According to Trans Legislation Tracker, an independent research group, politicians in US states introduced 658 anti-trans bills in 2024, triple the record set the year before. What are the effects of such legislation — and the anti-trans sentiment that come with it — on transgender individuals?
A study published last week in Nature, researchers found that rates of suicide attempts among transgender and non-binary youth (13 to 24 years of age) increased in states after the enactment of anti-transgender laws. Given that many of the laws target young people, it is not surprising that youth between the ages of 13 and 17 demonstrated the greatest increase in suicide attempts.
In an article published in CNN, Alex Keuroghlian, MD MPH discusses the findings, noting that this study is “a very clear step forward documenting the harms of this kind of restrictive legislation.”
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Suicide attempts increased among transgender teens when states passed anti-trans laws, study says
Turban JL, King D, Kobe J, Reisner SL, Keuroghlian AS. Access to gender-affirming hormones during adolescence and mental health outcomes among transgender adults. PLoS One. 2022 Jan 12;17(1):e0261039. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0261039. Erratum in: PLoS One. 2023 Jun 12;18(6):e0287283.
Alex Keuroghlian, MD, MPH
Director, MGH Gender Identity Program
Associate Chief, Public and Community Psychiatry , MGH
Michele and Howard J Kessler Chair and Director, MGH Division of Public and Community Psychiatry
Director, Education and Training Programs at the Fenway Institute
Director, National LGBTQIA+ Health Education Center
Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
