Dangerous waters

Written by

Ophelia Benson

in

Jolyon Maugham pretends not to know the difference between post hoc and propter hoc. (Maugham or someone else at “Good Law” Project, but I doubt the someone elses are allowed to deviate from the party Jolyon line.)

A freedom of information request by Good Law Project has found that deaths by suicide of trans young people under 18 surged following the withdrawal of gender-affirming healthcare

For years, successive governments have denied an increase in suicides among trans youth following the withdrawal, and criminalisation, of gender affirming healthcare. And, when Good Law Project raised the alarm about rising deaths, health secretary Wes Streeting responded with a review that criticised our figures and attacked our reporting as “dangerous”.

Those of us in or close to the trans community have been to the funerals of those we love. And we have wept together for those we have been unable to save on Trans Day of Remembrance. We know the truth – we see it with our own eyes. And, to us, the decision by Wes Streeting to commission a review into suicides which downplayed the scale of these tragedies was unforgivable. His report denied the reality of trans deaths, as Streeting’s ban on puberty blockers denied the reality of trans lives.

He doesn’t actually say the ban on puberty blockers caused the purported rise in suicides, but he implies it as heavily as he possibly can. Very lawyerly of him, I suppose.

To silence those raising the alarm on rising trans suicides as “dangerous” while ramping up the policies correlating with that rise is an act of grave moral wickedness.

And it’s not an act of grave moral wickedness to act on a new and peculiar idea of what human sexes are by helping teenagers harm their own bodies?

Comments

4 responses to “Dangerous waters”

  1. Peter N Avatar
    Peter N

    From the official report from Department of Health & Social Care actually cited by Goodlaw Project:

    In this period of 6 years the data show a total of 12 suicides: 6 in the under 18s, 6 in those 18 and above. In the 3 years leading up to 2020-21, there were 5 suicides, compared to 7 in the 3 years after. This is essentially no difference, taking account of expected fluctuations in small numbers, and would not reach statistical significance. In the under 18s specifically, there were 3 suicides before and 3 after 2020-21.

    So, no “surge”.

    The report also points out the actual “surge”, that of young people jumping on the “idennify as” bandwagon generally — consequently, there are more “trans” young people committing suicide simply because there are more “trans” young people in the population. Also, the figures encompass the pandemic period, when there were generally more mental health stressors for all of us.

    The whole report is thoughtful, reasonable and informative.

  2. Freemage Avatar
    Freemage

    In order for this claim to hold water, they would also need to demonstrate that trans-identifying kids were killing themselves at a higher rate prior to Tavistock opening up in the first place. If gender dysphoria is really such a crisis, and so common as they claim, then it should be childs’ play to show a marked decline in teen suicides in areas that adopt pro-trans policies, vs. those that do not.

  3. iknklast Avatar
    iknklast

    It might also be necessary to study whether there was an increase in TRAs threatening that kids will commit suicide. Without the surge he claims, this probably isn’t necessary, but if there was a surge, that could be an important factor.

  4. Lady Mondegreen Avatar
    Lady Mondegreen

    Now, Good Law Project can confirm that in 2021-2022 suicides of trans children in England surged to 22

    England halted the routine perscription of puberty blockers in 2024.

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