Rethink Identity Medicine Ethics
This content was last updated April 8, 2024, 6:18 p.m. UTC
Rethink Identity Medicine Ethics (ReIME) is an anti-trans 501(c)(3) charity based in Dover, Delaware. Founded by Jane Wheeler, previously a human rights lawyer, the organization’s activism includes advocating for conversion therapy for trans youth and spreading misinformation about the safety and efficacy of gender-affirming treatments.
Technically, PBs can be used as a ‘pause’ for diagnostic purposes, but drs who prescribe them know that 98% of cases will go onto CSHormones, so actually they r part of a treatment pathway that will sterilize + lead to sexual dysfunction to which the child legally can’t consent.
Founding
ReIME was founded in 2019 by Jane Wheeler and received nonprofit status until January 9, 2020. Wheeler is a lesbian and retired lawyer who previously worked for Lawyers for Human Rights, now known as the Los Angeles LGBT Bar Association. Despite her prior work, Wheeler has expressed support for the gender critical movement since at least 2017, having shared her personal experiences with masculine womanhood, which she believes to be the same as gender dysphoria in comments on a 4th Wave Now blog post.
Following the group’s founding, ReIME began a mailing campaign in support of conversion therapy and the organization’s views on gender-affirming care has been used by various groups in support of restricting access to medical treatments.
Finances
As a 501(c)(3) non-profit group with gross receipts under $50,000 in yearly revenue, ReIME does not have publicly available tax information to review. The organization has only two front-facing members as of 2023.
History of Anti-LGBTQ+ Activism
Wheeler, credited as the president of ReIME, was quoted in the New York Times article “Chest Binding Helps Smooth the Way for Transgender Teens, but There May Be Risks.” In the article, Wheeler claims wearing binders “feeds into a normalization of body hatred, that some forms of body hatred are O.K.” Her quotes are hosted alongside a quote from Brie Jontry, credited as a spokesperson for the anti-trans site 4thWaveNow.
In March of 2019, ReIME drafted a letter opposing the language of Minnesota’s House Bill 12, which intended to stop the misrepresentation, funding, and public offering of conversion therapy. In the letter, Wheeler states “Specifically, we strongly believe that exploration of gender identities should not be stymied or prematurely foreclosed, especially when such foreclosure may lead to permanent, invasive medical procedures.” Trans individuals who undergo conversion therapy are at a much higher risk for suicide than those who do not, among other issues.
In late 2019, ReIME responded to an open call by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Victor Madrigal-Borloz, who requested input on the practice of conversion therapy. Wheeler, who is not a medical professional in any capacity, was identified as an “independent expert” and claimed “mental health professionals should have the clear latitude to offer appropriate therapies such as ‘watchful waiting’ or ‘extended assessments’ to an individual without concern for disciplinary action.” Madrigal-Borloz went on to declare conversion therapy “may amount to torture” and called for a global ban on the practice.
ReIME wrote to Canada’s Committee on Justice and Human Rights in response to Bill C-6, which would strictly outlaw the practice of conversion therapy. The letter incorrectly claims “Unlike the research history with respect to same-sex attractions treatments, where the harms and ineffectualness of coercive therapies is well established, the field of treating gender identity and dysphoria in children and youth is nascent with no long term follow up studies showing which approaches are best practices when addressing incongruence.” Conversion therapy is a heavily scrutinized practice that is specifically disallowed by the American Psychiatric Association.
Wheeler was interviewed by Preston Sprinkle for his YouTube channel, in which she claims “the harms are irreversible” in regards to gender-affirming treatment for trans youth, and treatments are “medicalizing a condition.”
ReIME’s Twitter regularly suppports content by anti-trans activists and organizations, including Leor Sapir, Genspect, Jesse Singal, and J.K. Rowling. The account is also used to present dubiously scientific evidence for their positions, such as articles that conflate symptoms of gender dysphoria with those of autism.