According to transgender activists, anything anyone does that they don’t like, from requiring schools to notify parents that they want to give their kids dangerous chemicals and irreversible surgery to comedians telling jokes about their excesses, is going to result in trans kids dying. To be clear, what they’re actually talking about is these kids killing themselves. One would think that if you’re dealing with a group of young people who are that at risk of suicide, you’d want to get them psychological counseling rather than drugs and surgery. But even Biden spokeswoman Jen Psaki called that “medically necessary, life-saving” treatment for gender dysphoria. To even suggest psychological counseling gets you branded as transphobic and, you guessed it, will result in more trans kids dying.

To back this up, activists point to studies claiming that suicide rates are higher among kids who are denied hormones and gender surgery. But since we’re talking about kids’ lives, shouldn’t we actually confirm whether or not that’s true?

A new analysis funded by the Heritage Foundation uncovered serious flaws in these studies that are detailed at length here:

https://www.heritage.org/gender/report/puberty-blockers-cross-sex-hormones-and-youth-suicide

The study also found that far from reducing suicides, in 2020, in states that allow hormone therapy and other “gender-reassignment” procedures without parental consent, there were on average 1.6 more suicides per 100,000 residents age 12-23. That’s 14% higher than the average state suicide rate in that age group from 1999-2020. The analysts say an observable rise in suicides began when these hormone therapies became available. They believe there’s a connection. Others will deny a causal link, but if, as they claim, these procedures reduce suicides, why are suicides rising in places there they’re most easily available?

I would think that this study would merit some serious discussion. If it doesn’t, if it’s just ignored and swept under the rug, then I would take that as a pretty good indicator that for all the talk about saving kids’ lives, their lives really take a back seat to pushing a particular social/political agenda.