(For the people in the back who just don’t fuckin get it)
Transgender People are Valid
An incomplete list of the reputable scientific & social organizations which affirm the validity of transgender people (that transness is not an illness, that trans people are deserving of respect and equal rights, etc).
List of organizations that recognize the difference between sex and gender
American Psychological Association
American Medical Association
American Psychoanalytic Association
Human Rights Campaign
American Academy of Pediatrics
American College of Osteopathic Pediatricians
United Nations
United Kingdom’s National Health Service
American Psychological Association pamphlet on transgender issues
In this pamphlet the APA affirms the psychological consensus - that transgender people are valid, have existed throughout history, are subject to discrimination, and that transness is not a mental disorder.[2] In 2008 they published a Gender Identity Resolution which expands upon those premises, supports total equality and specialized care for transgender people, affirms the institutional legitimacy of transness in psychology, and calls for a broader scientific, institutional, and legal recognition of these principles.[3] Additionally, a 2014 resolution detailed why and how to apply all of that to schools, with hundreds of specific actions they recommend be done to support sexual orientation and gender diverse youth in every aspect of their lives and education.[4]
Gender Transition has a Positive Effect on Trans People
Meta-meta-analysis: What does the scholarly research say about the effect of gender transition on transgender well-being?[5]
A systematic literature review of all 55 peer-reviewed articles on the subject (as of June 2017), of which:
51 studies found that gender transition improves the overall well-being of transgender people
4 studies reported mixed or null findings
No studies concluded that gender transition causes overall harm
It found a scholarly consensus that transition is effective in treating gender dysphoria.
Additionally, gender transition and related medical treatments lead to an increase in quality of life, relationship satisfaction, self-esteem, and confidence, and a decrease in anxiety, depression, suicidality, and substance use.
Young Adult Psychological Outcome After Puberty Suppression and Gender Reassignment[6]
A longitudinal study on the effectiveness of puberty suppression and sex reassignment surgery.
Participants were assessed before starting puberty blockers (14 years old on average), when starting hormone treatment (17 years old), and 1 year (minimum) after SRS (21 years old).
In young adulthood, the gender dysphoria was alleviated and psychological functioning had steadily improved.
Well-being was similar to or better than same-age young adults from the general population.
At the end, the participants were vocationally similar to the Dutch population except they were slightly more likely to live with parents (67% vs 63%), and more likely, when studying, to be pursuing higher education (58% vs 31%).
Support from medical professionals and families is crucial to the future success of transgender patients.
In this instance, 95% of mothers, 80% of fathers, and 87% of siblings were supportive. 71% of subjects had experienced social transitioning as easy.
All young adults in this study were generally satisfied with their physical appearance and none regretted treatment.
“the positive results may also be attributable to supportive parents, open-minded peers, and the social and financial support (treatment is covered by health insurance) that gender dysphoric individuals can receive in the Netherlands”
Pubertal Suppression for Transgender Youth and Risk of Suicidal Ideation [7]
Study of self-reported history of 16.9% of over 20,000 transgender people regarding the mental health impact of pubertal suppression therapy
The 16.9% reported that they wanted pubertal suppression as part of their gender-related care. 2.5% of those who wanted, received it.
The paper asserts that patients that went through the suppression therapy “had lower odds of lifetime suicidal ideation”
Hormonal therapy and sex reassignment: a systematic review and meta‐analysis of quality of life and psychosocial outcomes[8]
A meta-analysis of 28 studies, which in total enrolled 1833 transgender who underwent sex reassignment surgery.
Most individuals reported significant improvement in gender dysphoria (80%), psychological symptoms (78%), and sexual function (72%).
In general, participants “reported good satisfaction with the new assigned sex, physical appearance, had no doubts about their new gender role or their ability about maintaining this role in the future”.
Satisfaction with primary and secondary sex characteristics was significantly higher when pre- and post-transition therapy data were compared.
Psychological functioning level was similar to the normal population and better than untreated individuals with dysphoria. Longer duration of hormone use was associated with better psychological adjustment.
Suicide attempt rates decreased after sex reassignment, but stayed higher than the normal population rate.
Financial, professional status and employment situation were satisfactory, and better than they were pre-SRS.
“Individuals whose transsexual symptoms manifested at a younger age reportedly had better adjustment to the new gender role; and when reassignment procedures were administered before adulthood, favourable postoperative psychological and social functioning were noted”
Mental Health and Self-Worth in Socially Transitioned Transgender Youth[9]
Compares the mental health of socially transitioned children to 2 control groups: their siblings, and age- and gender-matched controls.
Its conclusions are based on self-reported information from the children themselves (instead of parents) to avoid measurement issues like confirmation bias.
It also compares this to simultaneously recorded parent data to see how those biases could have affected previous research.
The study found no difference in depressive symptoms and no significant difference in anxiety symptoms or self-worth across the three study groups, and when compared to the national average.
There was also no difference between transgender children who were taking hormone blockers, cross-sex hormones, or neither.
This displays a strong contrast to previous studies on gender-nonconforming children who had not socially transitioned, which overwhelmingly found elevated rates of anxiety and depression and lower self-worth.
De-transitioning
The decision to return to your assigned gender is a completely valid one, but far too often people (especially TERFs) will make anecdotal horror stories out of people who de-transition to paint a picture of widespread over-diagnosis of gender dysphoria. This is usually accompanied by fear-mongering about “tricking gender-nonconforming kids into wanting hormones” as part of the nebulous “trans agenda”. This is very far from the truth, as shown in the 2015 US Transgender Survey of 27,715 trans people in the United States.[10]
8% of respondents said they had at some point gone back to living as their assigned sex, and for 62% of them it was only temporary and were currently living full-time as a different gender than they were assigned.
Only 5% of de-transitioners (0.4% of trans people) gave “it wasn’t right for me” as any of their reasons.
The most common reason provided was pressure from a parent (36%).
Other significant factors included pressure from family members (26%) or a partner (18%), difficulty transitioning (33%), too much harassment or discrimination after they began transitioning (31%), and having trouble getting a job (29%).
Transgender Athletes
This section is very new and serves to guide future expansion. This section needs many more sources and edits, and could be entirely remade due to changing scientific consensus.
The topic of trans women is sports is very contentious and does not have a clear scientific answer. Any claims made about it (or added to this section in the future) should be heavily sourced with recent and peer-reviewed studies, and should be careful not to overstate findings (phrases like “at any stage of transition” should be clarified).
The apparent lack of trans men in sports is sometimes invoked to argue that biological differences make competition between people assigned female at birth and people assigned male at birth inherently unfair. While trans women remain the focus of the debate over trans inclusion in athletics, there are a number of openly trans male athletes, including:
Patricio Manuel: “Patricio Manuel is the first openly trans male boxer to win a fight at the professional level, doing so in December 2018.”[11]
Chris Mosier: “Chris Mosier is a trailblazing hall of fame triathlete, All-American Duathlete, and a 6-time member of Team USA. In 2015 he became the first known transgender man to make a men’s US National Team, and was the catalyst for change for the International Olympic Committee policy on transgender athletes.”[12]
Mack Beggs: “Mack Beggs, 18, a senior from Euless Trinity High School near Dallas, entered the [Texas girls’ Class 6A 110-pound division] tournament in Cypress outside of Houston with an undefeated record. […] Beggs is in the process of transitioning from female to male and taking a low dose of testosterone […] Beggs had asked to wrestle in the boys’ division, but the rules for Texas public high schools require athletes to compete under the gender on their birth certificate.”[13]
(For the people in the back who just don’t fuckin get it)
Transgender People are Valid
An incomplete list of the reputable scientific & social organizations which affirm the validity of transgender people (that transness is not an illness, that trans people are deserving of respect and equal rights, etc).
List of organizations that recognize the difference between sex and gender
American Psychological Association pamphlet on transgender issues
In this pamphlet the APA affirms the psychological consensus - that transgender people are valid, have existed throughout history, are subject to discrimination, and that transness is not a mental disorder.[2] In 2008 they published a Gender Identity Resolution which expands upon those premises, supports total equality and specialized care for transgender people, affirms the institutional legitimacy of transness in psychology, and calls for a broader scientific, institutional, and legal recognition of these principles.[3] Additionally, a 2014 resolution detailed why and how to apply all of that to schools, with hundreds of specific actions they recommend be done to support sexual orientation and gender diverse youth in every aspect of their lives and education.[4]
Gender Transition has a Positive Effect on Trans People
Meta-meta-analysis: What does the scholarly research say about the effect of gender transition on transgender well-being?[5]
A systematic literature review of all 55 peer-reviewed articles on the subject (as of June 2017), of which:
Young Adult Psychological Outcome After Puberty Suppression and Gender Reassignment[6]
Pubertal Suppression for Transgender Youth and Risk of Suicidal Ideation [7]
Hormonal therapy and sex reassignment: a systematic review and meta‐analysis of quality of life and psychosocial outcomes[8]
Mental Health and Self-Worth in Socially Transitioned Transgender Youth[9]
De-transitioning
The decision to return to your assigned gender is a completely valid one, but far too often people (especially TERFs) will make anecdotal horror stories out of people who de-transition to paint a picture of widespread over-diagnosis of gender dysphoria. This is usually accompanied by fear-mongering about “tricking gender-nonconforming kids into wanting hormones” as part of the nebulous “trans agenda”. This is very far from the truth, as shown in the 2015 US Transgender Survey of 27,715 trans people in the United States.[10]
Transgender Athletes
This section is very new and serves to guide future expansion. This section needs many more sources and edits, and could be entirely remade due to changing scientific consensus.
The topic of trans women is sports is very contentious and does not have a clear scientific answer. Any claims made about it (or added to this section in the future) should be heavily sourced with recent and peer-reviewed studies, and should be careful not to overstate findings (phrases like “at any stage of transition” should be clarified).
The apparent lack of trans men in sports is sometimes invoked to argue that biological differences make competition between people assigned female at birth and people assigned male at birth inherently unfair. While trans women remain the focus of the debate over trans inclusion in athletics, there are a number of openly trans male athletes, including:
[sources]