Trans People Share Bribes They Received to “Stop Being Trans,” and WTF?

It’s unfortunately all too common for families or loved ones of transgender people to not accept their transition, but some people go even further and offer bribes in exchange for not transitioning. In a Reddit post titled “What’s the biggest bribe you’ve been offered to ‘not be trans?’” transgender people discussed the biggest, smallest, and stupidest offers they’ve received in an attempt to stop their transition.

The original post’s author offered to go first, recounting how he sold his motorcycle to pay for his upcoming gender reassignment surgery.

“After that, my mother, who had opposed my transition every step of the way, offered to take me to a dealership to buy a brand new car (on the condition that I cancel the surgery and detransition in exchange). Of course, this stupid ploy backfired immediately, as I had already come to the opposite conclusion about the value of both things beforehand and had gone through the whole tedious exercise of selling them,” they shared. “To this day, I hold on to that memory as a reminder of how stupid someone can become when they are desperate and feel backed into a corner.”

They then opened the floor to other trans people, asking them: “What is the most ridiculously extravagant or ridiculously inadequate bribe you’ve been offered to go back?”

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Some transgender people have reported receiving incredibly high offers of money from their families. “One of my parents offered me $200,000 not to transition,” one user said. “I thought about it for a second and said no. There’s no point in taking that money in exchange for a miserable life.”

Another commenter said he waited six years to transition because his grandparents would withhold their inheritance.

“I got the money,” they continued. “It will pay for surgeries and maybe a down payment on a house in the near future, but it’s not worth it. Every day I regret not taking the leap at 18 after being rejected since I was 12. I would be pretty much done with my transition by now instead of still being in this 2.5 year in-between phase.”

Others reported bribes that were ridiculously low or just plain insane. “My egg donor offered me $10 lottery tickets if I canceled my first HRT appointment,” one person recalled. Because a million-to-one chance of making a quick buck is definitely worth giving up your identity for, right?

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Several others reported being bribed with markers of the gender they were transitioning to, as if their loved ones thought a plethora of feminine things would convince them they were not men.

“My mother offered to buy me women’s clothes if I stopped wearing men’s clothes,” one user wrote. “It made no sense then and it makes no sense now.”

Another said her grandmother “really thought she could convince me to detransition, and her best bribe was offering to pay for breast AUGMENTATION surgery because she decided I was just jealous that my sister had bigger boobs than me.”

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“The more masculine gifts I presented, the more feminine my gifts became. Even before I broke eggs, when I was just a tomboy,” a third person shared. “Like a pink glittery birthday card or a Swarovski necklace is suddenly going to convince me I’m a woman?”

And some received not material gifts, but so-called “acts of service.”

“A former friend offered to sleep with me if I stopped being trans,” one user shared. “I’m asexual.”

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