimately saw her estranged from her father. She suffered from a constellation of mental health problems, including depression, anxiety, and social phobia. She was diagnosed with autism and bounced around various schools. Her first period sent her into a meltdown, and she battled disordered eating and body-image issues. By mid-adolescence, she was completely lost.

At 15, she began questioning her gender during sessions with her psychologist. She changed her birth name, Isabella, to Gabriel, which she saw as androgynous. Over the next two months, she cut her hair short, began binding her breasts, switched her name again, to Rowan, and started telling people she was transgender.

In December 2019, 11 months after she started this public social transition, Varian underwent surgery to remove her breasts. She was 16 years old.

Varian, who adopted the name Fox at 18 and is now 22, is one of thousands of minors who underwent gender-transition surgery over the past decade. And she is just one of the young people who have come to regret permanently addressing what was only a temporary identity shift.

Three years after her mastectomy, Varian stopped identifying as transgender and began a process known as detransitioning. In May 2023, she filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against the two principal Westchester County, New York, care providers who oversaw her gender transition: her long-time psychologist, Kenneth Einhorn, and Dr. Simon Chin, who performed the mastectomy.

On Friday, a jury in White Plains, New York, awarded Varian $2 million in damages. Varian’s case is the first malpractice suit from a detransitioner to go before a jury, and I was the only reporter to attend the entire three-week trial. Represented by personal-injury attorney Adam Deutsch, Varian said she had been injured by the defendants due to their deviation from standard practices and a lack of informed consent. While there are no guarantees in medical malpractice lawsuits, legal experts believe Varian’s victory could inspire a wave of similar cases that would significantly disrupt pediatric gender medicine.Image
Claire Deacon, mother to Fox Varian, the detransitioner who won a $2M jury award after suing her care providers over the mastectomy she got at 16, testified that Varian's psychologist, Kenneth Einhorn, browbeat her into consenting with threats of her child's suicide.

I report for @TheFP:
thefp.com/p/a-legal-firs…

Subscribe to my Substack for further in-depth reporting about the case. I was the only reporter to attend the entire three-week trial. benryan.substack.comImage
Dr. Loren Schechter, the head of gender-affirming surgery at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago and the president-elect of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), testified that gender-transition surgery is not form of suicide prevention. thefp.com/p/a-legal-firs…Image
What can go wrong when care providers subscribe blindly to the "affirmation-only" ethos that swept across the United States in the 2010s.

Kenneth Einhorn, psychologist to Fox Varian, did not question her desire for a gender-transition mastectomy, Varian testified in her civil trial against him. It cost her her breasts and him $1.4 million in damages.
thefp.com/p/a-legal-firs…Image
I also published this complementary piece about my Free Press article on the $2M detransioner jury award in which I discuss how those caring for Fox Varian misinterpreted her gender-related distress as signs she was meant to grow into a young man. In fact, she was terrified of being a woman. benryan.substack.com/p/i-report-for…

Subscribe to my Substack, where I cover pediatric gender medicine, and kindly support my reporting: benryan.substack.comImage
I spoke with @MegynKelly's show about Friday's historic $2 million jury award to Fox Varian, a detransitioner who sued her care providers over the gender-transition mastectomy she received at age 16. I covered the trial for @TheFP and was the only journalist to attend the whole three-week trial in White Plains.

Apple podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tru…

Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/6VeLw8…

YouTube: youtube.com/watch?v=25h7sp…

Here is my article for The Free Press: thefp.com/p/a-legal-firs…Image
@megynkelly @TheFP I'll be speaking on Substack Live with the great @Meghan_Daum today, Monday, at 6pm ET about my reporting on the historic $2M jury award that the detransitioner Fox Varian received on Friday. I was the only reporter to attend the entire trial.
open.substack.com/live-stream/10…Image
The $2 Million Detransitioner Lawsuit Case File Is Sealed. But I Have Those Records. Here Are Some Of Them.

I obtained all the case files in the Varian v. Einhorn lawsuit before they were sealed at the start of the trial. And I was there to record how the jury voted on the over 20 questions put before them.benryan.substack.com/p/the-2-millio…Image
I’m too tired to go into all the details, but as usual @JulieRei only sort of gets the facts right. Julie, please read my reporting on the case. See above for my Free Press article and two Substacks, in which I include all the jury questions—a key missing detail in your limited take on the case. You’re stuck with me, because I was the only reporter to attend the whole trial and the transcripts are sealed. As for trained gender specialists being immune to these lawsuits, Olson-Kennedy is one and she didn’t assess Clementine Breen before putting her on blockers on her first appointment.Image
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@megynkelly @TheFP @meghan_daum @JulieRei This is a remarkable find by @byrne_a: Dr. Loren Schecter, president elect of WPATH and head of gender-affirming surgery at Rush Univ, appears to have done a 180 on whether gender-transition surgeries prevent suicide:
This attack on my work over on Bluesky is so typically narrow minded and myopic, given that, as this court case demonstrated in unsparing and excruciating detail, Fox Varian, the plaintiff, *was not transgender.* She got sucked up into the trans-care system and came out maimed.

I would ask people such as this Bluesky crank if they care anything for people like Fox. They seem very eager to dismiss her suffering as acceptable collateral damage for a higher cause.Image
@megynkelly @TheFP @meghan_daum @JulieRei @byrne_a I had a great chat with @meghan_daum about the successful detransitioner lawsuit:
@megynkelly @TheFP @meghan_daum @JulieRei @byrne_a I went on The Ann and Phelim Scoop to discuss my reporting about the $2M jury award in the nation's first detransitioner lawsuit to make it to trial.
@megynkelly @TheFP @meghan_daum @JulieRei @byrne_a I went on the @ScottJenningsKY show to discuss my reporting for @TheFP about the nation's first detransitioner lawsuit to go to trial. It reached a $2M jury award on Friday.
@megynkelly @TheFP @meghan_daum @JulieRei @byrne_a @ScottJenningsKY It’s always great to talk with @BuckAngel, who as the number one trans man in America is nevertheless hated by trans activists for being some sort of, what, transphobe? We talked about the historic $2M verdict in the detransitioner lawsuit.
@megynkelly @TheFP @meghan_daum @JulieRei @byrne_a @ScottJenningsKY @BuckAngel I went on @MegynKelly's radio show to discuss the $2M detransitioner lawsuit: megynkelly.com/2026/02/02/det…
@megynkelly @TheFP @meghan_daum @JulieRei @byrne_a @ScottJenningsKY @BuckAngel x.com/anish_koka/sta… x.com/anish_koka/sta…
@megynkelly @TheFP @meghan_daum @JulieRei @byrne_a @ScottJenningsKY @BuckAngel x.com/anish_koka/sta… x.com/anish_koka/sta…
@megynkelly @TheFP @meghan_daum @JulieRei @byrne_a @ScottJenningsKY @BuckAngel My appearance on @CBSNews:
@megynkelly @TheFP @meghan_daum @JulieRei @byrne_a @ScottJenningsKY @BuckAngel @CBSNews Reposting this one, after they did some edits:
@megynkelly @TheFP @meghan_daum @JulieRei @byrne_a @ScottJenningsKY @BuckAngel @CBSNews I spoke with @sometherapist:
@megynkelly @TheFP @meghan_daum @JulieRei @byrne_a @ScottJenningsKY @BuckAngel @CBSNews @sometherapist The YouTube version of the @sometherapist interview:
@megynkelly @TheFP @meghan_daum @JulieRei @byrne_a @ScottJenningsKY @BuckAngel @CBSNews @sometherapist I spoke with the @NewYorkSun about the detransitioner lawsuit.
@megynkelly @TheFP @meghan_daum @JulieRei @byrne_a @ScottJenningsKY @BuckAngel @CBSNews @sometherapist @NewYorkSun I spoke with the Lisa Wexler Show in Connecticut about the Fox Varian detransitioner lawsuit.
shows.acast.com/the-lisa-wexle…

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More from @benryanwriter

Benjamin Ryan Profile picture
May 17
New York Magazine reviewing work of writer facing plagiarism allegations, @BobbyAllyn reports for @NPR.

New York magazine is examining the past work of one of its writers who has been accused of plagiarism after publishing at least three stories with striking similarities to other published work.

@RossBarkan, who is a contract writer for the magazine, first attracted critical scrutiny when one of his stories earlier this week on the conservative influencer @BenShapiro appeared to copy another piece on Shapiro published days before in The Washington Post.

When this was pointed out on social media, the magazine updated Barkan's story to directly quote the Post writer, @drewharwell, whose opening paragraphs Barkan lifted nearly wholesale.

After this, NPR found at least two other instances in which Barkan apparently pulled partial paragraphs from other stories that appeared in the publications @theintercept and @CompactMag.Image
npr.org/2026/05/17/nx-…
Image
Read 5 tweets
Benjamin Ryan Profile picture
May 13
NYU professor @JonHaidt, who has stood at the forefront of the movement to challenge academia’s culture of suppressing the free exchange of ideas, is facing a campaign to cancel his graduation address. nytimes.com/2026/05/13/us/…Image
NYU’s Student Government Assembly is urging the university to reconsider selecting Jonathan Haidt as commencement speaker, arguing his views on DEI, transgender identity and social justice are out of step with the values and diversity of the Class of 2026. The letter says students feel “disappointment, disgust, defeat, and embarrassment” over the choice of @JonHaidt and accuses NYU of prioritizing a narrow ideological narrative over students’ experiences.Image
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The NYU protesters have held up as exemplars a number of past speakers: Molly Shannon, Taylor Swift, and David Boies.
Read 6 tweets
Benjamin Ryan Profile picture
May 12
Progressive journalist David Roberts says: “It's hard to avoid the conclusion that Bluesky has been a net negative for US politics. They corralled everyone on the left into a little glass fishbowl where they shout at one another & everyone else ignores them. Meanwhile, all the pols & institutions stayed on X & are being dragged farther right.”Image
Progressive journalist Marisa Kabas says it’s not right to blame Bluesky. It’s all X’s fault. Image
The bird’s eye view:
Read 8 tweets
Benjamin Ryan Profile picture
May 4
Azeen Ghorayshi and Austin Mitchell were 2026 Pulitzer Prize finalists for their podcast The Protocol about youth gender medicine. Image
A must listen: nytimes.com/2025/06/02/pod…
Like clockwork, Harvard Law School clinical instructor and trans activist Alejandra Caraballo has expressed her rage that Azeen Ghorayshi was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. Caraballo does not seem to understand that being a finalist in and of itself is a considerable honor. Image
Read 5 tweets
Benjamin Ryan Profile picture
Apr 28
Taylor Lorenz publishes effective advertorial

In @TaylorLorenz’s new Substack, she used Panagram to detect how many top Substackers are using AI to produce their articles, in an apparent effort to criticize their ethics.

Panagram sponsored Lorenz’s Substack, revealing that it is effectively an advertorial. She doesn’t make a note of this sponsorship until the very end of her article.

This comes after Lorenz was widely criticized for posting a free ad for The Bark Phone, which is parental-control software for a children’s smartphone. In the ad, Lorenz touted smartphones as good for kids because they help kids express themselves.Image
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Should a tech journalist such as @TaylorLorenz weave sponsorship of tech products into her reporting thanks to receiving payments from tech companies? That’s what Lorenz did here with Panagram:
usermag.co/p/how-much-of-…
@TaylorLorenz When magazines run advertorials, they typically change the layout to make abundantly clear that this is sponsored content. The disclaimer about it being sponsored content is typically at the top of the text, not buried at the very end, as Lorenz has done.
Read 7 tweets
Benjamin Ryan Profile picture
Apr 26
In Erin Reed’s chat group, people debate whether it would be better to attend this Sunday conference panel of four skeptics of pediatric gender medicine and ask pointed questions, boycott it, or disrupt it with boos. Frank Dowling, who refers to the group as “frauds”, was among the AMA members whose LGBTQ message board posts I quoted from in my reporting for @thefp about how members reacted to the organization coming out against youth gender surgeries: thefp.com/p/the-medical-…Image
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Same guy: thefp.com/p/the-medical-…Image
Psychiatrist Frank Dowling advocates disrupting Sunday’s conference panel from the pediatric gender medicine skeptics: Image
Read 6 tweets

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