Trans man with cerebral palsy reacts to Marjorie Taylor Greene’s ignorance

A disabled transgender college student who was attacked online after he shared a video of himself following top surgery has spoken out against the intolerance he experienced.

Micah Leroy, who is studying at the University of Minnesota, has cerebral palsy. He has been out as trans since he was 14 and uses social media to educate his followers.

Cerebral palsy is a group of life-long conditions which affect movement and co-ordination. The condition develops before, during or soon after birth, according to the NHS. Between 30 and 50 per cent of people with the have an intellectual disability, but half have no cognitive impairments.

Last month, Leroy, now 19, shared a photograph of himself shirtless after receiving top surgery, a gender-affirming medical procedure which many trans-masculine people have to remove unwanted breast tissue from their chests.

The photograph attracted the attention of well-known anti-trans campaigners, including Oli London and Riley Gaines, who misgendered Leroy and wrongly claimed he was unable to make his own medical decisions.

London said doctors gave Leroy top surgery to “turn” him trans, while Gaines claimed he is “non-verbal”, despite the fact that he can communicate by writing and using a speech-generating device. He also communicates using his own voice, which people close to him can understand.

Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is notorious for her controversial comments and anti-trans stance, took to social media to ask who “allowed” Leroy to receive gender-affirming care.

“What doctor did this? What hospital allowed this? Who paid for this?” she wrote.

Right-wingers also flooded Leroy’s Facebook and Instagram accounts, reporting them to Meta who took them down for “child sexual exploitation, abuse and nudity”.

Leroy’s appeals against the bans have been unsuccessful.

“I am my own legal guardian and I am the one who posted it,” he said in a video published by MPR News. “I am publicly sharing my experience as a disabled adult and as a transgender man with cerebral palsy because I want people to know that it is possible to be disabled and trans.”

His goal is to ” work within the state or federal legislature”. He went on to say: “With all the hate this has stirred up, I believe any publicity is good publicity in furthering my goals. As well as that, this experience has only made me want to speak out more about disabled and trans issues as the negative responses I got have shown a side of the world that is intolerant and discriminatory based on what they perceive others can and cannot do.”

After Leroy’s video went viral, fellow trans man and disability awareness speaker Leo Aces condemned the “toxic transphobia and ableism” directed at the student.

“Talking from personal experience, as an activist and awareness speaker, who is also a trans man with cerebral palsy, I am horrified by the overall reaction Micah’s video has received,” Aces told PinkNews.

“I believe the timing of his post, coinciding with Meta’s free-speech changes and the run-up to the presidential inauguration, unfortunately led to a toxic storm of transphobia and ableism.”

Leroy’s video “provides a catalyst for a much larger conversation [because] the visibility of physical disability and gender identity can attract controversy because [of] the systemic notion that disabled people have less agency”, Aces added. 

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