What is it that drives conservative politicians in the U.S. and Canada to increasingly introduce laws that affect the rights of transgender people, especially youth? This appears to be part and parcel of a populist agenda. In the U.S., Republican lawmakers have been introducing a number of bills targeting transgender rights particularly of children and within public schools. The rights of transgender people to participate in school sports, access gender-affirming healthcare and use the bathroom of their choice have come under attack. In Canada, some conservative provincial governments such as Alberta and New Brunswick have introduced new requirements related to transgender students in schools. Transgender or non-binary students under 16 must have parental consent to alter their names and pronouns at school and there is also a new requirement that gender-neutral washrooms be private, which have become issues in themselves.
What we must first point out is that the proportion of persons in the population who identify as being transgender is very very small. Based on current U.S. population size, it is estimated by the PEW Research Centre that 0.6% of those ages 13 and older identify as transgender in the United States, roughly about 1.6 million individuals. Among adults, 0.5% (over 1.3 million adults) identify as transgender. Only one in five people who identify as transgender are ages 13-17. In Canada in May 2021, Statistics Canada noted that only one in 300 people in Canada aged 15 and older identify as being transgender or non-binary. This means that there were about 60,000 Canadians aged 15 and older living in a private household who were transgender (0.19%) and about 41,000 who were non-binary (0.14%).
However, the transgender issue itself has become a heated one in both countries, especially when it comes to children. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, transgender is an umbrella term for people whose gender identity or expression is different from their sex assigned at birth. Early on, children may exhibit some traits and behaviour more conducive to the opposite sex. There is a lot of misinformation out there about gender-affirming surgery or gender-affirming hormone use. Firstly, such health matters are rarely if ever considered before a child reaches puberty. Initially, parents, recognizing that a young child may exhibit preferences for behaving as a member of the opposite sex, will generally first seek out expert advice from a medical professional to deal what we can all agree would be a personal and private matter. I would strongly suggest that persons interested in the role of parents at this early stage watch an excellent documentary entitled “Transhood” to better understand the difficult situation that parents face under these circumstances. As homosexuality was a new social and health issue half a century ago, issues surrounding gender dysphoria have surfaced in similar ways. Transgender persons face many of the same problems and opposition as homosexuals did, but of a very different kind. As a result, parents often face a lack of support from their community, governments and even their immediate family, as portrayed in the above documentary over several years during the last decade.
Children exhibiting transgender traits face numerous external factors such as pressure from family, non-affirming school environments, and increased vulnerability to violence, including assaults. Transgender adolescents and adults are prone to having mental health issues and to committing suicide in numbers greater than the population at large. According to a 2022 study by the Williams Institute, a UCLA Law School thinktank, a majority of those surveyed said they were under the age of 18 when they knew their gender was different from the one assigned at birth — some one-third 10 years old or younger. Trans adults reported day-to-day harassment, including at work or with a healthcare provider. As per a Washington Post and KFF 2023 study, about 25% of trans adults said they had faced physical assault due to their gender identity, gender expression or sexual orientation. An estimated six out of 10 have faced verbal harassment. However, the same study found that 78% of respondents said living as different gender from birth increased satisfaction in life.
The current tragedy of government intervention is overkill in what should be a matter best left to parents, the child and their medical practitioner. People need to be better informed and educated about gender dysphoria, and which elements are important to consider as to a person’s and family’s mental health and physical health. With better understanding and appreciation of this delicate issue, governments and communities can then better support their related needs for support, rather than further stigmatizing transgender individuals.
FROLITICKS 