To think that the majority of trans people are neurodivergent

Yep 100% of the young people I know who identify as trans are ND. It may or may not 🙄 be a coincidence that the dramatic rise of ND trans people has correlated with the tories disastrous cuts to education and support services. Lost kids, unsupported and having a miserable time, desperate to fit in. As a slight aside, I worked with a group of 20 young people aged 11-17 last year who were self harming, and without fail they were all ND too (and about 25% of them identified as trans).

Social media. Queer theory. Stonewall, mermaids, Allsorts teaching pack. Rainbow family stuff. Social contagion.

Pink News is a vile excuse for a news outlet, and is frequently lesbophobic and misogynistic. You are not the expert in gay attitudes you seem to think you are.

Young adults can be very vocal. Gender critical university lecturers Jo Phoenix (OU) and Kathleen Stock (University of Sussex) were both hounded out of their posts.

Cambridge dictionary is quite helpful though.

Op - you seem so blinded in your rage against 'transphobes', that you've missed 'transphobes' point.
Yes, it's very common knowledge that many autistic girls think they are trans because they are struggling to fit in.
'Transphobes' are fighting FOR these girls, to not do anything whilst they are growing up, that they will regret down the line.

Ah yes the unbiased news source that is pink news.

People who genuinely hate trans people will probably not care that they are being hateful to a group of marginalised ND people.

Sex realists, who I suspect you mean when you say 'transphobic people' (please do correct me if I'm wrong), would say that whether a trans person is ND or not is irrelevant- they deserve respect as all humans do, but they still can't change sex, and, if they are male, they should still stay out of female-only spaces and sports.

I doubt any of my gay friends would feel Pink News to be representative of their views either

No, not a surprise at all.

Yes the increase is largely related to girls wanting to become boys, all that I know are autistic. I'm neurodivergent myself - not of the generations for any of this stuff but of the generation when cosmetic surgery was booming. I had body dysmorphia and was desperate to get 'work done' Two sides of the same coin IMO.

I was raised by two Mum's through the 80's so have a history with appropriate language and the changing acceptance of words.

My son is ND (ASD and SPD dx), Trans (with a Gender Dysphoria dx) and a history of trauma (PTSD dx).

He and all of his friends use Queer freely. Freaked me out at first as I was raised that Queer was a derogatory term.

I'm studying at the most liberal PC Uni, I mean its so PC you are not allowed to use the word "straight" to describe your sexuality (because of the connotations to the history of LGBTQ+ people being described as "bent" as a slur). My lecturer explained that the word Queer has now come to represent anyone who is not hetro-normative. IE LQBTQ+, Enby, ACE etc etc. And that the word is being reclaimed by the Queer community much the same way that the pink triangle was reclaimed by Lesbians and Gay Men in the 80's.

The "Q" in LGBTQ+ used to mean Questioning.

I've just written my thesis based around Trans Youth and the studies do show that ND AFAB's are much more likely to identify as Trans (FtM) than any other group.

Yawn.

I am autistic, I have known I am autistic a very long time now, and the reason I have a problem with gender identity ideology is because I see young autistic women being persuaded the secret to their unhappiness is hormonal and surgical body modification, including hysterectomies.

You can call me transphobic all you like, you're not going to make me believe that young women with disabilities being encouraged to sterilise themselves is a good thing.

While we're on this subject, I'm not sure whether it's more maddening or amusing that trans activists like to squeal "you don't want trans people to exist", because if I was even five years younger, I know I would have identified as trans. That would have put me on the pathway to a mastectomy, cross-sex hormones (damaging my fertility) and a hysterectomy, which would then have led directly to my children not existing.

I know one trans person and there is definitely ND present, and mental health issues

From pink news:
Current society largely accepts ‘queer’ as a general and umbrella term for the LGBTQ+ community, usually in a positive light.
The Cambridge and Merriam-Websterdictionaries even recognise it as so in their definitions of the word, whilst still acknowledging people can find it offensive.

What 40 year olds need to understand is that the slur used against teens in school when being bullied is not “queer”, it’s “gay”. This is the reason many younger people feel happier with queer than gay.

How many would be active in the "network" if they had an option of just an LGB network?
We will never know because the LGB network has been hijacked by the TQ+.
As for pride there are many LGB people that won't go because they don't support it or because they are scared of some of the "community".

I could have wrote this myself, if it was an option in my day I would have thousand percent became a boy.

I now have four children and thank the lord I wasn't born in our current era.

My son and my dad and my brother are all ND I'm presuming the same of myself.

It's scary world we live in where that's now the first option.
I could have been sitting here with a penis now instead of with my four wonderful children.

Yes, I was thinking specifically Tik Tok.

I had no idea about this - the word queer.
I guess it all feels very patronising having everyone lumped together under LGBTQ

Most of the gay people I know are over 40 and not one of them considers queer to be an acceptable word

Hello, I'm an actual homosexual. There is no such thing as an LGBTQ community, and I do not find the word 'queer' to be acceptable, no matter how it is used. Many gay people agree with me, many disagree- more proof that there is no such thing as a homogenous LGBTQ community.

I'd guess the rise of social media.

Who made you the arbitrar on this issue

Our workplace lgbtq+ network is very active and includes people who are lgb and my own daughter feels part of this community as a lesbian, but I’m aware of the complexities. Pride marches suggest there are those that support this and my point about the word queer not being offensive now in 2024 still stands.

Adhd and autism are not mental illnesses.