CLAIM: That transition worsens mental health and increases suicide risk
“Of course trans medical and psychological care is efficacious […]
A 2012 study of 433 transgender youths in Canada found that those with “very supportive” parents reported only a 4% attempted suicide rate in the past year, vs. 57% of those whose parents were “somewhat to not at all supportive”; A 2020 study of 40,000 LGBTQ youths in the US found that transgender youths whose gender identity and pronouns were respected by “all or most people in their lives” had half the suicide attempts of those who lacked any such acceptance; Transgender children who were accepted in their identities and allowed to socially transition had developmentally normal levels of depression, and only marginally higher anxiety than their non-trans peers (Olson et al., 2018; Durwood et al., 2018). The researchers noted: “Especially striking is the comparison with reports of children with GID; socially transitioned transgender children have notably lower rates of internalizing psychopathology than previously reported among children with GID living as their natal sex,” and, “These findings lessen concerns from previous work that parents of socially transitioned children could be systematically underreporting mental health problems.” A 2014 long-term study on 55 transgender youths who had socially transitioned and undergone medical intervention at puberty found them to score similar or better on measures of mental well-being compared to their non-trans peers (de Vries et al., 2014). That was the first time that a group of trans adolescents was found not to have worse mental health than their peers, and the key difference was their access to social transition and desired medical interventions within a supportive environment.
CLAIM: That the vast majority (80-90%) of gender dysphoric children do not grow up to be transgender adults.
CLAIM: Transgender youth “become” transgender because they are seeking to escape their suffering and are convinced by social media that changing their sex will make them happy.
A child or adolescent experiences one or more adverse childhood events There is secondary anxiety and/or depression There is perceived lack of acceptance among peers There is suggestion, via social media, that identifying as a gender opposite from sex will solve all ills There is a sense of celebrity from coming to this conclusion
It fails to understand that gender dysphoria is the primary motivating factor for most trans people to transition; It ignores that much of the suffering experienced by trans youth is the direct result of others mistreating them due to their transgender identity; It ignores that coming out as transgender is far more likely to worsen that mistreatment and “lack of acceptance among peers”, rather than resolve it, and that many trans youths are often terrified of coming out precisely because it would make things worse; It ignores that transition is presented as a solution to suffering only to those who are transgender, where the suffering in question is living as a gender they do not identify as. It would make no sense to tell all youths as a whole that changing their sex would solve all their problems, and Dr. Van Meter provides no evidence that such a thing is happening.
