"Trans" Youth Suicides: Do We Know the Truth?

The warning is sounded often and loudly. "If you don't let your 'trans child' transition, they will possibly kill themselves.", "Would you rather have a live daughter or a dead son?", "Over 40% of 'trans' kids attempt suicide." Pretty scary stuff, right? All of this is used to support the idea that children should be allowed to socially and medically transition. After all, we don't want children to suffer, and we certainly don't want them dying. Only a complete monster would advocate for the death of children, and you're not a monster, are you?

Let's look at some numbers. The Trevor Project did a 2020 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health. This survey had 40,000 respondents age 13-24 who "identified" as either 1 of over 100 sexualities that was not "heterosexual" or 1 of over 100 gender identities that was not "cisgender", or both (Side note: WTF!) I could not find a breakdown of LGB vs T so I'll use the figures from the 2020 UCLA Williams Institute LGBT Youth Population Data to extrapolate. If 1,994,000 is the total US LGBT population, 1,844,00 being "cisgender" and 149,750 (Rounded to 150,00) being "transgender" then 92.5% of the LGBT population is "cisgender" LGB youth and 7.5% is "transgender" of any orientation. Applying that to the Trevor Project Survey the respondents are 37,000 LGB and 3,000 T.

According to the Trevor Project survey, 34% of "cisgender" LGBQ youth and 52% of "transgender" youth had "considered suicide". Using my estimated numbers, that's 12,580 LGB and 1,560 "trans" youth. Actual suicide attempts are 11% (4,070) and 21% (630) respectively. Wow! That means that over 6 times LGB youth attempted suicide than transgender youth. Not to diminish ANY suicide, but you would think that would be an important talking point.

What else does the Trevor Project survey have to say? 46% of LGBT youth WANTED psychological or emotional counseling from a mental health professional but were unable to get it. Now, I'm not sure, but couldn't THAT mean something? Wouldn't counseling be helpful to people who are suicidal? And what were the most common reasons given for not getting desired therapy: cost, getting parental permission, and finding an LGBT sensitive provider. Interesting.

Wonder if the survey says anything about support of "trans" youth. Why yes it does. Apparently suicide attempts dropped in half just by most people using "preferred pronouns" Well that's a lot less invasive than puberty blocker, HRT and surgeries. 

Keep in mind that we don't actually know how many "trans suicides" there are, especially in regards to young people. A person would have to be out in some way, usually requiring some sort of transition. Yet the argument is that "trans kids" are killing themselves because they can't transition. 

To Summarize:
  • Significantly more LGB youth are suicidal than "trans" youth
  • LGBT youth, including suicidal ones, lack access to mental health care
  • "Preferred pronoun" use alone lowers "trans" suicidality significantly
Given these points, why is transition, especially medical treatment, pushed as the only answer to the "epidemic of trans suicide"? I will gladly advocate for mental health access for anyone, and I feel it's especially important for people with dysphoria. Why aren't we more concerned about  the risk of suicide in LGB youth?

It's easy to make things sound large when you use percent to talk about a small population. It's easy to assume a cause just from a characteristic. Trans people are like everyone else. We have other things going on in our lives than just "being trans". But for statistics like this, that's the only thing that matters. "Oh you're trans and suicidal? It must be because of being trans!" Maybe, but maybe you're failing math, or you just broke up with your boyfriend, maybe your grandma died. See the people that use these statistics don't really care WHY "trans youth" are suicidal, they already have their answer.

Comments

  1. SophistibitchJune 3, 2021 at 6:19 AM

    Do you by any chance have statistics on "cis" gender adolescent suicide / suicide ideation? It seems there has been a sharp increase among adolescents across all "identities." I sometimes think that getting kids off social media and the internet would be healthy for anyone.

    ReplyDelete

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