NPR claiming increase in suicides after laws passed

[HumphreyCushionintheHouse]

I’m a British woman, living in the US, west coast. A couple of weeks ago. I was listening to NPR, and they had a segment on, saying that the number of trans teens attempting suicide has increased in states where so called Anti-trans laws had been passed.

NPR are not known for unbiased reporting when it comes to trans matter, which I know, so I looked up the segment to read it in detail. The study they reference claims that in 26 states where such laws were passed, there was an increase in attempts, especially right after the bills were passed.

The assumption is the attempt increases are directly related to the laws being put in place. How true would you say this was? Is it a social contagion type thing, where the idea is being put out there and acted upon?

BTW I am firmly GC, and not a fan of this type of fear mongering, and wondering what other make of this segment and study.

https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2024/09/25/nx-s1-5127347/more-trans-teens-attempted-suicide-after-states-passed-anti-trans-laws-a-study-shows

It doesn’t matter how big the sample size is. It’s a self-selecting questionnaire study recruiting a particular type of person via social media avenues like Snapchat, and using that to draw causality. It’s not even representative of TGNB people as a whole.

Only a few of those states passed legislation to limit healthcare for children. Many of the “anti-transgender” laws were about sport.

They call them “anti-transgender” laws. They could easily say “suicidal thoughts increased after passing of child protection laws”.

They indicate causality on the laws being passed, not the reporting of such laws.

I can’t see a comparison to the rates of suicidal ideation in non-TGNB kids to compare.

In terms of conflict of interest, of course the Trevor Project has a huge one. If TGNB identifying adolescents aren’t as distressed as they claim, then their whole public face ceases to be true.

The one peer reviewer named, as opposed to being anonymous, has published her own articles about state legislation impacts on trans people:

https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=kBVCQjQAAAAJ&citation_for_view=kBVCQjQAAAAJ:IWHjjKOFINEC

All of these concerns exist before you even look at the data to see if it’s remotely reliable on its own.

I'm sure loads of Victorian era children were topping themselves because they couldn't get access to cross-sex hormones and body modification surgery.
I'm surprised supposed suicide rates have gone up like this...

This. If I were a young person in the US finding it hard to fit in, maybe questioning my identity or sexuality I would be really upset because of this constant framing of laws being anti-trans. It's malicious.

I came across this article analysing a study published in Nature which claimed an uptick in suicide attempts when legislators in the USA began restricting treatments offered by gender clinics. I thought the article would be of interest to those following this thread:

https://genderstats.substack.com/p/activism-based-rather-than-evidence

"Activism-based rather than evidence-based: A recently published study in the prestigious journal "Nature - Human Behavior" claims that Republican 'anti-trans' legislation causes upticks in suicide attempts by 7-72 %. It bursts with flaws.

Influence of Study on Media and Activism: The study has garnered significant attention from left-leaning media and trans activists, who claim it provides causal evidence that anti-trans legislation leads to increased suicide rates (7-72 % increase) among trans youth, framing any opposition to gender-affirming care as promoting child suicide.

Questionable Data and Estimates: Despite the study's claims of precision due to its large sample size, it relies on flawed data and unreasonable estimates, yet it is being used by activists and media to push a narrative and emotionally pressure those questioning gender ideology's impact on children."

I can't believe the utter callousness of any adult pushing the suicide narrative
If a child is distressed, the right response is to reassure them and make sure they're supported, not tell them their distress is going to make them commit suicide.
And then they use the increased distress even further to point out that they were 'right'.
Absolutely despicable

Justme56 · 08/10/2024 19:38

I just had a quick look at the site and the new CEO of the Trevor Project identifies as a black non binary lesbian (they, she, he pronouns).

So, quite likely to be a white man, then.