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✫ trans rights are human rights

By junebug

PROTECT TRANS RIGHTS. PROTECT TRANS LIVES.

Transgender and LGBT Health

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT+) individuals are those who are unique in terms of either sexuality, gender identity or both. A transgender person is somebody whose gender does not align with their birth sex. A lesbian is a female who is attracted to other females. A gay person is a male attracted to other males. A bisexual individual is somebody who is attracted to more than one gender.
Gender identity and sex are separate. Sex refers to the biological characteristics an individual had at birth, while gender identity refers to one’s understanding of oneself in terms of subjective masculine, feminine or androgynous traits and characteristics. While gender identity is often correlated with sex, this is not always the case, for example, transgender people have a gender identity differing from their birth sex.
LGBT people have an elevated risk of suicide, suicidal ideation and severe psychological distress. As I will discuss, the solution is not to judge, denigrate or discriminate against LGBT people, but to empathise, understand and accept them.

Mental Health of Sexual and Gender Minorities
Transgender and gender diverse youth are at a significantly increased risk of self-harm, eating disorders, depression and suicidal ideation and attempts in addition to higher psychiatric morbidity.
- Connolly, M. D., Zervos, M. J., Barone, C. J., Johnson, C. C., & Joseph, C. L. M. (2016). The mental health of Transgender Youth: Advances in understanding. Journal of Adolescent Health, 59(5), 489–495. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2016.06.012

Gender Transition and a Supportive Environment
A meta-analysis of 55 studies on the effects of transitioning on mental health was conducted. It found that 51 of the studies indicated positive impacts of transitioning on transgender wellbeing while the other 4 had “mixed or null findings”. No studies indicated any harmful effects of gender transition on mental health.
Cornell University. (n.d.). What does the scholarly research say about the effect of gender transition on transgender well-being? What We Know. https://whatweknow.inequality.cornell.edu/topics/lgbt-equality/what-does-the-scholarly-research-say-about-the-well-being-of-transgender-people/.
A meta-analysis of transgender people in sport further found that transgender women had no unfair advantage in contrast to cisgender women.
Jones, B. A., Arcelus, J., Bouman, W. P., & Haycraft, E. (2016). Sport and Transgender People: A Systematic Review of the Literature Relating to Sport Participation and Competitive Sport Policies. Sports Medicine, 47(4), 701–716. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-016-0621-y
Strong parental support for trans youth is highly beneficial and reduces suicide rates.
Travers, R., Bauer, G., Pyne, J., Bradley, K., Gale, L., & Papadimitriou, M. (2012, October 2). Impacts of Strong Parental Support for Trans Youth. Trans PULSE. https://transpulseproject.ca/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Impacts-of-Strong-Parental-Support-for-Trans-Youth-vFINAL.pdf.
Positive social support is incredibly beneficial to transgender mental health, and in many cases, can help them experience levels of depression and suicidality equivalent to those of somebody in the general population.
Olson, K. R., Durwood, L., DeMeules, M., & McLaughlin, K. A. (2016). Mental health of transgender children who are supported in their identities. Pediatrics, 137(3). https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2015-3223
Trujillo, M. A., Perrin, P. B., Sutter, M., Tabaac, A., & Benotsch, E. G. (2016). The buffering role of social support on the associations among discrimination, mental health, and suicidality in a transgender sample. International Journal of Transgenderism, 18(1), 39–52. https://doi.org/10.1080/15532739.2016.1247405
Durwood, L., McLaughlin, K. A., & Olson, K. R. (2017). Mental health and self-worth in socially transitioned transgender youth. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 56(2). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2016.10.016
Travers, R., Bauer, G., Pyne, J., Bradley, K., Gale, L., & Papadimitriou, M. (2012, October 2). Impacts of Strong Parental Support for Trans Youth. Trans PULSE. https://transpulseproject.ca/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Impacts-of-Strong-Parental-Support-for-Trans-Youth-vFINAL.pdf.
Chosen name usage decreases the risk of depressive behaviour and suicidality in transgender youth.
Russell, S. T., Pollitt, A. M., Li, G., & Grossman, A. H. (2018). Chosen name use is linked to reduced depressive symptoms, suicidal ideation, and suicidal behavior among transgender youth. Journal of Adolescent Health, 63(4), 503–505. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2018.02.003

"Biology tho" "Unnatural tho"
Sex is not a strict binary, as outliers exist which demonstrate that sex goes beyond genitalia. Why can’t the same be said about outliers in terms of gender identity, such as transgender individuals?
Montañez, A. (2017, September 1). Beyond XX and XY: The Extraordinary Complexity of Sex Determination. Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/beyond-xx-and-xy-the-extraordinary-complexity-of-sex-determination/.
Ainsworth, C. (2015, February 18). Sex redefined. Nature News. https://www.nature.com/articles/518288a.
Homosexuality is natural, has existed for thousands of years and has been observed in up to 1,500 species of animals.
Pickett, B. (2020, April 28). Homosexuality. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/homosexuality/#Con.
1,500 animal species practice homosexuality. News Medical Life Sciences. (2006, October 23). https://www.news-medical.net/news/2006/10/23/1500-animal-species-practice-homosexuality.aspx.
Referring back to previously mentioned unilateral support from medical associations and authoritative boards, the major consensus from the western medical community is that gender is separate from biological sex.
Leaning more on the philosophy side. Even if something is biologically unfounded, what is the moral relevance? If support and transitioning indicate positive outcomes, what reason is there to restrict others? For example, if it is okay to discriminate against others on the basis of biology, is it acceptable to assault, abuse and harass a hypothetical human who had slightly different biology separate from what would be seen in the human genome? If not, what is the morally relevant trait differentiating a “semi-human” from a transgender person making it acceptable to discriminate against one on the basis of biology, but not the other?
The neurological structures and functions of the brain of transgender individuals closely resemble those of the gender that they identify as, not their birth sex.
European Society of Endocrinology. (2018, May 24). Transgender brains are more like their desired gender from an early age. ScienceDaily. Retrieved August 6, 2021 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/05/180524112351.htm

READ MORE: https://www.reddit.com/r/lgbt/comments/ozt3n9/i_wrote_an_evidencebased_trans_rights_copypasta/

PROTECT TRANS RIGHTS. PROTECT TRANS LIVES.