A landmark study published recently by the British Medical Journal (BMJ) has found suicide rates in young people with gender dysphoria are not reduced by medical gender transition. Rather, the cause of suicide appears to be psychiatric co-morbidities.
Ashlyn Vice, South Australian State Director for the Australian Chrisitan Lobby (ACL), commented, “Activists often claim that parents of a child with gender dysphoria face an ultimatum: they must choose between having a trans child or a dead child. This study of over 2,000 gender-dysphoric individuals in Finland under the age of 23 revealed that psychosocial outcomes did not measurably improve through early access to gender-transition treatments. The threatening trope is simply not true.
“Instead, a major contributing factor to suicide in the study was psychiatric morbidities.”
“Every suicide is a tragedy” Vice continued, “which is why it is imperative that we understand and identify the true cause of suicide in people diagnosed with gender dysphoria. Holistic care that addresses psychiatric disorders must be offered to young gender dysphoric people, instead of funneling them down the path of irreversible gender transition.
“Thankfully, the study also indicates that completed suicide amongst young people seeking gender treatment is rare, adding to similar findings from other studies. Again, this tells us that it is time to stop threatening parents with the ‘let your kid transition or else’, mentality.
“This month, Premier Peter Malinauskas and his Government took a position against a motion for an inquiry, proposed by the Hon Frank Pangallo MLC, into gender dysphoria in children and adolescents this month. The inquiry would have allowed the Parliament to examine evidence, like this study, to inform a better approach to care for children presenting at our gender clinics.” Vice said.
The ACL is urging the South Australian Government to reconsider the need for an inquiry and has launched a petition to reverse the Premier’s decision to refuse a conscience vote on the issue.
