That Drip, Drip, Drip…

It is all the repeated little harassments that does it, tip a person over the edge.

The conservatives like to use the high suicide rate in the trans community against us saying, see look at them they are mentally unstable, an article in ThinkProgress looks at this,

No, High Suicide Rates Do Not Demonstrate That Transgender People Are Mentally Ill
By Zack Ford
June 22, 2015

Dr. Paul McHugh, one of the only medical professionals conservatives can ever find to support their anti-trans views, makes this point regularly. Walt Heyer, opponents’ “ex-transgender” poster child, makes this point regularly, as do his compatriots at The Federalist. A recent story in the New York Times about a transgender teen prompted the National Review and the Family Research Council to also reinforce the suicide rate meme. If transgender people are so susceptible to suicide, they all argue, then the best response is to reject transgender identities.

But none of the studies that demonstrate the high suicide rates among transgender people actually prove the point conservatives are trying to make. They actually all indicate that people who are transgender feel ostracized for their identity; their high suicide rates reflect rejection, discrimination, violence, harassment, and the negative life circumstances that result from such treatment.

For example, one study that has been cited frequently is a Swedish study from 2011. It found that people who had actually undergone sex reassignment surgery were 19 times more times likely to die by suicide. Opponents of trans equality have used this stat to suggest that no trans person should undergo such surgeries, fueling the myths about “transition regret.” But the study did not compare trans people who had gotten surgery to trans people who had not gotten surgery — it compared them to the general population of Sweden, people who are not transgender. Thus, none of its conclusions actually support the claim that there are consequences to transitioning. Furthermore, the mortality rate was only statistically significant for people who had surgery before 1989; for those who had their surgery between 1989 and 2003, the increased mortality for transgender people was not statistically significant.

A brand new study from Canada confirms this effect. There, the suicide attempt rate for transgender people was similar to what other studies have found: about 18 times higher than the general population. But the study found that some factors greatly reduced the attempt rate. For example, when transgender people had affirming parents, the rate dropped by 57 percent. Access to legal documentation consistent with their gender identity dropped rates by 44 percent. Trans people who experienced low levels of anti-trans hate were 66 percent less likely to attempt suicide. And perhaps most importantly, the further along individuals were in their transitions — i.e. the closer they were to having a body and outward identity that matched their internal gender identity — the less likely they were to attempt suicide.

I think the studies show that it is societal acceptance has a major part in suicidal ideology, when those in society are constantly telling you are no good, that you do not have a right to life, that you are worthless it is going to take its toll on us.

There were two high profiles of two trans people who committed suicide. One was a teacher who,

Her mom says Ross was a transgender woman, who was bullied by her co-workers for ten years.

And the other was a transgender military advocate,

A copy of the message posted on Shipps's Facebook wall provided to The Advocate indicates that she had felt particularly despondent recently after extended unemployment. She described being unable to afford basic necessities or transition-related medical care, as well as being hurt by social rejection, yet also recalled better times when one of her greatest joys was to make others smile and laugh.

It is society that is causing the high suicide rate, it is the little digs, the constant misgendering, the constant snickering behind our backs that takes it taxes our mental health.