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Fact Checked: New Problematic "Finnish Study" Actually Shows Trans Care Saves Lives

Fact Checked: New Problematic "Finnish Study" Actually Shows Trans Care Saves Lives
A new study from Dr. Kaltiala in Finland is being used to claim that trans care is not lifesaving. Experts say this is false, and the study itself shows trans care likely saves lives.

ERIN REED
FEB 25, 2024


A new study in Finland, which is garnering attention among anti-trans activists, is being used to claim that gender-affirming care "is not lifesaving." Journalist Benjamin Ryan explicitly stated this claim when discussing his article published in The New York Post. However, leading researchers, including Dr. Meredithe McNamara from the Yale University School of Medicine and epidemiologist Gideon Meyerowitz-Katz, argue that the study's methodology fails to support this conclusion. They point out critical flaws, such as the study controlling for the variable it aims to measure and relying on outdated data from a time before "gender dysphoria" was even recognized as a diagnosis. Moreover, a detailed examination of the study reveals that, despite these issues, gender-affirming care likely reduces the risk of suicide—those who do not receive care face a risk three times higher than controls. Surprisingly, the study's authors do not address this finding.

The new study examines Finnish health data from 1996 to 2022, exploring the connection between gender-affirming care and suicide. Numerous studies have demonstrated that gender-affirming care significantly reduces suicidality, with some showing a decrease in suicidality by up to 73%. However, this study introduces an additional factor: visits to psychiatric specialists. It concludes that, after adjusting for psychiatric specialist visits, the suicide rates among those who undergo medical gender reassignment "did not statistically significantly differ from that of controls." Therefore, the study asserts that the data "does not support the claims that [medical gender reassignment] is necessary to prevent suicide."

Shortly after publication, nearly every organization opposed to gender affirming care publicized the findings widely. Genspect, an organization which has engaged in online teasing of transgender youth, stated the study put the “suicide myth” to rest. Transgender Trend used the study to claim that “medical transition is ineffective in preventing suicide.” Leor Sapir of the Manhattan Institute used the study to claim “the suicide narrative is baseless.” Meanwhile, journalist Benjamin Ryan published a story in the New York Post and claimed the study showed “gender-transition treatment is not life saving.”

A closer examination of the study reveals that it does not support such conclusions. Now, in a thorough and comprehensive fact-check, leading experts refute these assertions by highlighting critical flaws that directly oppose these claims. Ultimately, despite these shortcomings, the study actually suggests that gender-affirming care is lifesaving. This is despite statistical missteps and issues with data sources which, whether intentionally or not, obscure the conclusion supported by the extensive body of research indicating that gender-affirming care saves lives and decreases suicidality.

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After non-binary teen's death, lawmaker says Christians don't "want that filth" in Oklahoma

After non-binary teen's death, lawmaker says Christians don't "want that filth" in Oklahoma
State Sen. Tom Woods said he'd fight "to keep that filth out of the state of Oklahoma because we are a Christian state"
FEB 24, 2024

Earlier this month, Nex Benedict, a 16-year-old non-binary student from Oklahoma, died one day after being assaulted in an Owasso High School bathroom. (The details are still unclear.)

The issue came up on Friday night during a “Legislative Update” featuring several lawmakers and sponsored by the Tahlequah Area Chamber of Commerce. An audience member, Cathy Cott, asked the four Republican members of the legislature why they had “such an obsession with the LGBTQ citizens of Oklahoma and what people do in their personal lives and how they raise their children.”

As reported by the Tahlequah Daily Press, State Sen. Tom Woods offered the worst possible response:

Woods said that while his “heart goes out” regarding the teen’s death, he represents a constituency.

“We are a Republican state—supermajority—in the House and Senate. I represent a constituency that doesn’t want that filth in Oklahoma,” Woods said.

…

“We are a religious state and we are going to fight it to keep that filth out of the state of Oklahoma because we are a Christian state—we are a moral state,” Woods said. “We want to lower taxes and let people be able to live and work and go to the faith they choose. We are a Republican state and I’m going to vote my district, and I’m going to vote my values, and we don’t want that in the state of Oklahoma.”

To put that more bluntly, a Christian lawmaker who fantasizes about living in a theocracy claimed that his religious constituents don’t like it when LGBTQ people are alive.

What exactly was the “filth” he was so concerned about? He didn’t elaborate. It was clear, however, that he was referring to an openly non-binary teen. For people like him, all lives mater, including the unborn… unless they grow up to be LGBTQ. In which case their murders are tolerable in the name of Jesus.
[..]

Right-Wing Trolls Have Worked Themselves Up Over a Nonbinary X-Men Character

Right-Wing Trolls Have Worked Themselves Up Over a Nonbinary X-Men Character
X-Men ’97 drops on Disney+ this March and bigots are big mad.

BY SAMANTHA RIEDEL
February 22, 2024

https://media.them.us/photos/65d78dbad97b7d5cfee74bc9/1:1/w_960,c_limit/morph.jpg

To me, my fake fans! X-Men ’97, Marvel’s forthcoming sequel to the classic 1990s superhero cartoon, has it all: a new trailer, a release date in March, and a pack of enraged right-wingers who insist that comics’ most famous civil rights allegory has “gone woke” by making one of its characters nonbinary.

After more than two years in development, X-Men ’97 is scheduled to drop on Disney+ on March 20, with a 10-episode first season picking up where the original X-Men cartoon left off, with the dramatic death of team founder Professor Charles Xavier. It’s not Xavier or any of the series’ more well-known mutant characters that gripped reactionaries in a panic, though, but rather Morph, a shapeshifter who died in the original series’ first episode (but later returned for complicated comic-book reasons).

According to a feature interview this month with showrunner Beau DeMayo in Empire, Morph, who was originally portrayed as a cisgender man, will instead be characterized as nonbinary. DeMayo later confirmed in a story post on Instagram that this version of Morph uses they/them pronouns. Voice actor JP Karliak, who is openly gay, plays Morph in the new series.

Technically, this is all old news. Morph’s new nonbinary identity was announced at a San Diego Comic-Con panel in 2022, during which DeMayo used they/them pronouns for the character and stated Morph would be “taking on a new persona” compared to their old characterization. The reveal didn’t make a huge splash at the time, possibly because shapeshifters have always been part of nonbinary culture. After the series’ first trailer dropped last week, however, a bevy of right-wing YouTubers and assorted influencers crawled out of the woodwork to complain that going “woke” would make the series “unwatchable.” As Forbes noted, much of the backlash focused on Morph’s updated background being “woke AF,” with ancillary disappointment at the designs for powerhouse hero Rogue — specifically, that her ass cheeks are no longer sufficiently thick. Stay classy, manosphere!
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Republicans Issue New Government Shutdown Threat Over Trans People

Republicans Issue New Government Shutdown Threat Over Trans People
On Wednesday, the House Freedom Caucus issued a letter indicating that the government may shut down if anti-trans polices are not included.

ERIN REED
FEB 21, 2024


On Wednesday, the House Freedom Caucus published a letter threatening a government shutdown in which it outlines a number of policies that are needed to supposedly avert such a result. Listed among these policies are restrictions on gender affirming care, transgender participation in sports, DEI programs, and defunding Planned Parenthood. This comes after nearly a dozen riders targeting transgender people have been inserted into numerous government spending bills that could result in large scale government shutdowns if not handled by March 8th.

In an exclusive released by Axios, Republican sources state that “people are predicting a shutdown.” The report states that one of the primary drivers of the shutdown frustrations are policy riders on gender-affirming care and abortion. Currently, Speaker Mike Johnson’s negotiations reportedly do not include gender affirming care policies, which is upsetting Republicans who have pushed for the inclusion of those policies in the final bill. Biden has stated opposition to any bill that contains them, and the riders did not make the final cut for the previous stopgap budget bill.

Now, in a letter from the House Freedom Caucus, Republicans state that unless these policies are included, the “probability that the appropriations bills will be supported by even a majority of Republicans” is low.

See full letter here:



Increasingly, Democrats and LGBTQ+ organizations have applied pressure on the Biden administration and Democratic leadership not to accept any deal that includes anti-LGBTQ+ riders. In a letter signed by 163 Democratic members of congress, they state that bans on gender affirming care, pride flags, DEI initiatives, and discrimination should not be on the table for negotiation. Human Rights Campaign has likewise released an advertisement echoing that message:

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Trans Adults Are the Next Target in the GOP's War on Gender-Affirming Health Care

Trans Adults Are the Next Target in the GOP’s War on Gender-Affirming Health Care
Last year, 37 medical care bans included regulations on transition treatments for adults. This year, there are already 41 such bills.

BY NICO LANG
February 16, 2024

A year after a wave of anti-trans medical care bans swept the country, Republican lawmakers are already upping the ante in 2024 by targeting trans adults’ access to healthcare.

Just days into the new year, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) attempted to restrict adults’ access to gender-affirming care by issuing an executive order that would have prohibited most primary care providers from providing gender-affirming care to trans people, no matter their age. The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio termed it a “de facto ban” on all forms of transition care due to the “cumbersome requirements” it attempted to place on Ohioans seeking transition-related care. (The order also bans transition surgery for minors, something that occurs extremely rarely anyway).

“I don’t know anyone who’s trans right now and is really OK,” Dara Adkinson, the board president of TransOhio, told Them shortly after the order was issued. “So many people are just confused. They feel scared, and they feel stressed. Parents of trans kids ask us: ‘Do I need to move? Will more bad bills be passed next year?’ Truthfully, anything feels on the table at this point. It very much feels like a wall was broken, in the worst kind of way.”

The regulations for trans adults were eventually scrapped following blowback (almost 7,000 pages of emails were sent to the Ohio Department of Mental Health & Addiction Services during the open comment period for the order). But other state legislatures across the country are picking up where Ohio left off. As of a recent count from Trans Legislation Tracker, over a third of the 120 trans medical care bans already proposed in 2024 include provisions restricting trans adults’ access to care: 41 in total.

According to a representative from the ongoing data project, lawmakers in 13 states have proposed restrictions on adult health care this year, including Florida, Iowa, North Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, and Wyoming. The suggested minimum ages for care vary by state. For instance, a bill introduced in Kansas would outlaw gender-affirming care for individuals under the age of 21, and legislation in Oklahoma would have originally extended their prohibition until 26, although the Republican state senator who introduced the bill lowered the age to 18 after backlash from LGBTQ+ advocates.
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Oklahoma transgender student dies after allegedly assaulted by students at school

Oklahoma transgender student dies after allegedly assaulted by students at school

There's an outcry in Oklahoma after the death of a transgender student that has sparked demands for answers.
CHRISTOPHER WIGGINS
FEBRUARY 20 2024 12:56 PM EST

In Oklahoma, the death of a transgender student after they were assaulted in a school bathroom has sparked widespread outrage and sorrow. Nex Benedict, a sophomore at Owasso High School, was brutally beaten by other students earlier this month and died the following day. The incident has drawn national attention, with many attributing the violent act to a culture of transphobia they say is being stoked by state officials.

The assault on Benedict, 16, happened on February 7, when three older girls attacked them in the girls’ bathroom, Tulsa NBC affiliate KJRH reports. A teacher intervened to stop the fight. Staff didn't call an ambulance, the outlet noted.

Benedict's grandmother, who was their guardian, took the teenager to the hospital that day. They went back the next day after Benedict became ill. Benedict died that evening.

The grandmother, Sue Benedict, toldThe Independent that her child had been the subject of months of intensifying bullying that began earlier in 2023 after Oklahoma’s Republican-led government banned transgender students from using school bathrooms that align with their gender identity.

“I didn’t know how bad it had gotten,” she told the outlet.
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Georgia Senator Vows to Protect Girl, But Then Runs Away After Learning She Is Trans

Georgia Senator Vows to Protect Girl, But Then Runs Away After Learning She Is Trans
During a visit to lobby legislators on transgender issues, Senator Carden Summers (R) knelt down and told a child he would protect her. When he learned she was trans, he backed away.

ERIN REED
FEB 16, 2024


Lena and Aleix speaking to Senator Summers, before he realized he was speaking to a transgender child.

On Feb. 6, a group of families met to lobby senators on issues affecting the local transgender community in Georgia. One mother, Lena Kotler, decided to take her two children with her to give the topic a human face. While waiting to meet with Democratic Sen. Kim Jackson, who they had heard was a big supporter of LGBTQ+ rights, another senator passed by — Republican Sen. Carden Summers, the primary sponsor of the state’s bathroom ban bill. Little did he know that one of the children he would be interacting with, Aleix, 8 years old, was a transgender child.

According to Kotler and other families who were present, the senator stopped to say hello. That’s when Kotler spoke to Senator Summers about how she was there with her kids to “talk to legislators about keeping her kids safe.” Although she did not mention that one of her children was trans, they were present with LGBTQ+ signage - something the Senator apparently missed when he knelt down in front of Aleix and said, according to Kotler, “Well you know, we’re working on that and I’m going to protect kids like you.”

Kotler then replied, “Yeah - Alex is trans, and she wants to be safe at school, she wants to go to the bathroom and be safe.”

That is when, according to multiple witnesses, Sen. Summers stood up and fumbled his words, repeating, "I mean, yeah, I'm going to make sure she's safe by going to the right bathroom," continuing to use the correct pronouns for Aleix. When asked if he would make her go to a boy's bathroom, he then allegedly backed away, saying, "You're attacking me," turned around, and walked off quickly.

The exchange was a unique encapsulation of why anti-trans bills that ban transgender people from public spaces that match their gender identity have proven ineffectual in the past. In numerous hearings over bathroom bans, transgender people often point out that cisgender individuals cannot always tell who is and is not trans. Enforcement of anti-trans policies like Sen. Summer's bill, which would ban transgender youth from bathrooms of their gender identity, will inevitably catch cisgender people who are gender nonconforming in the same net. Worse, it would force transgender kids into the wrong bathroom — kids who even the senator who wrote the bill innately realized he needed to protect from bathroom harassment before learning the child was trans.

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The Texas megachurch shooter has not been identified as transgender, despite claims online

The Texas megachurch shooter has not been identified as transgender, despite claims online



Houston Police officers watch over displaced churchgoers outside Lakewood Church, Sunday, Feb. 11, 2024, in Houston, after a reported shooting during a Spanish church service. Social media users are falsely claiming that the shooter has been identified as transgender. (Karen Warren/Houston Chronicle via AP)

BY MELISSA GOLDIN
Published 4:27 PM CST, February 13, 2024

CLAIM: The shooter who carried out an attack injuring two people at a Texas megachurch on Sunday has been identified as transgender.

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. Houston police said on Monday that its investigation has thus far determined that the shooter, Genesse Ivonne Moreno, identified as female despite using multiple aliases, including the name Jeffery — or Jeffrey — Escalante. Multiple court records identify Moreno as female, most recently in 2022.

THE FACTS: Amid the aftermath of Sunday’s shooting at Lakewood Church, which is led by televangelist pastor Joel Osteen, social media users spread false claims about Moreno’s gender identity.

“BREAKING: Lakewood Church shooter identified as transgender, legal name Genesse Moreno but went by the name ‘Jeffrey,’” reads one post on X, formerly Twitter, that had received approximately 9,100 likes and 6,100 shares as of Tuesday.

Others claimed that Moreno, who was fatally shot in an exchange of gunfire, had been born as Jeffery, but went by Genesse as part of her transition.

Officials have not found any evidence that Moreno was transgender. Police said she used male and female aliases, but that investigators who looked at past police reports determined she identified as female.

“We do have reports she used multiple aliases, including Jeffery Escalante,” Houston Police Commander Chris Hassig said about 19 minutes into a press conference on Monday. “So she has utilized both male and female names, but through all of our investigation to this point, talking with individuals, interviews, documents, Houston Police Department reports, she has been identified this entire time as female, she, her. And so we are identifying her as Genesse Moreno, Hispanic female.

Records in Harris County, where Houston is located, show that Moreno, under the names Jeffery G. Escalante-Moreno or Jeffery G. Escalante, was charged in six criminal cases from 2005 to 2011. She is identified as female in all of them. A case filed in nearby Katy County after Moreno’s latest arrest in April 2022 also lists her as female, but with the name Genesse Ivonne Moreno.

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Transgender teen girl stabbed 14 times at roller rink birthday party

Transgender teen girl stabbed 14 times at roller rink birthday party
A teenaged girl has been charged with the stabbing, which occurred the day before the one-year anniversary of the brutal stabbing murder of Brianna Ghey.
DONALD PADGETT
FEBRUARY 14 2024 3:37 PM EST

A teenaged transgender girl was stabbed 14 times at a birthday celebration in London last weekend, and a 19-year-old girl has been arrested and charged with attempted murder in the case.

The unidentified transgender girl was attending a birthday party at the Harrow Leisure Center roller rink around 7 p.m. on Saturday, February 10, when she was allegedly subjected to transphobic abuse from a group of teenagers. Details remain unclear, but police allege Summer Betts-Ramsey stabbed the victim 14 times with a knife.

The victim was rushed to a local hospital where she was treated for her wounds. She was subsequently discharged and remains in seclusion with her family as she recovers from the attack and wounds.

Summer Betts-Ramsey and three other individuals have been arrested in connection with the crime, according to lead Detective Inspector Nicola Hannant.

“This was a shocking and violent attack and we continue to support the victim and her family as she recovers from her injuries,” Hannant said in a statement. “At this stage, we are treating this as a transphobic hate crime and we know this will cause significant concern.”

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