A new documentary takes a powerful look at the gender transition phenomenon
and the forces behind it.

�Dysconnected: The Real Story Behind the Transgender Explosion� scrutinizes
the complex social machine driving the popular but experimental practice of
medically and socially transitioning gender dysphoric people, especially
children.

The effects can be devastating, argue those interviewed in the film.

�Dysconnected� had its world premiere on Oct. 8 at the megachurch campus of
Christ Cathedral in Garden Grove, California.

The trailblazing documentary was produced by filmmaker Donald J. Johnson and
his production company, Runaway Planet Pictures. Johnson wrote, edited, and
narrated the film as well. Catholic publisher Ignatius Press executive
produced and is distributing the documentary by DVD. The film is also
available to stream.

�Dysconnected� examines how the medical, mental health, education, and
pharmaceutical industries have aligned in prescribing a swift gender
transition as the solution to gender dysphoria.

The film argues that a slew of medical and social factors contribute to the
current tsunami of gender transitions among the young, especially including
�the autism factor,� �the cool factor,� �the porn effect,� �the trauma
effect,� and trans-identifying people just wanting others to �know I exist.�

Several �detransitioners,� formerly transgender people who transitioned back
to their birth gender, share their stories in the film. Medical and mental
health professionals weigh in as well.

The documentary follows the story of Daisy Strongin, now a wife and new
mother, who identified as male as a teenager. She went on testosterone and
received a double mastectomy but later detransitioned.

�My story, as someone who has been through the thick of it, can also offer
hope to those who have transitioned and may feel regret,� Strongin told The
Daily Wire.

�It�s an important film because it challenges a narrative that has become so
widely accepted and celebrated, that average Americans are too nervous
(rightfully so) and vastly ignorant of the endless layers of this issue to
oppose it openly,� she said. �But the time has come for the status quo to
change. It is no longer uncommon for transgender ideology to deeply affect
families, especially if they have adolescent or teenage girls.�

Besides interviewing Strongin, the film also pulls clips from her old vlogs
in which she documented her gender transition, including her chest
reconstruction surgery, and ultimately her transition back to identifying as
female.

Walt Heyer, one of the first detransitioners, and detransitioner Billy
Burleigh speak about how sexual abuse can lead to gender transition and share
their personal stories. All of the trans-identifying people Heyer works with
have been broken in some way in the past, he says.

Meanwhile, the mental health profession has been flooded with �affirmation
care� protocol that does not always line up with the best interests of the
child, Pamela Garfield-Jaeger, a licensed clinical social worker who founded
The Truthful Therapist, says in the film.

Autistic children are particularly vulnerable to developing and locking into
a transgender identity with �black and white� thinking, according to Maria
Keffler, cofounder of Advocates Protecting Children, a nonprofit dedicated to
�fighting the gender industry, and especially its predation on children.�

�My entire friend group, first we all slowly realized we were gay, and now
we�re all slowly realizing we�re trans,� said a 15-year-old female autistic
detransitioner who remained anonymous for the film.

Hard-core pornography is also a driving factor in a growing number of young
girls identifying as male in order to avoid being sexualized, argue some of
the film�s interviewees.

Others interviewed in the film include Dr. Patrick Lappert, a plastic surgeon
in Alabama, billboard activist Chris Elston or �Billboard Chris� on Twitter,
Erin Brewer, cofounder of Advocates Protecting Children, Ryan T. Anderson,
author of �When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment,�
Christopher West of the Theology of the Body Institute, Abigail Favale,
author of �The Genesis of Gender,� and Carl Trueman, author of �Strange New
World.�

The film focuses heavily on the interviews but splices them with news
headlines, newscast footage, social media content, and animation to
illustrate its points.

It concludes with an emphasis on the intrinsic spiritual value of the human
being as body and soul from a Catholic perspective.

During the making of the documentary, Strongin found out she was pregnant
with her first baby, a boy she and her husband named Gabriel. The film ends
on this uplifting note that healing is possible for the victims of the
transgender movement.

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Let's go Brandon!