Utah lawmakers’ own study found gender-affirming care benefits trans youth. Will they lift the treatment ban?

essentialsaltes said:

Utah‘s ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth was meant to be a moratorium, giving lawmakers the chance to reevaluate the policy once experts reviewed research on the impacts of treatment.

This week, nearly 2½ years after the law took effect, lawmakers received the findings of that study.

Utah health care experts concluded, in a more than 1,000-page report, “Overall, there were positive mental health and psychosocial functioning outcomes” as a result of gender-affirming care.

Well, now that the results are in, they will change the law to follow the evidence, right?

But some Republican legislators are already dismissing those findings.

I guess it wasn't all about the evidence after all.

While the review prepared for lawmakers acknowledged “an increase in some specific types of benign brain tumors,” it found in studies that included thousands of transgender individuals that “increase risk of mortality was consistently due to increase in suicide, non-natural causes, and HIV/AIDS. Patients that were seen at the gender clinic before the age of 18 had a lower risk of suicide compared to those referred as an adult.”

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essentialsaltes said:

Utah‘s ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth was meant to be a moratorium, giving lawmakers the chance to reevaluate the policy once experts reviewed research on the impacts of treatment.

This week, nearly 2½ years after the law took effect, lawmakers received the findings of that study.

Utah health care experts concluded, in a more than 1,000-page report, “Overall, there were positive mental health and psychosocial functioning outcomes” as a result of gender-affirming care.

Well, now that the results are in, they will change the law to follow the evidence, right?

But some Republican legislators are already dismissing those findings.

I guess it wasn't all about the evidence after all.

While the review prepared for lawmakers acknowledged “an increase in some specific types of benign brain tumors,” it found in studies that included thousands of transgender individuals that “increase risk of mortality was consistently due to increase in suicide, non-natural causes, and HIV/AIDS. Patients that were seen at the gender clinic before the age of 18 had a lower risk of suicide compared to those referred as an adult.”

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DaisyDay said:

Sure, we'll get gender affirming care for transgendered kids just after we eliminate the #1 killer of kids.

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Beth77 said:

Gender-affirming care is

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essentialsaltes said:

Utah‘s ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth was meant to be a moratorium, giving lawmakers the chance to reevaluate the policy once experts reviewed research on the impacts of treatment.

This week, nearly 2½ years after the law took effect, lawmakers received the findings of that study.

Utah health care experts concluded, in a more than 1,000-page report, “Overall, there were positive mental health and psychosocial functioning outcomes” as a result of gender-affirming care.

Well, now that the results are in, they will change the law to follow the evidence, right?

But some Republican legislators are already dismissing those findings.

I guess it wasn't all about the evidence after all.

While the review prepared for lawmakers acknowledged “an increase in some specific types of benign brain tumors,” it found in studies that included thousands of transgender individuals that “increase risk of mortality was consistently due to increase in suicide, non-natural causes, and HIV/AIDS. Patients that were seen at the gender clinic before the age of 18 had a lower risk of suicide compared to those referred as an adult.”

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JSRG said:

This article seems to be leaving out a key phrase from the overall summary.

Overall, there were positive mental health and psychosocial functioning outcomes. While gender affirming treatment showed a possibly protective effect in prostate cancer in transgender men and breast cancer in transgender women, there was an increase in some specific types of benign brain tumors. There were increased mortality risks in both transgender men and women treated with hormonal therapy, but more so in transgender women. Increase risk of mortality was consistently due to increase in suicide, non-natural causes, and HIV/AIDS. Patients that were seen at the gender clinic before the age of 18 had a lower risk of suicide compared to those referred as an adult. The studies that addressed mortality included thousands of transgender individuals.

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JSRG said:

The article you quote says that transgender individuals have "increase risk of mortality that was consistently due to increase in suicide, non-natural causes, and HIV/AIDS." However, it leaves out the fact that it says that increased risk applies to those that were treated with hormonal therapy. Now, the phrasing is somewhat confusing as to whether this is in comparison to regular people or to other transgender people, but either way the article ignores the fact the preceding sentence says it is referring specifically to those who were treated with hormonal therapy.

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JSRG said:

It should also be noted that the report says "As noted previously, DHHS takes no position on whether the Legislature should lift the moratorium."

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Based on the reviewed evidence included in this report, it is our expert opinion that policies to prevent access to and use of GAHT for treatment of GD in pediatric patients cannot be justified based on the quantity or quality of medical science findings or concerns about potential regret in the future, and that high-quality guidelines are available to guide qualified providers in treating pediatric patients who meet diagnostic criteria.

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essentialsaltes said:

It's lifted from the Conclusions:

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essentialsaltes said:

I guess it wasn't all about the evidence after all.

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BPPLEE said:

By all means let’s get these kids treated so they can die of suicide, non natural causes and AIDS. Sounds like a plan

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Hans Blaster said:

Why would "gender affirming care" lead to death from AIDS?

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BPPLEE said:

From the OP:
it found in studies that included thousands of transgender individuals that “increase risk of mortality was consistently due to increase in suicide, non-natural causes, and HIV/AIDS.

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RocksInMyHead said:

Yes, transgender people have a higher risk of dying from suicide, "non-natural" causes (i.e. murder, drug overdose), and HIV/AIDS, in large part because of the ostracization, discrimination, and bigotry that they face for their identities. While it does not eliminate the elevated risk, because it cannot change other peoples' behaviors, gender-affirming care does help with issues that arise from body image, and thus it does help reduce the risk of dying from at least some of those causes among transgender people.

In other words, transgender people who receive treatment still have an elevated risk of dying, but not as elevated as it would be without treatment. And the earlier they get that treatment - to a point - the better the outcome.

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BPPLEE said:

How early? I don't want to interfere with someone's personal choices or intrude on their rights but when you're talking about children I'm concerned about them making life altering decisions when they are not old enough to buy a beer or have a drivers license

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