Transgender Day of Visibility Thoughts
Lee Zuvanich
Founder | Forbes Tech Council | Ethical AI Advisory Council | Pipeline Fellow | Forbes 1000 | HBR Advisor
I heard an interesting talk recently - the speaker asked, "how many of you love someone with autism?" more than half the crowd raised their hands. The speaker then said, "Did you know that more than 60% of the autistic community identifies as gender non-conforming?"
Most people don't know this.
Today is the federally appointed Transgender Day of Visibility, a day that I hope can bring awareness and understanding
(Hi, I'm Lee and I'm transgender. ??)
A little backstory: Startland News wrote about my journey as a Kansas City tech professional and business owner that spent 7 years fearing what the repercussions might be if I was publicly outed, before finally coming out in 2021. You can read that article here.
The The Kansas City Star shared this article today: What Trans Day of Visibility Means to 8 Kansas Citians as KS, MO Bills Attack Rights.
If you want to support me and people like me today, read the article or google "trans legislation" and check out what's going on in your community.
Like the audience I mentioned before, many people don't know the actual science or statistics behind gender variance.
For instance, 2 out of every 100 people born in the US today are intersex - meaning their genitals don't match a binary definition of male or female.
That's the same percentage as there are redheads in the US. 2%.
Whether you knew it or not, you have absolutely spent time with intersex and transgender people. At work, school, and church; on sports teams, and in public bathrooms - we've always been around.
Shortly after they're born, doctors often perform major surgery on intersex infants to make their genitalia look more binary "male" or "female" based on what is easiest from a surgical perspective.
This surgery is typically elective, but parents often insist on it despite the obvious possible harm or death that may occur. They take this risk with their infant's life because they fear how their child (and entire family, by association) may be treated due to this very misunderstood condition.
If politicians have you riled up about "gender surgery on kids" - this is the issue to get upset about.
"Trans kids" don't get surgery.
In fact, doctors prescribe the opposite - they give gender-variant children hormone blockers to buy that child time to undergo rigorous testing and psychiatric evaluations
It's an expensive, difficult, scary process that parents and their kids don't undergo lightly.
"Trans surgery" is never offered to minors. No exceptions.
But it is offered to intersex infants.
Unfortunately, the parents that allow these surgeries to happen have well-founded fears. They are correct that being transgender is extremely dangerous in the US today. They believe that surgery is a way out of that reality.
But surgery doesn't change psychological gender identity. These children often end up identifying as non-binary or transgender even if they were never informed of the surgery that occurred.
Discovering that they were born intersex is often a watershed moment for transgender teenagers and adults who lived a life filled with confusion and gender dysphoria.
Not all intersex people identify as transgender, and not all transgender people are diagnosed as having physical intersex characteristics - but gender identity can be directly traced to DNA, and affects both the physical and psychological aspects of the person.
Several genetic studies have explored biological and genetic causes of sexual identities and gender-diverse identities (Bentz et al.?2008; Foreman et al.?2019; Ganna et al.?2019; Hamer?2011; Hamer et al.?1993; Kreukels et al.?2018). A recent study conducted by Theisen et al. used exome sequencing to investigate genetic variants that could contribute to gender dysphoria and found a small number of variants associated with the development of sexually dimorphic brain development (Theisen et al.,?2019).
Multiple studies have pointed to genetic variants associated with transgender identity, and it has been proven to be a heritable trait. [Source]
This reinforces the fact that transgender people are born this way, often recognizing their own gender incongruence as early as 3 years old.
All developmentally healthy and neurotypical children can grasp the concept of gender identity and what gender they identify as by the age of 4.
If a child doesn't feel like they "fit" with their assigned gender, that's when they might start to show signs of non-binary or incongruent gender identity.
Sexuality and sexual identity is not a part of this - that can't be known until later, as puberty is the precursor to sexual identity.
This means that transgender kids on prescribed hormone "blockers" are actively prevented from awareness of their sexual identity, because blockers prevent puberty from happening.
This dismantles the gross misconception that the LGBTQ community is introducing inappropriately sexualized concepts to young children when teaching them about gender identity.
Even teaching children that some kids have "two moms" or "two dads" doesn't introduce the concept of sex or sexuality - it simply normalizes families with a variety of caregiver situations.
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Of course, there will always be people who refuse to accept that the LGBTQIA community was born this way. As a recovering evangelical missionary, I understand that we can't cover the deeper issues of science denial, cultural lenses, and biblical cherry-picking in this article. I do include a link in "Resources" below that addresses what the Bible says about transgender people.
However, if you do believe in the scientific method and subscribe to most overarching theories put forth by modern medicine, you know that genetic predispositions and variances are not inherently bad things.
Most of us within the ADHD, Autistic, and Transgender communities are proud of who we are, and agree that the only real drawbacks come from the fact that society punishes us for being ourselves. By the way, all of these conditions are considered to be on the same spectrum.
If you're skeptical of this perspective, ask a transgender, autistic or ADHD person yourself. We don’t wish to be different. We wish society would be more accepting, safe and supportive.
Read more:
Autism and ADHD diagnosis have skyrocketed since we were better able to identify and diagnose them, and being transgender has experienced the same phenomenon within the last 15 years.
This has led to some panic among parents and grandparents, especially within conservative communities. Scientifically unvalidated articles and theories such as "rapid onset gender dysphoria" began circulating.
But despite what some uninformed podcast hosts, youtube videos or legislators say, you can't "socially catch" being trans, any more than you can "catch" being autistic or ADHD.
Increased visibility means more people are able to learn the signs and realize they might be autistic, ADHD or trans themselves - and then seek the help and support they need to thrive.
“The increased risks to LGBTQI+ youth are not a function of their identity -- but are related to the stress of stigma and discrimination,” said HHS Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use Miriam E. Delphin-Rittmon, Ph.D., and the leader of SAMHSA. “By helping to raise awareness of and address these inequities, we can help LGBTQI+ youth achieve optimal health and well-being.”
Supportive families and caregivers, peers, schools, and community environments are all associated with improved mental health and well-being , according to the report. Having even just one caring adult can make a significant, and even lifesaving, difference in the life of an LGBTQI+ youth.
Because of stigma and discrimination, LGBTQI+ teenagers continue to face extremely high levels of violence and mental health challenges, according to?new data?reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The report also found that more than half (52%) of LGBTQI+ students had recently experienced poor mental health and that more than 1 in 5 (22%) attempted suicide in the past year. [Source]
On this year’s Trans Day of Visibility, many of us feel the weight of current legislation and must grapple with questions about our basic right to safety and medical support within our community.
Read the American Medical Association's letter, "AMA to states: Stop interfering in health care of transgender children"
Politicians know that fear is a cheap and easy tactic that will energize their base, and they seize on whatever we, as a culture, allow them to.
Racism, sexism and homophobia have become less accepted weapons for them to wield, but transphobia hasn’t yet been taken off the table by about 27% of the US.
Legislators have used us as a scare tactic because it’s a cheap and dirty way to drive their own name recognition.
If you doubt this, ask them what their stance is on the surgeries performed on intersex children.
They don’t have one, because it was never about the safety of these terribly marginalized children.
Despite all of this fear and hatred, there is so much joy available to those of us who are able to fully embrace our authentic selves and find our community of support. Most of you reading this are part of that community for me, and for that I thank you.
If you or someone you know has questions about any of these topics, feel free to inbox me. To my brave family of transgender guys, gals and nonbinary pals: Happy Trans Day of Visibility. ??
More Resources
If you or someone you know is transgender and needs to talk, here are some of the resources available:
The Williams Institute study also shows a significant drop in suicidal thoughts when there is support and acceptance from families, classmates and coworkers. But finding ways to be supportive can be hard, especially for potential allies who are struggling to understand and accept transgender people in their lives. Here are some resources to help.
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1 年Great article, Lee Zuvanich !