Transgender 90s rocker controversially announces plans to ‘de-transition’ to become a man again

The lead singer of the rock band Life of Agony has announced that he is de-transitioning and will live as a man.

Keith Caputo, 50, took to social media to tell fans and friends that he will once again be going by his birth name and has stopped taking hormones. He previously used the name Mina and lived as a trans woman.

He also said he is planning to have his fake breasts removed and that he’s ‘cured’ his gender dysphoria. 

Gender dysphoria is defined as the distress caused by a discrepancy between a person’s gender identity and the one assigned to them at birth.

Life of Agony is a much-loved alternative metal band from Brooklyn, New York, founded by Caputo and his bandmates in 1989. Rolling Stone named their 1993 debut album River Runs Red as one of the greatest metal albums of all time.

While, tragically, many transphobes will see Caputo’s announcement as confirmation of harmful rhetoric that transgender people are mentally ill and can be ‘cured,’ it’s worth noting that Keith’s experience is exceedingly rare. 

Very, very few trans people de-transition after going through gender-affirming surgeries and hormone treatment, with the vast majority reporting improved quality of life after transitioning. 

Caputo first came out as trans in 2011 but has identified as a woman since 2008.

Gender is a deeply personal facet of identity, and Caputo’s decision to de-transition in no way invalidates his previous decision to live as a woman; it merely reflects that his relationship with his gender has changed over time – though a deep dive into his social media suggests there may be more to the story.

If one looks at Caputo’s page, it becomes clear that he may have begun to internalise the TERF (trans exclusive radical feminist) anti-trans rhetoric that has been showing up in right-wing circles in recent years. He has posted several TERF talking points, including assertions that there are only two genders, claims that trans women are dominating women’s sports, and has even called transness a ‘conspiracy.’

‘Surgery has been booked to remove my fake breasts, and I will be lovingly living in my divine male self,’ he said in the video posted to Instagram. 

‘I’ve cured my gender dysphoria. It took many years. A lot of walking through the fire, but I rose above my misunderstandings of my soul and my spirit.’

‘I’m making this video because a lot of people throwing me shade, saying I look ugly, and I look like a man,’ Caputo shared in the video. 

‘It’s like honey lamb, I am a man, I always was a man. You’re just not used to hearing authentic people speak. You’re used to people spitting lies at you about their identity..’

Caputo said he stopped taking hormones 6 or 7 years ago and will be fully ‘de-transitioned’ by 2025. 

It’s worth noting that for many, gender dysphoria is not ‘curable,’ and it’s harmful to the trans community – who already face disproportionate levels of violence – to equate gender dysphoria to mental illness. 

Between October 2023 and September 2024 alone, 350 trans, non-binary and gender-diverse people were murdered worldwide, according to Trans Europe and Central Asia (TGEU).

‘Yes, I’m off of hormones, six, seven years now and this January 2025 and I am — my surgery has been booked to remove my fake breasts and I will be lovingly living in my divine male self,’ he said in the video. 

‘I’ll be physically completely de-transitioned in 2025. I can’t wait. I feel so free. I’m very proud of myself,’ he added.

‘I’ve been through so much over the years. I wouldn’t wish gender dysphoria on my worst enemy. It’s one of the most uncomfortable things I’ve ever been through in my life, and I’m just so happy that it is f***ing over.’

The band’s bassist and co-founder Alan Robert supported Caputo in the video’s comments, writing: ‘Proud of your journey and your raw honesty. Always here for you no matter what. We ain’t blood but we are real family ❤️’

There are even several examples of posts on Caputo’s page in which he calls trans people pedophiles, a deeply detrimental and false accusation often leveled erroneously at trans people, who are no more likely to be pedophiles than the rest of the population. 

This adds a tragic layer to Caputo’s announcement, as it doesn’t seem impossible that his decision to de-transition was influenced by hateful rhetoric that is becoming all too common online.  

TGEU executive director Ymania Brown said in a statement shared on Transgender Day of Remembrance: ‘This year, as we confront the sobering milestone of 5,000 documented murders since the start of the Trans Murder Monitoring project that we know of, we, the trans people and communities around the world, are exhausted from repeatedly asking: When will this violence end? We can no longer afford to wait!’

This year’s toll, up from 321 the previous year, ‘is no doubt a consequence of the concerted efforts of anti-gender and anti-rights movements that instrumentalise and vilify trans people to push wider anti-democratic political agendas’, TGEU said.

The danger trans people – particularly trans women – face every day extends well beyond hate crimes. Transphobia can make getting a home, getting a job or accessing healthcare demonstrably harder, especially if laws restrict their rights or fail to protect them.

In one post, Caputo writes: ‘”Gender-affirming care” is a euphemistic label for the biggest medical scandal to hit the Western world in recent years— an experimental tragedy for children, nothing more than a fancy term for genital mutilation and sex lobotomy.’

He is referring to the increasingly common misconception that many children are undergoing medical gender transitions.

In 2021, about 42,000 children and teens across the United States received a diagnosis of gender dysphoria, nearly triple the number in 2017, according to data Komodo compiled for Reuters. This is a tiny percentage of the population, not exactly the sweeping epidemic inflammatory talking points claim.

Most trans teens do not undergo any medical gender-affirming care until adulthood. Those that do (only a tiny 4,780 in the last five years) are put on puberty blockers, which stop the onset of puberty, which can be deeply psychologically distressing for trans children.

If a trans child’s relationship to their gender changes as they grow older, they can stop taking puberty blockers, and puberty will resume without ill effects – contrary to transphobe’s claims that a rise in trans healthcare is harming children.

Only a tiny percentage of people under 18 have their gender dysphoria addressed surgically, with less than a thousand undergoing gender-affirming surgeries between 2019 and 2021 in the United States.

And yet, the topic is widely discussed online, with anti-trans advocates calling gender-affirming care ‘child abuse.’

In reality, gender dysphoria is far more damaging to a child’s overall health as it’s linked to increased chances of depression, anxiety, and even suicidality – unless those around them affirm their true gender identity, which sometimes necessitates medical intervention.

While it’s true that gender-affirming care in children needs to be studied further, the kind of rhetoric Caputo is posting on his page can only be damaging to trans people who are already facing extraordinary oppression and cultural prejudice.

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