Why is the Christian Faith of a Detransitioned Navy Seal Being Downplayed in Right Wing Press?

In a two hour interview Chris Beck spoke about his Christian faith, white culture, CRT, wokism, his history of opiate abuse, and his desire to save kids from being transgender.

by Evan Urquhart

Just 6.5 minutes into a 2-hr interview with conservative Christian YouTuber Robby Starbuck, detransitioner Chris Beck first mentions Christianity. “I destroyed everything in my life that was holy, the temple of God is our bodies,” he says, gesturing at his body. The story of this decorated former Navy Seal who came out as a trans woman in 2013 and was interviewed by Andersen Cooper has seen wide coverage in right wing media. But Beck’s Christian faith is clearly central to his life post-detransition, and while the basic story of Beck’s detransition is all over the right wing press, they’ve largely avoided mention of his Christianity, as well many other aspects of his wide-ranging interview with Starbuck. The interview touched on critical race theory, vaccines, alternative explanations for 9/11, and other notable topics, but none of this has merited coverage in the many right wing and Christian media outlets which have chosen to present a carefully sanitized version of the story.

Even the watered down version may raise questions for some readers, chief among them why exactly Beck has detransitioned. In an interview for the New York Post, he talked about the hardships of living as a trans woman and the social isolation, poverty, and death threats he faced from people angry about his Anderson Cooper interview.

Economic hardship and social isolation are clearly linked in Beck’s mind to his detransition, which comes through here. But none of the stories are mentioning Beck’s Christianity as a driver of Beck’s decision to detransition, though it seems key to understanding his journey. Beck says that he was never trans, but that he did have gender dysphoria. This is a key distinction in many politically active detransition communities. These communities don’t cater to people who never had gender dysphoria, or even those who no longer experience it, instead rejecting transition as a treatment for gender dysphoria, regardless of its efficacy. It seems likely from the interview with Starbuck that Beck shares this view. At one point he contrasts the beliefs of LGBTQ+ people with “my beliefs, my Jesus, my God” and later says he’s there acting as a witness which is “really big in Christianity.” Former detransitioners have described being encouraged in the detransition community to treat gender dysphoria much like a substance abuse problem, learning to live with pain and discomfort around their bodies and fight the lifelong impulses they feel to deal with the discomfort via transition.

Substance abuse, perhaps not coincidentally, figures heavily into Beck’s story. He describes crushing oxycontin and snorting it during or perhaps shortly before the time when he was first exploring his gender. Beck believes he was taken advantage of by his psychologist and co-author, Anne Speckhard, who he portrays as being motivated by money. He says Speckhard failed to consider other possible explanations for his gender dysphoria and rushed him towards transitioning.

There is no evidence that alternative treatments such as talk therapy are effective in treating gender dysphoria, but there certainly may be some truth to the idea that Beck was a culnerable person, dealing with severe substance abuse and military trauma, and he may not have been best served by the publicity that came with co-authoring a book and being on national news as a newly out transgender woman. Beck describes himself as not knowing anything about being transgender or transition, and says he’d never have transitioned without Speckhard’s influence. While taking responsibility for his choices, Beck says that others who knew more than him, particularly his co-author, manipulated him into becoming a transgender spokesperson.

Additional context is provided in the interview Beck did with Starbuck, which did not remain focused on trans issues but ranged widely over a number of far right and even conspiracist topics. It was conducted jointly, with Beck and his fiancee (dentified only as Courtney). Both Beck and Courtney speak about experiences they had when they attended college after both spending time in the military. Beck speaks angrily about being placed on academic probation after writing an essay about race which seems to have been prompted by his anger that discussions of nonwhite cultures took place, but there was no discussion of white culture. Courtney, for her part, tells a story about angrily responding to a student of color to defend white people, then having difficulties with the class and the professor after this. The portion of the interview that touches on race is quite extended, and a clear theme is Beck and his fiancee’s resentment and grievance over their perception that, as white people, they were expected to feel guilty by their college professors. They also seem to feel that hatred towards white people is a major issue in America. (It isn’t.)

Beck seems very poorly informed, and makes many wild claims about the numbers and statistics around trans issues that are either false or extremely misleading. However it is his fiancee who makes the most controversial statements, including saying that Americans should not serve in the military as long as vaccinations are required, and that while she joined the military under the belief that 9/11 was a terrorist attack, she no longer believes this, implying that the American government were actually responsible. While Beck does not state an opinion about 9/11 conspiracy theories, neither he nor the YouTube hosts seem surprised, and nobody pushes back on Courtney’s statements in any way, suggesting that Beck may be in agreement or partial agreement with his fiancee’s extreme opinions and conspiracy beliefs.

It’s impossible to understand who Beck is and why he’s begun speaking publicly about his detransition without understanding his Christian faith, his resentment over racial issues, and his proximity to conspiracy theories. Beck seems to genuinely believe that he is responsible for children being led away from God through medical transition, and wants to save such children by showing them the love of Jesus. This is a perspective he should be encouraged to share fully. Obscuring it only leads to misunderstanding of who Beck is and how exactly he hopes to help young people who are struggling with gender dysphoria.