A Florida woman who transitioned from female to male at age 14 only to leave again three years later is telling her story in a new documentary that she hopes will inspire others to think.
Isabelle Ayala, now 20, is suing the American Academy of Pediatrics, claiming she was given testosterone after a 45-minute appointment while living in Rhode Island.
She told the documentary filmmakers she was relieved she was never offered the kind of surgery she would have wanted – and that would have ruined her life.
“I just don’t want this to happen to other vulnerable young girls,” Ayala said.
She said doctors examined her for just a few minutes before she was diagnosed with gender dysphoria.
“If I had just been examined a little more carefully, this would never have happened – but it took you 45 minutes to change my entire life and cause me irreversible health problems.”
Isabelle Ayala transitioned from female to male at the age of 14; Three years later she realized she had made a mistake
She told the New York Post she felt the procedures were being offered too early and too quickly.
“I don't want puberty to be the enemy.” “I don't want our natural biology to be the enemy,” she said.
The documentary is part of the Independent Women's Forum series entitled Identity Crisis. Ayala's 12-minute episode, “The Detransitioner Taking on the American Academy of Pediatrics,” shares how she found a trans community online and embraced the idea of transitioning.
She said she was sexually abused as a child and sought escape.
“I decided to transition because I had a series of unfortunate things to do with being female. And those things made me hate being female,” she said, adding that she I first came across the trans community on Tumblr at the age of 11.
“This will fix me,” she remembered.
Ayala said internet forums and social media taught her to say she was suicidal, so at age 14 she convinced doctors to help her. She is now suing her on the grounds that she was used as a guinea pig.
Ayala was prescribed testosterone, which she injected herself
“I learned from the internet that I had to be convincing.” [my doctors and family] “If they don’t confirm me, I will kill myself,” she said.
“I was a healthy child,” she said in the documentary. “I was a physically healthy child.
Ayala claims Dr. Jason Rafferty, chair of the LGBTQ+ Health and Wellness Committee of the American Academy of Pediatrics, prescribed testosterone after the first visit.
She said she is taking legal action to prevent others from suffering.
“I don’t want these doctors practicing anymore, I really don’t,” she said. “I don’t think they deserve to practice if they ignore the damage they’re doing.”
Kelsey Bolar, the IWF's storytelling director and executive producer of the documentary, told the New York Post that Ayala's story is compelling.
“What I find so interesting about Isabelle is that she is a gentle person and not someone who seeks attention,” Bolar said.
“She’s really doing this for the right reasons.”
Ayala claims doctors ignored the fact that she has autism, ADHD and post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder and depression when she was prescribed the medication.
She now suffers from daily pain with symptoms such as vaginal dryness, burning and itching that usually occur after menopause, and is unsure whether she will be able to have children in the future.
Ayala is suing the doctors who treated her and the American Academy of Pediatrics, an association of pediatricians, which she alleges knowingly misled the public by publishing and distributing a fraudulent “policy statement” on affirmative care, which has been considered by many to be an authoritative guide for the treatment of gender-confused children in the United States.
Isabelle Ayala, now 20, is suing the doctors who treated her and the American Academy of Pediatrics
Dr. Jason Rafferty (pictured left), a Harvard graduate, was the author of the association's 2018 policy statement, which essentially created the “affirmative care” model, in which the doctor is guided by the wishes expressed by the patient and this recognizes, confirms and supports the identity provided by the person. On the right in the picture is Dr. Seeing Michelle Forcier, one of the country's most prominent figures in gender-affirming hormones and care plans, who contributed to Ayala's care
Insurance claims for puberty blockers have doubled in the U.S. since 2017
She also told doctors she wasn't sure whether she should take testosterone because she might want to have a biological child in the future.
Testosterone is a male hormone that stops the menstrual cycle and reduces the ovaries' ability to produce estrogen, meaning it can affect fertility and sexual function.
In November 2017, she attempted suicide.
She later moved back to Florida in June 2018 and continued taking testosterone for about a year before quitting cold turkey.
Without the sex hormones, Ayala gradually overcame her gender dysphoria and realized she was not a boy.
Years of testosterone injections have left her with vaginal atrophy, physical pain and the triggering of an autoimmune disorder, Hashimoto's disease, which only runs in men in her family.
“Isabelle suffered from vaginal atrophy due to excessive testosterone consumption; she takes care of excess facial and body hair; she struggles with compromised bone structure; she is unsure whether her fertility is irreversibly impaired; “She continues to have mental health issues and suffers from episodes of anxiety and depression, compounded by feelings of regret,” the lawsuit says.
Other dissenters have sued medical providers, but Ayala is the first to directly target the American Academy of Pediatrics.
They did not comment on their case, which was filed in October. She is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.