I recently had the WPATH files thrown at me as a gotcha by a couple anti-trans people. Even though I pointed out that The Guardian say “Despite its grand title, WPATH is neither solely a professional body – a significant proportion of its membership are activists – nor does it represent the “world” view on how to care for this group of people.” If you want the truth of this “disturbing leak of trans kids being abused and medically mistreated” read this article. Please consider following Erin’s substack for more trans information and the laws attacking the LGBTQ+. Hugs. Scottie.
On Monday, anti-trans groups released a set of highly editorialized and decontextualized leaks dubbed the “WPATH Files.” A fact check reveals 216 errors, misrepresentations, and faulty citations.
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On Monday evening, prominent right-wing activist Michael Shellenberger, known for pushing anti-scientific views, released what he dubbed “the WPATH files.” In this highly editorialized document, select decontextualized images of forum posts from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health were made public. The document, replete with 37,569 words of editorial commentary before even presenting the so-called leaks, leans heavily into opinion and pseudoscience, urging readers to view it as a “groundbreaking scandal.” However, a closer inspection of the actual messages, achievable only after wading through the equivalent of a novella’s worth of editorial content, reveals rather mundane and often almost dull exchanges between doctors, psychologists, and therapists. These professionals are seen asking about edge cases and seeking advice from colleagues on patient circumstances. Despite attempts to cast the messages in a negative light, the report significantly misses the mark. In a thorough fact-check of the document, I have uncovered 216 instances of factual inaccuracies, erroneous citations, misinterpretations of what is “leaked,” and purposeful omissions contradicting the authors central editorialized claims.
The files were quickly shared by nearly every major anti-trans organization and journalists aligned with them. Genspect described it as “one of the worst medical scandals in history.” Riley Gaines claimed it unveiled “one of the most profitable yet destructive social experiments in history.” The Alliance Defending Freedom termed it a “deep-rooted medical scandal.” Given the rapid pace at which news stories emerged from these and other organizations, it likely was the result of a coordinated and organized embargo campaign, leaving those in support of care with scant time to review the voluminous documents and respond. In anticipation of such a response, the right-wing, Edelman-funded anti-trans organization FAIR in Medicine even published a fake screenshot of their own analysis of the report, labeling it “true” in a “fact check” with a big red bar—a direct nod to the fact checks presented in my own reports.
The factual inaccuracies, incorrect citations, and misrepresentations of both the literature and the “leaks” in the report are pervasive, affecting every section. In many instances, the authors reference their “leaks,” which are not searchable without optical character recognition (OCR) processing, presumably banking on the assumption that readers will not verify the context, thus missing the misrepresentations. The editorial section serves as a prime example of a “Gish gallop”—a tactic where numerous errors are thrown at once to overwhelm those attempting to critically respond, a strategy first attributed to creationist debater Duane Gish. Given the sheer volume of errors, it is impractical for a single fact-check to address each one comprehensively. Instead, this fact-check will highlight clear examples of each type of error to illustrate the wide chasm between the documented evidence and the report’s exaggerated claims.
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Misrepresented Citations
The editorialized report relies heavily on citations that are misrepresented, either in terms of what the citations actually claim, their quality, or whether the arguments in the citations support the point being made by the author. For example, one section claims that the WPATH Standards of Care 8th revision “sent shockwaves through the medical profession,” and “provided the catalyst for the Beyond WPATH declaration, now signed by over 2,000 concerned individuals, many of whom are clinicians working with gender diverse young people.” A closer examination of the “Beyond WPATH” letter itself reveals signatories such as “John Howard – DJ” and “Collin Wynter, yoga instructor.” A majority of the signatories appear to be from non-relevant categories, and a significant chunk are not medical providers at all, such as “concerned grandparent” or “parent.” While the report presents the “declaration” as a document of primarily medical professionals, it omits that it is essentially a freely available online petition form.
When addressing supposedly “scientific” citations, the report’s performance is equally lacking. For example, in the editorialized section, the report asserts that transgender individuals who undergo gender reassignment surgery “do not show positive outcomes,” citing four references to support its claim. These citations include a 2004 article from The Guardian, an article from a conservative site called “The New Atlantis,”which self-describes not as an academic journal but as a “public journal of ideas,” the frequently misquoted “Swedish Study” whose author has expressly corrected misinterpretations by anti-trans organizations, and a quality of life study that is 15 years old, evaluating surgeries performed 30 years ago, when social discrimination likely significantly influenced the outcomes. This contrasts sharply with muchnewerresearch from peer-reviewed articles that demonstrate a substantial improvement in the quality of life for transgender individuals.
Another claim was that a study supported a “2% fatality rate” for gender affirming surgery for those who have a sigmoid vaginoplasty, of which the report states “This one death represents an almost 2% fatality rate. In any other field of medicine, such a high fatality rate would result in the experiment instantly being halted and carefully studied to investigate what went wrong.”A review of the citation reveals a single case report of a death which occurred from a wound infection, a potential complication for any surgery. What the report leaves out, however, are that there are many recent studies designed to look at surgical complication rates, including a much newer study with a sample size of 366 patients and only 2 who experienced “major complications,” with no deaths.
All of these and many more misrepresented citations are then used to frame various portions of the “leaks” as scandalous or negative. For instance, they follow the incorrect claim that citations “do not show positiveoutcomes” with a discussion between WPATH members centering best practices on the ability transgender people to orgasm after puberty blockers, presumably to highlight the aforementioned “no positive outcomes.” To ensure factual accuracy, studies have shown that those who took puberty blockers are capable of orgasm and are satisfied with their sex lives, with 84% reporting orgasm capability and 12% not trying, similar to cisgender rates of anorgasmia. (Update: some critical responses have only read the sentence stating “female sexual function scores are low.” The FSF questionnaire measures include things like “lubrication” and the study is critical of the use of FSF in measuring transgender women’s sexual health. The study argues that instead of relying on FSF, other measures should be used. The study notes high satisfaction and indicates the vast majority of trans women can orgasm after surgery even with puberty suppression).
Errors About Trans Care
In numerous cases, the report not only misrepresents citations but also commits outright factual errors about trans care. For instance, it incorrectly conflates gender identity and sexuality, claiming that gender-affirming care is “a new form of conversion therapy” that “sterilizes lesbians and gays.” Gender identity and sexuality are fundamentally distinct. Regarding the claim of transition being a form of “conversion therapy,” evidence indicates that the vast majority of transgender individuals do not identify as straight after transitioning. Therefore, if transition were meant to serve as “conversion therapy,” it is notably ineffective in such an endeavor.
Similarly, the report claims that “the majority of gender dysphoric children would naturally desist and reconcile with their birth sex after puberty” if “not affirmed.” The studies cited all point to the same two sources continually used to make this claim – Kenneth Zucker’s research from the 1990s, which uses outdated diagnostic criteria for “gender identity disorder” that misclassified feminine gay men as “disordered,” and Steensma’s studies from 2011/2013, known for similar methodological shortcomings. They utilize old criteria which did not require a “desire or insistence to be the other sex,” and purposefully included in the disorder feminine boys who parents wished were more masculine. Modern studies show desistance rates of only 2.5%, with 97.5% of patients continuing to identify as transgender after social transition. The report claims that social transition prevents this “natural” desistance, a hypothesis that has not been validated, and instead seemingly advocates that trans youth should be disallowed social transition, which consists haircuts, clothing, pronouns, and names.
The report also states that “hormone therapy places an enormous medical burden on the body and impairs sexual function.” This is a claim made in multiple instances in the article, implying that sexual functionality is low and poor. In some sections, the authors lament that sexual function will be so poor, “the ability to form long-term sexual relationships is drastically compromised.”Research shows, however, that 65% of post op transgender women see an improvementin sexual satisfaction, with the majority rating their experiences with their body parts as “satisfying” or “very satisfying.” One review concluded, “We find that the most well-established changes associated with [hormone therapy] are initial changes to libido and increased sexual satisfaction.” Low sexual satisfaction is not supported by research.
These factual errors would be enough by themselves to discredit a report like this. In this report, however, it is compounded by using it to make innocuous and important discussions between clinicians seem nefarious. For example, the report uses the claims of low sexual satisfaction to then paint a discussion between clinicians about teenagers understanding trans care as harmful and evidence of wrongdoing, even though the claim is both incorrect and completely decontextualized from the actual discussion.
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Misrepresentations of “Leaked Material”
One of the most prevalent tactics used by the document is the misrepresentation of “leaked material,” frequently obscuring the actual statements (which are relegated to the end of the document) with an editorialized interpretation. For instance, an editorialized description of an exchange in the WPATH forums suggests that “a patient was leaking prostate secretions through the urethra after vaginoplasty and found it bothersome.” However, upon examining the actual exchange, it is revealed that the patient was actually “noticing an ejaculate with orgasm through her urethra,” which significantly alters the context – directly contradicting the editorialized assertions made earlier that transgender individuals are often incapable of orgasm.
Editorialized claim states that “prostate fluids leak after vaginoplasty.” Actual “leak” shows this is due to orgasm.
Another misrepresentation of the leaked material states, “There is talk about detransition being just another step in a patient’s “gender journey.” The document mentions detransition 54 times, suggesting it is a frequent occurrence among transgender individuals. However, a closer examination of the actual WPATH leak reveals that it was not a clinician but the detransitioner themselves who described their experience as part of a “gender journey,” specifically noting they were detransitioning without regret – something that harms the editorialized report’s portrayal of regret among trans people.Additionally, it is disclosed that one doctor has encountered only four detransition cases in their practice across 25 years and 600 patients. This information is not directly presented in the editorialized report but is instead interpreted in a way that precludes readers from forming their own conclusions, which would contradict the report’s assertions.
Editorialized claim stating that providers treat detransition as a “gender journey.” The actual leak reveals this was language used by the patient to indicate no regret.
Another portion of the editorialized assertions includes a patient discovering “two liver masses” identified as hepatic adenomas, with doctors suggesting “the likely offending agents are the hormones.” However, this claim omits the fact that the patient was also taking “oral contraceptives,” and it fails to mention that hepatic adenomas are benign. These tumors are more commonly observed in individuals who use birth control pills and are described as “rare but benign epithelial tumors of the liver frequently associated with oral contraceptive pill use.” This omission likely explains why the phrase “and/or oral contraceptives” was excluded from the editorialized claim. Furthermore, this information, alongside a solitary post about a transgender individual developing cancer, has been inaccurately used to assert that WPATH privately considers hormone therapy a cause of cancer.
The editorialized claim mentions hepatic adenomas without mentioning they are benign and associated with birth control. The actual leak reveals “and/or oral contraceptives,” a phrase left out of the editorialized claim.
Conclusion
It is evident that numerous anti-trans organizations contributed to the creation of the report, laden with misinformation. According to one post, Stella O’Malley from Genspect, an organization which has previously teased a young trans girl testifying in front of a school board, played a role in its development. Similarly, Carrie Mendoza of FAIR In Medicine, which has received significant funding from anti-trans billionaire Joseph Edelman to combat trans healthcare, appears to have been involved as well. The report, editorialized to transform relatively innocuous discussions among clinicians about best practices and specific cases into a purported major medical scandal, relies on factually incorrect assertions and misrepresentations to build its case. This approach, however, is unconvincing upon closer scrutiny.Instead of uncovering wrongdoing, the report inadvertently highlights the actions of an organization engaging in what is a standard procedure for medical entities: remaining engaged with ethical care discussions and seeking collaborative advice for emerging questions.
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Updates: I previously included a quality of life study whose limitations make the results non-generalizable in similar ways to the criticized QOL studies of the author, and so I have removed it. I have replaced it with another one, as there are many to draw from.
This is why republicans are so desperate to end any talk or, protection of, or acceptance of LGBTQ+ in schools. The more people see it, the more people have friends and family that are LGBTQ+, the more open it is in society on social media, the more normal and tolerant people are. The more young people will come out and live as the person they are. Republicans are desperate to stop this. Hugs. Scottie
LGBTQ+ identification in the U.S. continues to grow, with 7.6% of U.S. adults now identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or some other sexual orientation besides heterosexual. The current figure is up from 5.6% four years ago and 3.5% in 2012. Bisexual adults make up the largest proportion of the LGBTQ+ population — 4.4% of U.S. adults and 57.3% of LGBTQ+ adults say they are bisexual.
Slightly less than 1% of U.S. adults are transgender. Overall, each younger generation is about twice as likely as the generation that preceded it to identify as LGBTQ+. More than one in five Gen Z adults, ranging in age from 18 to 26 in 2023, identify as LGBTQ+, as do nearly one in 10 millennials (aged 27 to 42). The percentage drops to less than 5% of Generation X, 2% of baby boomers and 1% of the Silent Generation.
LGBTQ+ identification in the U.S. continues to grow, with 7.6% of U.S. adults now identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or some other sexual orientation besides heterosexual. The current figure is up from 5.6% four… pic.twitter.com/iweJ76PS1w
I came out in March, 1983, six months after the CDC coined the name Acquired Immune-Deficiency Syndrome and about a month after HIV was first identified as the likely cause. I was 15. By the time I could legally enter a bar, I had been to more funerals that most people will ever see in six lifetimes. And all while Republicans laughed and openly pondered how they could speed up the deaths.
There is a reason why so many of us survivors have CPTSD.
Don’t ever stop. There is so much more that needs to be done within the black community. As usual the disparities between communities of color and whites persist in spite of all of our efforts. Every young man you educate is part of your legacy.
Kinsey found that, among the men he surveyed, 37% had had sex with another man to orgasm.
That figure has been vigorously disputed by researchers who couldn’t accept his figures – and their own surveys managed to reduce the number a lot by excluding same-sex sex between young men, claiming that those orgasms weren’t really same-sex sex because mumble mumble mumble, and some altered their results by doing their surveys insecurely, where the men surveyed couldn’t trust that they’d be anonymous.
Now, with changes in attitudes, men are being more honest and researchers are doing less data manipulation to obscure men’s actual sexual activity – and the numbers in modern surveys are steadily increasing. I think we’ll find that Kinsey was much closer to the actual numbers than any of his critics would ever admit.
I know that, as an out gay man in the corporate world for several decades, the coworkers who hit on me over the years weren’t the other gay men I worked with, it was married men with kids who called themselves straight – but who tried to persuade me to have sex with them although that was obviously not straight-man sex. Sometimes I said yes, sometimes I didn’t – when I did, I enjoyed their intensity and enthusiasm. Those “straight” men were so, so hungry for the body of another man. It’s always seemed to me that there’s a lot more man on man sex going on than most people will admit.
So everything is basically reset back to where it was before this law. The only difference is teachers and schools will have to deal with fundamentalist Christian maga parents and wing nuts who don’t even live in those schools claiming that teachers are teaching gender or sexual orientation for allowing a rainbow sticker, that the schools are violating the law because the library returned the books with and about LGBTQIA characters / plots in them, and it will tie all schools up in lawsuits the state won’t help them with. DeathSantis is really just admitting he was wrong without saying it. Kaplan said that she was sure that the law would be ruled unconstitutional if they continue with the appeal, but that it would take at least two years of kids being bullied and the books out of the library. Of course DeathSantis is claiming a total win when it completely rolls back his law. Gay teachers can let the kids know they are gay, those married can talk about their spouses and post pictures. Anti-gay bullying programs are allowed again. Plus maybe the best thing, the gay straight alliance clubs are allowed again. The real thing you see is DeathSantis only pushed this as long as he was running for office, and once he was no longer needing to suck up to the fundamentalist Christians he backed down, and did not fight for it. I think he knew all along it was an illegal bill. Hugs. Scottie
*** Personal note. Was not feeling well all weekend and this morning I woke up at 4 am needing to throw up. But all I could bring up was air. Then after half a cup of coffee, I started to throw up last night’s meal. All morning I keep feeling dizzy and nauseous every 20 minutes or so. I have spent a lot of yesterday and so far today, in bed. Hugs. Scottie1`
Opponents said the law had created confusion about whether teachers could identity themselves as LGBTQ or if they even could have rainbow stickers in classrooms.
ORLANDO, Fla. — Students and teachers will be able to speak freely about sexual orientation and gender identity in Florida classrooms, provided it’s not part of instruction, under a settlement reached Monday between Florida education officials and civil rights attorneys who had challenged a state law which critics dubbed “Don’t Say Gay.”
The settlement clarifies what is allowed in Florida classrooms following passage two years ago of the law prohibiting instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in early grades. Opponents said the law had created confusion about whether teachers could identity themselves as LGBTQ or if they even could have rainbow stickers in classrooms.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis attends the drivers meeting prior to the NASCAR Cup Series Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway, in Daytona Beach, Fla., on Feb. 19, 2024.Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images file
Other statesused the Florida law as a template to pass prohibitions on classroom instruction on gender identity or sexual orientation. Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky and North Carolina are among the states with versions of the law.
Under the terms of the settlement, the Florida Board of Education will send instructions to every school district saying the Florida law doesn’t prohibit discussing LGBTQ people, nor prevent anti-bullying rules on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity or disallow Gay-Straight Alliance groups. The settlement also spells out that the law is neutral — meaning what applies to LGBTQ people also applies to heterosexual people — and that it doesn’t apply to library books not being used in the classroom.
“What this settlement does, is, it re-establishes the fundamental principal, that I hope all Americans agree with, which is every kid in this country is entitled to an education at a public school where they feel safe, their dignity is respected and where their families and parents are welcomed,” Roberta Kaplan, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs, said in an interview. “This shouldn’t be a controversial thing.”
In a statement, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s office described the deal as a “major win” with the law remaining intact.
“Today’s mutually agreed settlement ensures that the law will remain in effect and it is expected that the case will be dismissed by the Court imminently,” the statement said.
The law, formally known as the Parental Rights in Education Act, has been championed by the Republican governor since before its passage in 2022 by the GOP-controlled Florida Legislature. It barred instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through the third grade, and it was expanded to all grades last year.
Republican lawmakers had argued that parents should broach these subjects with children and that the law protected children from being taught about inappropriate material.
But opponents of the law said it created a chilling effect in classrooms. Some teachers said they were unsure if they could mention or display a photo of their same-sex partner in the classroom. In some cases, books dealing with LGBTQ topics were removed from classrooms and lines mentioning sexual orientation were excised from school musicals. The Miami-Dade County School Board in 2022 decided not to adopt a resolution recognizing LGBTQ History Month, even though it had done so a year earlier.
The law also triggered the ongoing legal battles between DeSantis and Disney over control of the governing district for Walt Disney World in central Florida after DeSantis took control of the government in what the company described as retaliation for its opposition to the legislation. DeSantis touted the fight with Disney during his run for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, which he ended earlier this year.
The civil rights attorneys sued Florida education officials on behalf of teachers, students and parents, claiming the law was unconstitutional, but the case was dismissed last year by a federal judge in Tallahassee who said they lacked standing to sue. The case was appealed to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.
Kaplan said they believed the appellate court would have reversed the lower court’s decision, but continuing the lawsuit would have delayed any resolution for several more years.
“The last thing we wanted for the kids in Florida was more delay,” Kaplan said.
Of note, the lead attorney in the lawsuit is Roberta Kaplan, who is best known to most as E. Jean Carroll’s attorney. Kaplan was also Edith Windsor’s attorney in the landmark Supreme Court ruling on DOMA.
A settlement over Florida's "Don't Say Gay" law will allow students and teachers to speak about sexual orientation and gender identity in the classroom, if it's not part of a lesson. https://t.co/FTg3TWJCyo
#Florida settles lawsuit over @GovRonDeSantis' controversial parental rights law & will clarify vague wording. Plaintiffs calling it the Don’t Say Gay law say the deal will stop school districts from “overreacting.” https://t.co/E4SQGjlUYQ via @JeffSolochek
This is a threat. Look at what they called it in the article, a loving warning to change your ways … just as burning a cross was a threat, not simply a loving request you leave town. The thing that gets me is no one cares if these people want to have their belief and their opinion, no one cares that they refuse to admit modern science says people are born LGBTQIA as long as they don’t act on it. They have a right to their beliefs, they do not have a right to force others to believe what they do. Yet this is what they constantly do, and are doing here. They have their churches, put these at their churches and pray over them. But that is not threatening enough, not enough to force others to live by their church doctrines and beliefs. I am tired of these people and sick of their faith, and beginning to despise their god. Their god is a hateful vengeful mean bully. He is tRump. Love me or else I hurt you. Hugs. Scottie
Last year, on February 28, 2023, a concrete replica of a millstone was left in front of the CRU Wine Bar and Coffee Shop on Turner Street in Beaufort, NC. Not just any millstone, but cast into its face was the Scripture reference Luke 17:2 and it’s inner and outer rims were painted in rainbow colors.
CRU Wine Bar and Coffee Shop had been sponsoring a “Youth Queer Night,” and openly admitted as such in the midst of the incident. But right out of the leftist playbook, they immediately shifted over to victim status, pleading the millstone was a threat to them and the LGBTQ community.
Far from being a threat to the LGBTQ community, the Rainbow Stone is actually a loving warning that, like everyone else, they need to repent of sin, receive the work of Jesus on the Cross, and be saved from a certain fiery judgment.
Read the full article. Luke 17:2 calls for drowning people who endanger children by tying a millstone around their neck. The owners of the bar say they considered the millstone to be a death threat.
Christians in Beaufort, NC, left this concrete millstone in front of the CRU Bar on Turner St. who was sponsoring a regular “Youth Queer Night.” Made quite a statement. There are people fighting back! pic.twitter.com/6yJmrrcKw1
Studies with fMRI imaging* have shown that believers reflecting on “what God wants” activate the very same brain areas as people reflecting on what they themselves believe.
* (Forgive me, JMG language police, for I have sinned. I have commited RAS syndrome, Redundant Acronym Syndrome syndrome, like entering your PIN number into an ATM machine.)
Their first mistake is assuming that those people who go there are Christian. Can you imagine the outcry if a different religious group did something similar to a church?
Why do the republicans hate young people on social media? Because it exposes them to ideas that are now banned in Florida schools. It is about information control, it is about indoctrination to a conservative mindset / ideology. Think of it, even though the republicans managed to remove all reading material from schools about LGBTQIA people so LGBTQIA kids won’t see themselves represented and other students won’t see that the LGBTQIA kids are as normal as they are, young people can still see it on social media where the stars they love tell them that it is OK to be different. Plus social media clearly shows how wrong and backwards the Republican Party is, and how out of touch a minority the fundamentalist Christians are. Then you have the times that social media influences older teens to vote progressive / democrat, not regressive conservative like the state wants them to do. Social media also makes republicans and maga look as stupid as they are, mocking them, and showing young people out of touch with the modern times the fundamentalist Christian republicans are. Hugs. Scottie
Language for a new social media bill with provisions for parental consent has been filed in the Senate. The move came after Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed an all-out ban on those under 16 using most social media platforms.
Sen. Erin Grall, a Fort Pierce Republican, filed an amendment with new language negotiated with the House, Senate and Governor’s Office. The legislation includes exemptions for 14- and 15-year-olds to open accounts on any platform so long as they have a parent’s permission.
“A social media platform shall prohibit a minor who is 14 or 15 years of age from entering into a contract with a social media platform to become an account holder, unless the minor’s parent or guardian provides consent for the minor to become an account holder,” the amendment states.
Read the full article. The bill vetoed yesterday by DeSantis would have banned all minors under age 16 from having a social media account.
New social media ban proposal would allow parental consent for 14- and 15-year-olds
The FL legislature somehow thinks kids 16 and under are mature enough to have children when raped or molested but somehow not mature enough to use social media.
FL ledge DESPERATLY needs to find a way to keep queer kids from seeing positive messaging about themselves. They have seen the stats that 25% of Gen Z identify as something other than straight/cis. They are freaking out that Gen Alpha (yeah I had to look that one up but don’t you dare OK Boomer me) is going to follow the same curve. I for one welcome the rest of our rainbow plenty of bisexuals out there and now they are not afraid to be counted.
This is 100% the reason they want to stop young people from using the internet. I don’t remember seeing my first rainbow flag until I was 18. Up until that point, I thought there was something wrong with me. And as a result, I was politically neutral, and not fiercely anti-conservative at the time.
Keeping kids from life -saving support groups online when they are living in Hell. They want gay and trans kids to kill themselves. That’s what I take from this tripe.
They seem to think 11 year olds know nothing about the internet. Facebook has long had an age requirement, and I’ve known children as young as 11 who have had accounts. The kids figure it out quickly.
Perhaps it’s just another way to quickly create a whole new juvenile criminal class. I wonder what the consequences are, and if the parents will be held responsible for their little criminals.
I was just thinking about that. Is the 16-year-old cutoff meant to protect them from teenagers’ wrath? There won’t be any current 16-year-olds voting in 2024.
Children have long memories when it comes to blocking them from interaction with their peers whose parents have given permission to have social media accounts. Denied an account, they would be relegated to a lower social order in their school and school community.
Isn’t this a decision best left between parent and child? Does it really need legislation? Perhaps a law mandating making one’s bed before school should happen?
What is it with Republicans trying to pass the same shit over and over again recently? 15 times to elect a Speaker. Two tries to impeach Secretary Mayorkis. Do it right the first time… or don’t do it at all.
This is from corporate mainstream media. Let’s hope it ends the myth the anti-trans haters have been pushing, which has long been debunked. Maybe now they will stop spreading lies and learn that they have been wrong, stop hating trans people, and accept them. Oh well, I know, some people just can not accept change and new information / understanding. For those wanting to watch the video and better see the graph please go to the link. Best wishes. Hugs. Scottie
Most people are satisfied with life after transition. More than 9 in 10 respondents were at least a little more satisfied with their life after transitioning.
The National Center for Transgender Equality released early insights from its 2022 U.S. Transgender Survey, the largest survey of trans people in U.S. history.
A survey of more than 90,000 transgender people in the U.S. — the largest nationwide survey of the community ever — found that trans people continue to experience workplace and medical discrimination. However, the overwhelming majority of them still report more life satisfaction after having transitioned.
The National Center for Transgender Equality, or NCTE, one of the country’s largest trans rights organizations, released its 2022 U.S. Transgender Survey Early Insights report Wednesday after a yearslong delay due, in part, to the pandemic. The survey, the most comprehensive look to date at life for transgender people in the U.S., comes as hundreds of bills in the last three years have attempted to roll back trans rights, most often by restricting trans people’s access to transition-related health care and trans students’ abilities to play school sports.
“There’s still a drought of information available to lawmakers, the media and advocates regarding our experiences and our needs,” NCTE Executive Director Rodrigo Heng-Lehtinen said at a news conference Tuesday. “At best, we’re working in a vacuum of information. At worst, we’re combating dangerous misinformation being spread by anti-trans extremists. Without question, the misinformation and lack of understanding is underpinning these escalating legislative attacks against our community.”
A woman attends a rally in support of trans youth in schools on June 26, 2023, outside the Fayette County Public Schools central office in Lexington, Ky.Ryan C. Hermens / Lexington Herald-Leader via Getty Images file
The organization’s 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey had been the largest survey of trans people in the country, with nearly 28,000 respondents 18 and older, and it has been widely cited, including by Congress and the Supreme Court. Josie Caballero, the director of the survey, said the 2022 iteration more than tripled the number of respondents — with a total of 92,329 from every state and many U.S. territories — and was improved in a number of other ways. For example, it included 605 possible questions (though no respondent received all possible questions), up from 324 in the 2015 survey, and it included more than 8,000 respondents who were 16 and 17. However, study authors note that respondents who participated in the online survey were not drawn from a random sample and that though the sample is large, the findings might not be representative of all trans people.
Of the 84,170 adult respondents, 38% identified as nonbinary, 35% identified as transgender women, 25% identified as transgender men and 2% identified as cross-dressers.
Continued discrimination and mistreatment
Among the key findings released Wednesday, the survey found that trans people continue to report experiencing discrimination and mistreatment because of their gender identities and/or expressions.
More than one-third of adult respondents, or 34%, were experiencing poverty at the time of the survey, and 18% were unemployed. More than 1 in 10, or 11%, of respondents who had ever held jobs said they had been fired or forced to resign or had lost jobs or been laid off because of their gender identities or expressions. And, in line with previous survey findings, 30% of respondents had experienced homelessness in their lifetimes.
Of adult respondents who saw health care providers in the previous 12 months, 48% reported having had at least one negative experience because they were transgender, including being refused health care, having staff members use the incorrect pronouns for them or having providers use abusive language or be physically rough or abusive while treating them. Fear of mistreatment prevented 24% of respondents from seeing doctors when they needed it in the 12 months before the survey.
Many respondents also reported past mistreatment in school. Of adult respondents, 80% who were out or perceived as trans in K-12 experienced one or more forms of mistreatment, including verbal harassment, physical attacks, online bullying or being denied use of the restrooms or locker rooms that matched their gender identities. Of the 8,159 respondents who were 16 and 17, 60% reported such mistreatment.
Higher life satisfaction after transition
Despite those negative experiences, the vast majority of adult respondents, 79%, who lived at least some of the time in different genders from the ones they were assigned at birth reported that they were “a lot more satisfied” with their lives. An additional 15% reported they were “a little more satisfied.”
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Please see the chart at the link above. The written version I have included below.
Most people are satisfied with life after transition
More than 9 in 10 respondents were at least a little more satisfied with their life after transitioning.
This bar chart shows how respondents who had transitioned genders described their satisfaction with life after transitioning. 79% were a lot more satisfied, 15% a little more, 3% neither more or less, 1% a little less and 2% a lot less satisfied.
A lot more satisfied. 79%
A little more satisfied. 15%
Neither more or less satisfied. 3%
A little less satisfied. 1%
A lot less satisfied. 2%
Respondents who received transition-related medical care reported similarly high rates of satisfaction. Of respondents who were currently receiving hormone treatment, 84% said receiving such treatment for their gender identities/transitions made them “a lot more satisfied” with their lives, and 14% said it made them “a little more satisfied.” Just 1% said hormone treatment made them neither more nor less satisfied, and less than 1% said hormone treatment made them a lot less satisfied.
Of respondents who underwent at least one form of gender-affirming surgery, 88% said it made them “a lot more satisfied,” and 9% said it made them a little more satisfied. Less than 2% total said surgery made them a little less or a lot less satisfied.
“That might seem obvious to some of us that of course if you’re transgender and you need transition-related health care, of course your life is better off when you get that health care,” Heng-Lehtinen said Tuesday. “But it’s really important to have actually asked people and found out objectively what is their experience, because transition-related health care is otherwise so under attack in state legislatures around the country.”
Effects of anti-trans legislation
In the last three years, 23 states have restricted gender-affirming health care — including puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgeries — for minors and, in a few cases, adults, according to the Movement Advancement Project, an LGBTQ think tank. Half of states have banned trans student-athletes from playing school sports on the teams that align with their gender identities rather than their assigned sexes at birth, while 10 states have passed laws restricting what bathrooms trans people can use in schools, colleges and/or government-owned buildings.
Nearly half of respondents to the latest U.S. Transgender Survey said they had thought about moving to other states because their state governments considered or passed such laws that target transgender people, and 5% — about 4,600 people — said they had actually moved to other states because of such legislation.
The top 10 states where trans respondents most often reported moving from were, in alphabetical order, Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.
The state of trans rights across the country does not necessarily reflect what trans people are experiencing at home with their families. Of adult respondents, 67% reported that their immediate families were either supportive or very supportive, while 22% reported they were neither supportive nor unsupportive and 12% reported they were either unsupportive or very unsupportive.
Of 16- and 17-year-old respondents, 44% reported that their families were either supportive or very supportive, while 28% reported that they were neither supportive nor unsupportive and 29% reported they were unsupportive or very unsupportive.
“It’s important to see that many trans people do have supportive families, since we often hear and see otherwise,” Sandy James, one of the report’s authors, said at Tuesday’s news conference.
Heng-Lehtinen said the new data will revolutionize the field of transgender advocacy.
“I am confident that the results of the 2022 survey will not only serve as a crucial tool for education, research and policy, but it will catalyze a paradigm shift for the movement for transgender advocacy by empowering advocates with robust and current data regarding our needs and experiences,” he said.
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