Research in Minnesota
Researchers in Minnesota have found that 2.7% of students in the state identify as transgender or gender-nonconforming. That is a surprisingly high percentage.
Lead author Marla Eisenberg, an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Minnesota Medical School, said she was surprised that students throughout Minnesota were as likely as those living in the Twin Cities metro area to identify as transgender or gender nonconforming.
I think there’s a perception that that’s a city thing.
--Eisenberg
The article, Risk and Protective Factors in the Lives of Transgender/Gender Nonconforming Adolescents, appears in the Journal of Adolescent Health.
The prevalence of TGNC identity was 2.7% (n = 2,168) and varied significantly across gender, race/ethnicity, and economic indicators. Involvement in all types of risk behaviors and experiences was significantly higher, and reports of four protective factors were significantly lower among TGNC than cisgender youth. For example, almost two-thirds (61.3%) of TGNC youth reported suicidal ideation, which is over three times higher than cisgender youth (20.0%, χ2 = 1959.9, p
Transgender and gender nonconforming teens had fewer “protective factors” to help prevent risky behaviors, the study said. Those factors included family connectedness, teacher-student relationships and feeling safe in the community.
What I would love to see is for parents, teachers, other adults to build up those kind of supports.
--Eisenberg
Health care providers are advised to act as allies by creating a safe space for young people, bolstering protective factors, and supporting their healthy development.
Minnesota's AG Lori Swanson joined with other AGS from around the country in writing a letter to the Congressional Armed Services Committees.
Nineteen state attorneys general wrote the House and Senate Armed Services committees this week asking them to write protections for transgender troops into the 2018 Defense Department budget that Congress is hammering out.
The new policy is also blatant discrimination. It has no place in our Armed Services. It is an insult to the courageous transgender service members who hold vital roles in our military and continue to make tremendous sacrifices for our country. Transgender individuals are valued members of our communities.
Comments
Is there a particular reason
Is there a particular reason to lump transgender and gender-nonconforming people together? It seems like to me to be a way to inflate the overall percentage and muddy the waters some.
I mean, transgender is an innate function, a problem of being trapped in the wrong body. Gender-nonconforming, however, is more of a social construct that someone believes in. They don't subscribe to the cultural structures of gender.
I'm old and separated
I'm old and separated enough from the LGBT community that I feel lost with some of the new LGBT studies/politics. I guess my new, updated label is cis demi-homosexual. In my day, some suggested that all LGBT people were trans in that they transcended gender norms. I liked that because it helped bring our communities together when people were still/more judgmental of Bi and Trans people. The downside of that, of course, is that the unique experiences of our Trans brothers and sisters were overlooked.
Not really an answer to your question. Just the musings of a middle-aged queer starting to feel out of touch with the new queer theory.
@Chaddiwicker I'm a Bi millennial, so
I'm a Bi millennial, so for me I've only heard somewhat the tales of older Bi people feeling excluded or ridiculed in the gay community. Nowadays it is more seamless and integrated so I haven't experienced that first hand myself.
There are certain things I just haven't kept up with either, like demi?
@Strife Delivery When I first got to
When I first got to college, it was still the Lesbian Gay Alliance. We changed it to LGBT Alliance with no little controversy. As someone just coming out, I had my share of transphobia. Well, anything I perceived as male femininity, really. I learned and I grew and I guess I'm still learning and growing. Bi was perceived as a safe(r) transitional phase to coming out for gay men (myself included) back then and so it became a joke that anyone who said they were Bi were really kidding themselves. I never quite fell into that particular prejudice, but it was prevalent then. Glad it's lessened over the years.
Demisexuality is a part of the asexual spectrum. It means that the person is unable to feel sexual attraction to another person unless there is a strong friendship between them. I'm still not sure I fit there. I definitely need an emotional connection to feel sexual attraction, though I wouldn't go so far as "strong friendship". I've only recently been learning these terms. I talked to someone who identified as graysexual (somewhere between sexual and asexual) and had to look it up.
Wondering if all these labels are helpful. It probably makes it easier to identify a compatible mate (or establish disinterest in mating), but such narrow labels seem like they could constrict exploration and fluidity. Probably some ignorance in there on my part that I'll have to overcome.
@ChaddiwickerWondering if all
Personally, I don't know if the labels are actually addressing anything that is truly relevant.
I don't want to sound harsh or cold. I mean, for instance, think I saw Tumblr had over 90 genders. 90 genders. Air gender, water gender, fire gender, some other gender thing. I mean what the hell are those ha.
If you say you are gay, that is easy, people get that.
Same with bi, trans, lesbian. Those are easy. I guess I think that some of those things may start to try to force in newly created things that are almost...I don't know, a fad. A means to be different? I don't know, I don't want to hijack Robyn's thread here.
Edit: Just to be clear, there are various terms that have significance and also convey important information. I'm not dismissing something like gender-nonconforming, I just don't think it is for the best to link it to transgender. Same with asexual, an important piece of information but not in the same vein of say gay or straight. Where my eyebrows kind of become raised at are like the 90 something genders. That's where I start to feel somewhat...skeptical I suppose.