Story at a glance
- Transgender and nonbinary youth with IDs that match their gender identity were 11 percent less likely to report a recent suicide attempt, according to new research from The Trevor Project.
- Just 4 percent of youth who use nonbinary pronouns reported updating their IDs to accurately reflect their gender identity, compared with 13 percent of transgender and nonbinary young people who exclusively use binary pronouns.
- More than half of nonbinary and transgender youth said they would like to change the gender listed on their official documents, but that they are unable to do so because of where they live.
The risk of suicide among transgender and nonbinary youth is significantly lowered when the gender listed on their identification documents is consistent with their gender identity, according to new research from The Trevor Project, a national suicide prevention and crisis intervention group for LGBTQ+ young people.
In a study published Wednesday in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, researchers at The Trevor Project found that transgender and nonbinary youth with IDs that match their gender identity were 11 percent less likely to report a recent suicide attempt compared to those who were not able to change their gender marker on official documents.
Having an accurate ID was also associated with a lowered suicide risk compared to transgender and nonbinary minors who were able to change the gender listed on official documents but had not yet done so.
The findings suggest that altering the way a person’s gender is reflected on legal documents may be an effective and innovative public health intervention to prevent suicide among transgender and nonbinary youth, researchers wrote. Last year, more than half of transgender and nonbinary young people said they had seriously considered taking their own life.
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“Using documents that do not match their gender identity can make transgender and nonbinary youth more vulnerable to discrimination and harassment and this, in turn, can contribute to increased minority stress and greater odds of suicide risk,” Jonah DeChants, a research scientist at The Trevor Project and the study’s lead author, said Wednesday in a statement.
According to the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey, nearly a third of transgender people with IDs with a name or gender marker inconsistent with their perceived gender reported being harassed, denied benefits and services, or were discriminated against or assaulted.
The Trevor Project study’s findings suggest a need to make the process of updating identification documents more simple and accessible, particularly for gender-expansive youth, DeChants said.
“Doing so can decrease minority stress and suicide risk and, ultimately, help save lives,” he said.
Several states this year, including Vermont, have taken up legislation to codify the use of inclusive gender markers on official documents like birth certificates. Earlier this month, the State Department began issuing U.S. passports with an “X” gender designation for Americans whose identities don’t fit into the gender binary.
Currently, 21 states and the District of Columbia allow residents to select an “X” gender marker for their driver’s licenses, according to the Williams Institute.
But The Trevor Project study comes just a day after legislation eliminating inclusive gender markers from official documents was signed into law by Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R). In a statement after the bill was passed by the state House of Representatives last week, Oklahoma Rep. Sheila Dills (R), the House sponsor of the bill, said official documents should reflect “clarity and truth.”
“People are free to believe whatever they want about their identity, but science has determined people are either biologically male or female at birth,” she said. “Information should be based on established medical fact and not an ever-changing social dialogue.”
In a statement, Human Rights Campaign State Legislative Director and Senior Counsel Cathryn Oakley called Oklahoma lawmakers “anti-equality” and accused the legislature and Stitt of backing the legislation to invalidate the identities of transgender and nonbinary people.
“Members of the LGBTQ+ community should not have their identities erased, they should be given the chance to be their whole selves and supported, not targeted by the community around them,” she said.
According to The Trevor Project study, obtaining gender-affirming identification is particularly challenging for the nation’s nonbinary youth, and just 4 percent of young people who use nonbinary pronouns reported updating their IDs to accurately reflect their gender identity.
More than half of nonbinary and transgender youth said they would like to change the gender listed on their official documents, but that they are unable to do so because of where they live. In some states, individuals are permitted to alter their gender marker on legal documents only after they have provided proof of certain gender-affirming medical interventions.
A Montana judge on Thursday temporarily blocked the state from enforcing a law requiring transgender people to have undergone a “surgical procedure” before correcting their birth certificates.
Previous research from The Trevor Project has found that transgender and nonbinary youth attempt suicide less when their names and preferred personal pronouns are respected.