Parent Group Circulates a Petition to the Surgeon General

NEWS COMMENTARY

A petition is circulating from a non-partisan parent group, Kelsey Coalition, to encourage the Surgeon General to look into the medical effects of transitioning minors.

Some comments about the petition:

Parents who consent to these treatments are often misled to believe that their child will be at greater risk of suicide if they do not. There is no evidence to support this claim.

There is some evidence to support the claim that rejecting a child’s trans-identification can have harmful mental health effects. This site does not advocate for making rejecting comments to a trans-identified youth, or indicating they will be devalued if they transition, as they do have higher suicide ideation rates. There hasn’t been any studies with control groups (considered unethical) to compare treatment plans for minors distressed about their gender. But there is evidence that denying the trans youth’s identity or rejecting the youth may be harmful.

Of all of the information around minors transitioning, suicide is one of the most important subjects to try to frame honestly. GHQ reviews the data that denying transition may increase suicide risk, but some data shows it may not help suicide risk. It is a complicated issue and the methodology in studies is far from perfect. And it doesn’t explain why it appears there are more young people are saying they feel suicidal around their gender than ever before, as more and more young people are taking on trans identities. The pro-transition argument would be that these youths always felt this way but just didn’t talk about it.

But suicide rates are going up in young people in general.

It really is an unprecedented surge," said lead author Oren Miron, a research associate at Harvard Medical School in Boston. "You can go back decades and you won't find such a sharp increase."

One objective analysis of suicide risk in youth can be found in this presentation (46:00) by Dr. Ken Zucker where dysphoria clinic patients are isolated. The youths have suicide risk rates similar to other youth presenting for professional help for mental health issues, like depression or bipolar disorder.

There is solid evidence that there are serious health risks in transitioning and ethical questions about having immature children, teens, and young adults making these decisions, the impetus for this petition. Even gender dysphoria affirmative model advocates make statements indicating their treatments are experimental.