Kinnon MacKinnon

Kinnon Ross MacKinnon (born 1985) is a Canadian social scientist who researches detransition, gender-affirming healthcare, and gender and sexual minorities. MacKinnon is an Assistant Professor of social work at York University in Toronto.

MacKinnon earned a BA from Saint Mary's University in 2007, a BSW from York University in 2010, and a MSW from Toronto Metropolitan University in 2011. He obtained a PhD in Public Health Sciences at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto.

In 2014, four years after beginning his transition, he became the first transgender person to win a gold medal in powerlifting at the Gay Games. He competed in the male 75 kilogram weight category, pulling a 450-pound deadlift (based on his own 158 pounds, 2.85 times his body mass). His lifelong participation in sports and experiences as a transgender athlete influenced his early interests as a researcher and commitment to LGBTQ+ health promotion and social inclusion. He is an assistant professor of social work at York University in Toronto. The New York Times, Der Spiegel, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Slate, PinkNews, The Atlantic, and The Walrus. MacKinnon was interviewed about his research on detransition for a piece by CBC's The National on youth gender health care. He is an active science communicator and has written about using TikTok to share research with the public.

Selected publications 2021. Examining TikTok's potential for community-engaged, digital knowledge mobilization with equity-seeking groups With Kia, H., & Lacombe-Duncan, A. Journal of Medical Internet Research. 2023. (De)Transphobia: Examining the socio-politically driven gender minority stressors experienced by people who detransitioned. Bulletin of Applied Transgender Studies. With W. Ariel gould, Florence Ashley, Gabriel Enxuga, Hannah Kia and Lori Ross. Bulletin of Applied Transgender Studies 1 (3-4): 235-259 2023. Transition-related care experiences and perspectives of individuals who Discontinued their transition or detransitioned in canada. With Gould, W.A., Enxuga, G.E., Ashley, F., Kia, H., Lam, J.H.S., Abramovich, A. & Ross L.E. PLOS One. 2024. Discontinuation of gender-affirming medical treatments: Prevalence and associated features in a non-probabilistic sample of transgender and gender-diverse adolescents and young adults in Canada and the United States. With Jeyabalan, T., Strang, J.F., Delgrado-Ron, J.A., Lam, J.H.S., Gould, W.A., Cooper, A., and Salway, T. Journal of Adolescent Health.