Kelly Cadigan, a transgender woman in the U.S. with over 882,700 followers on TikTok, said in viral videos that she doesn’t believe that trans youth under the age of 18 should be able to have access to puberty blockers or hormone replacement therapy.
Cadigan, who has shared that she transitioned at 15, is receiving backlash from members of the trans and nonbinary communities for her views.
Cadigan revealed anti-trans views shortly after the Nashville school shooting in late March when she said that the Nashville shooter, who used he/him pronouns, should be called “a woman.”
“Because they don’t deserve any respect after what they just did,” Cadigan said in a now-deleted TikTok post on March 30.
The TikToker further explained her views, saying that the trans visibility movement teaches children to be trans and that no one should transition under the age of 18.
“If you want to call me a conservative, call me a conservative. I believe in protecting children,” Cadigan says in her TikTok. “As someone who transitioned at the age 15, I truly feel like legally speaking, the age in this country that you can consent to medication is 18 years of age.”
She added that hormonal replacement therapy (HRT) should be restricted for minors.
In the following days, Cadigan posted videos saying that she was being “bullied by her own community” and called a “pick me” for catering to conservatives with her views on the Nashville shooting and gender-affirming care for trans youth.
“I’ve gone to the right and I’ve felt so welcomed,” Cadigan says in a TikTok. Since then, she has posted a series of videos documenting her daily experience “being on the right.”
In another viral video, Cadigan slammed people like Caitlyn Jenner for bringing negative visibility to the trans community. “Back before people knew what it was to be trans, before Caitlynn Jenner came out, it meant a lot more when a child would say, ‘I feel like I’m the other gender,’ because they didn’t really know what it meant to be trans,” she explained.
Many comments on Cadigan’s recent TikToks compare her to Blaire White, a far-right, trans YouTuber. Backlash has also come in the form of TikToks from other trans and nonbinary creators denouncing Cadigan’s comments about trans youth and gender-affirming care.
TikToker Nominal Naomi (@nominal.naomi), who is nonbinary, cited the life-saving effects of HRT and puberty blockers, noting that 99 percent of trans people don’t regret medically transitioning.
“If a child was diagnosed with pediatric cancer, I’m certain that you would allow them to access chemotherapy treatment because it’s life-saving medical care,” Naomi says in their TikTok addressing Cadigan. “Treatment for gender dysphoria is also proven to be life-saving medical care.”
Other videos about Kelly Cadigan have commented on why she might espouse right-wing views. Serena Daniari (@serenajazmine), a trans TikToker, called Cadigan’s “gradual shift into conservative talking points and right-wing ideology” a trauma response and said that she feels “sorry” for Cadigan.
“It’s giving Stockholm syndrome,” Daniari says in her TikTok about Cadigan. “Sometimes folks will begin to identify with their oppressor because they feel being accepted by their oppressor will bring them closer to normalcy and overall societal inclusion.”
Since then, Kelly Cadigan has continued to share anti-trans opinions on social media. On Oct. 11, she posted, “Trans people are annoying af” on Twitter. On Oct. 4, she wrote, “If you’re diagnosed with Gender Dysphoria and you refuse to take hormones, you aren’t trans. You’re a person living with dysphoria who’s not doing anything about it.”
@serenajazmine #stitch with @kelly_cadigan #trans #transgender #tgirl #transwoman #transgirl #mtf #lgbt #lgbtq #queer #queertiktok #foryou #fyp #trending #voicefeminizationsurgery #voicefeminization #surgery #plasticsurgery ♬ original sound – Serena Daniari
Cadigan’s recent comments about slavery have also come under fire. In another video, Cadigan says that “a lot of Black people enjoyed being slaves back when slavery was a thing,” though she says she’s not “defending slavery.”
Black trans TikToker @theonlypurpl3 posted a video addressing Cadigan’s comments about slavery.
“Really?” @theonlypurpl3 says in their TikTok. “Come on, be better.”
Cadigan did release an apology video that said, “I’m sorry to the Black community for what I said about slavery. I shouldn’t have said that.” But it wasn’t well received and she ended up deleting the video.