Gender Dysphoria and Suicide – Where’s the Extraordinary Evidence?
Does gender dysphoria really present a binary choice – gender transition or suicide?
This subject is discussed in a superb article published in Partners For Ethical Care (PEC), in which the famous, and often used quote “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence” is applied to gender ideology, and in particular the practices of “gender affirming care” (which is predominantly a euphemism for prescribing sterilising drugs such as puberty blockers, hormone replacement, and performing surgical castration).
In the heated debates around gender, we often hear these “extraordinary” statements:
Some children are born into the wrong body
The “cure” for gender dysphoria is puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgical removal of healthy organs
Transitioning is the only way to prevent suicide
Parents are coerced with extremely emotive arguments, such as … “Would you rather have a trans son, or a dead daughter?”. This assumes a binary set of choices – transition or suicide.
These are all extraordinary claims, with extraordinary consequences, which are being presented without extraordinary research. Yet we’re meant to simply accept these claims without question?
The recommended transgender “treatments” are also extraordinary procedures with dire outcomes:
“Puberty blockers, for instance, have been documented to interfere with accruement of bone mass, cause brain swelling and vision loss, and may interfere with normal brain development. Use of cross-sex hormones impairs reproductive function and significantly increases the likelihood of life-threatening events such as a heart attack, blood clot, stroke, and some cancers. Genital surgeries carry not only typical surgical risks, but also have unusually high complication rates, cause lifelong sexual dysfunction, and result in permanent dependence on exogenous hormones.”
It’s clear that transgender treatments are anything but safe or reversible.
Now, back to the statement: “Would you rather have a trans son, or a dead daughter?” Is there any extensive research and evidence to support this extraordinary claim?
According to the PEC article… transition advocates recite some highly dubious statistics, such as, “Forty-eight percent of trans youth will attempt suicide.” This figure comes from a study with a non-random sample of just 27 youth, yet its repetition has influenced both public opinion and medical practice. These limited studies ignore that the majority of children and adolescents with gender dysphoria also suffer from at least one other mental health condition and are more likely to be autistic.
“When the factors of homosexuality, mental illness, and autism are considered, it becomes clear that there are too many confounding factors to establish a causal relationship between trans identity and elevated suicide risk.” Source: Partners For Ethical Care, 2023
“Even if it was true that transgender or non-binary-identified youth were more likely to attempt suicide, the evidence that gender medicine prevents this is extremely weak.”
There are currently no clinical trials or controlled studies on the use of puberty blockers as a treatment for gender dysphoria or suicidal ideation. Like “trans women are women”, “gender affirming care saves lives” is a religious mantra not grounded in science, logic, or medical facts.
Please read this superb article published in Partners For Ethical Care (PEC):
