Colorado detransitioner’s story anchors Protect Kids Colorado event on safeguarding vulnerable children

By Antoinette De La Cruz | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice

My name is Antoinette. I am a detransitioner. And I want to save Colorado’s children from enduring the anguish I’ve been through.

I began exploring transitioning into a man during my late teenage years and spent nearly 20 years trying to turn myself into a man before I realized my mistake. Now I am mutilated and sterilized as the result of multiple surgeries with life-threatening complications. My body has been a battlefield of “gender affirmative care.”

I grew up in a household of physical, mental and sexual abuse and during my childhood, I learned I had no value as a person and certainly no value as a girl. I learned that being a girl meant being a target. And I did not want to be a target.

So I transitioned to be a man. Transitioning gave me a way to hide from a lifetime of abuse which left me feeling vulnerable, unimportant, and unloved. It wasn’t safe to be a woman, but it seemed valuable to be a man. And that is what I was seeking—to be valued.

At a young age, I began to pursue transitioning. I first learned of the idea when a leader of my after school gay club began socially transitioning. I was fascinated. She introduced me to chest binders and to the idea that “I feel like I am a man” meant a woman could become one.

I began heavily consuming videos of transition content on YouTube, searching for answers to my pain. Finally, I connected with a doctor in Denver who provided me—without hesitation or oversight—a prescription for heavy doses of testosterone, which I then remained on for 14 years.

Despite my conflicted feelings about transitioning, I decided that to be truly fulfilled, I had to completely disconnect from everything that made me a woman.

So next came surgeons.

Again, without hesitation or careful consideration, doctors eagerly took my insurance money in exchange for removing perfectly healthy womanly tissue and organs. My ovaries were removed. My uterus was removed. My breasts were removed. My ability to conceive and give life to a baby was removed.

Under the guise of “compassionate gender affirming care” my underlying mental health issues were ignored and my body was physically altered forever.

And I am worried because today in Colorado, young, vulnerable children are being led down this same dangerous life-altering path. The anguish and pain of my sex transitioning experience is not a burden that should be set upon children. Responsible adults root children in reality and provide children with the mental and emotional support they need when kids ache for love and acceptance. Children should be taught they have inherent value as individuals and that there are individuals who are girls and individuals who are boys.

Being a man did not solve any of my problems. I needed compassionate mental health care grounded in reality. I needed a medical community that cared enough to keep me whole.

That’s why I am honored to join with Protect Kids Colorado and Colorado Principled Physicians in a unique and exceptional event “From Heartbreak to Hope: The Dangers of Childhood Transition and How You Can Protect Colorado’s Most Vulnerable.”  I will share my story alongside national voices Erin Friday, Esq., president of Our Duty, and Dr. James Lindsay, a New York Times best-selling author and globally recognized expert, who will explain the ideological and medical roots of gender transition practices targeting children. 

We will help attendees understand the issues involved with the transitioning of children and will provide encouraging information that will move our communities in a positive life-giving direction.

Please attend our free event, particularly if it means doing what I did—listening to people with whom you may not agree. Together we can save Colorado’s children from a lifetime of unimaginable suffering and enable them to live whole and free. 

Event Details

When: Thursday, November 20, 2025 | 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM MST (Doors Open at 5:30)

Where: Dayspring Christian Church, 8005 Highlands Meadow Pkwy Fort Collins, CO 80528

Cost: FREE 

Registration: Free and open to all – Secure Your Spot today!

Editor’s note: Opinions expressed in commentary pieces are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the management of the Rocky Mountain Voice, but even so we support the constitutional right of the author to express those opinions.