After a detransitioner’s landmark financial reward of $2 million in damages for her gender transition, more and more detransitioners are following suit. Prominent detransitioner activist Chloe Cole, who was medically transitioned to male at the age of 16, has announced she is suing the medical professionals who moved her transition forward. Cole began puberty blockers and later testosterone at 12 years old. Prior to that, Cole described herself as “very stereotypically girly.” “My entire closet was chock full of bright colors, bright pinks, especially sparkles. My dad often tells me that at that time, I wouldn’t even leave the house without wearing sparkles or bright pink,” she told Deseret News.

As she grew older, however, and puberty began to hit, Cole slowly became more uncomfortable with her body. She became familiar with the idea of gender transitions through the internet and began to identify with other transgender individuals who celebrated their double mastectomy scars and had experienced the same feelings of isolation and self-loathing she felt. Trying to help her, her parents put her in counseling, with no idea how far it would go. “Everything was pointing my parents toward getting intervention as early as possible, but what they thought medical help meant was just that I would be counseled through these feelings, not pushed down the medical route,” she recalled.

It became apparent, however, that the medical professionals would only present her parents with one option: medical transition. “And my mom and dad were told that I was going to probably die without this treatment, that I would likely become more and more suicidal as time went on, as I progress through puberty, as I started to look more and more like a woman, I would be able to handle this female appearance, really this part of life that every woman and every man goes through in order to become an adult, and that I needed intervention as early as possible,” Cole told Fox News Digital. No other alternatives were given, and the possibility of regretting her transition was never discussed.

And so, at age 16, Cole underwent a double mastectomy. But it didn’t bring the joy she had been promised. In fact, less than a year after her surgery, a health class on breastfeeding made her realize what she had given up. “In another world I could have had a child at my breast, and I could have nourished them. … I felt like such a monster that I felt compelled to take that option away from them. And for years, I hated myself,” she said. What followed was years of what can be described as “ideological unraveling” and a return to being a woman.

Meanwhile, Cole is fighting back at the system she says failed her. At age 18, she filed an intent to sue in California Superior Court. “I’m suing Kaiser Permanente for fraud and malpractice and damages after they medically transitioned me between the ages of 12 to 16, giving me puberty blockers, testosterone, and eventually ending in a double mastectomy surgery to get rid of my breasts, because this is something that has caused great harm in my life. It took away the final formative years of my childhood, and it’s left me with lasting impacts on my health and on me emotionally as well,” she told Fox News Digital. Now 21, Cole has a court date set for the lawsuit on April 5, 2027. She is represented by the Center for American Liberty. Congress, as well, has introduced the Chloe Cole Act, which would make the gender transitioning of minors illegal nationwide.

Both Cole and her lawyers hope the move will encourage other detransitioners to seek legal action. “I think this is really like the tip of the spear for this type of litigation, specifically to the gender industrial complex. I kind of liken this to the early days of Big Tobacco litigation,” said Mark Trammell, CEO of the Center for American Liberty. “And you know, I think when Chloe’s case is successful and when there’s a jury verdict awarding her damages, I think it’s going to encourage others to come forward…I think it’s going to provide a lot of hope for a lot of young people, knowing that there is an opportunity to seek justice. Justice can be attained.”