Last year, X user @thepeacepoet99, deep in an online back-and-forth, shouted out a video featuring a vocal advocate from an organization that’s been criticized for anti-trans activism.
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“She’s a legend,” wrote @thepeacepoet99, better known online as Maia Poet, sharing a video of the Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine (SEGM) co-founder Zhenya Abbruzzese.
The post didn’t draw any attention at the time because Maia Poet hadn’t exploded onto the internet’s radar.
Poet, who has 25,000 X followers and over 5,000 Substack subscribers, has been a vocal critic of youth transitioning. But in February, she spoke with the New York Post, telling a story that prompted a closer inspection of her past.
In it, Maia, who said she was born female but had identified as male since the age of 12, decided to detransition in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attack on Israel.
Maia alleged she’d considered going to the Nova Music Festival, where 300 people were killed, but didn’t because tickets were expensive and she didn’t have transportation.
After that brush with death, Maia said, “I became significantly less concerned about all of this gender crap,” and decided being transgender was a “luxury belief.”
Maia, who was in Jerusalem at the time, said she went to a bomb shelter where she watched videos of the attacks, calling it a moment “where I was like, why the hell am I even doing this trans thing anymore.”
The take was one Maia had posted about previously on X, a story that drew mockery from some of the LGBTQ crowd online for tying gender identity to the Israel-Hamas war.
“‘Hamas made me detransition’ is definitely one of the craziest … stances we’ve gotten out of this site,” said one.
“Being ‘de-trans’ because of Hamas is low key hilarious,” wrote another.
Although the story has been out there, re-upping the take in a major outlet led detractors to look further into Maia, and they uncovered an interesting tie to the anti-trans community.
Who is Maia Poet?
Maia Poet, whose full name is Maia Abbruzzese, is most likely the daughter of a woman who helped co-found a prominent organization criticized as anti-trans.
Zhenya Abbruzzese, also known as Evgenia, is the co-founder of SEGM, which has been called out for pushing disinformation about youth transitioning.
SEGM proudly boasts on its site that its efforts have made a difference, proclaiming “the arc of history has bent toward protecting gender-questioning youth from medical harm.”
Abbruzzese is listed as a co-founder and senior adviser, credited with a “landmark publication” that supposedly reveals the “myth of reliable research in pediatric gender medicine,” claiming studies that prove the benefits of gender-affirming care for youth aren’t backed by evidence.
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) found that SEGM was part of a circle of influence that peddled anti-trans talking points, which includes the notorious U.K. organization Genspect.
“Since its founding, members of SEGM have undertaken a global media and public policy blitz to challenge the affirming care model, advocate against gender-affirming care, and lend scientific credibility to legal claims against LGBTQ civil rights,” the SPLC wrote. “Specifically, SEGM has helped foster resistance to the idea that adolescents can be capable of exerting agency over their own care.”
The accusation that Zhenya and Maia are related has been floating online in recent days.
“Wait a minute… detransitioner @thepeacepoet99 is actually the daughter of @segm_ebm co-founder Zhenya Abbruzzese???” asked one post. “This makes so much sense now!!!
Links to Maia and Zhenya online point to the likelihood of a familial relationship. Public records, reviewed by the Daily Dot, show that Zhenya and Maia likely shared a residence in Portland, Oregon. Both post about their ties to the Portland community, and in a Medium post, Zhenya wrote of a daughter’s birth date that aligns with Maia’s.
At least twice, Zhenya served as a judge at a high school debate tournament Maia competed in, representing the same high school Maia attended.
In posts online, Maia mentioned she had parents who disapproved of her transition, which she now appreciates and is thankful for.
“When I was trans, I wished I had affirming parents … Now I’m glad I didn’t,” she wrote in one tweet.
“The best thing my parents ever did for me was NOT affirming my transgender identity … I was a brainwashed kid & they were my protectors. I [love] you, mom & dad,” read another.
Maia also repeatedly shared links to content by SEGM on her social media while arguing with pro-trans advocates.
“@segm_ebm brilliantly analyzes the inherent epistemic challenges of determining accurate detransition rates,” she said in one post, calling out news stories that cite data that show detransition rates are typically low among youth who transition.
Maia has been vocal about how transitioning at such a young age was wrong for her, blaming the internet for turning her normal teenage angst into a belief she was trans.
“The algorithms bombarded me with more and more trans content, and I latched on super hard,” she told the Post.
The revelations led to some vocal posters calling Maia a shill for the organization.
In a post last night, Maia, while not addressing the ties to her mother, denied SEGM ever paid for her to share her story.
“TRANS ACTIVISTS are OBSESSED with PEDDLING the CONSPIRACY THEORY that SEGM is PAYING Me to PRETEND I Was TRANS. This is completely unhinged & categorically false,” she wrote.
Which didn’t do anything to stem the tide of people calling her out.
“They might not be paying you but your mom does work for them,” replied one.
Neither Maia nor Zhenya responded to a request for comment from the Daily Dot.
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