Kenneth Zucker: The Psychologist Gender Activists Tried to Silence (#31)

From founding North America's first pediatric gender clinic in 1975 to being fired by activists in 2015 (and winning an $800,000 settlement), Dr. Ken Zucker has witnessed—and shaped—the entire evolution of gender medicine. In this remarkable conversation, the architect of gender dysphoria diagnoses in DSM-3R, 4, and 5 reveals how "gender identity disorder" became "gender dysphoria," why social transition flips desistance rates from 80% to 12%, and how activists "put the gender identity tail on the sexual orientation dog." His most striking revelation: Christina Olson's new data shows 88% of socially transitioned children persist—compared to only 12% persistence in his Toronto clinic. As Zucker observes: "When it comes to sex and gender, nowadays people stop thinking." From the paradox of homosexuality leaving the DSM while GID entered it, to WPATH's "talking out of both sides of their mouth" (claiming it's both natural diversity AND medically necessary), this is the insider account of how gender medicine transformed from careful assessment to "treatment on demand."