Elon Musk took to Twitter Thursday to express his opposition to “gender transition” for minors, adding that he considers the term “cisgender” to be a “slur.”
Citing a Swedish study observing “gender affirming care,” which showed that cosmetic “transition” does not reduce propensity to suicide, Musk claimed his position on the controversial procedure on minors is that “we should wait until an individual is mature enough to make their own decisions before other adults make permanent, serious physical changes to them.”
“The Swedish study says ‘sex-reassigned transsexual persons of both genders had approximately a three times higher risk of all-cause mortality than controls’,” Musk wrote in a post. ” … doing surgery or chemical sterilization on minors gains nothing in reduced mortality.”
“My position is simply that we should wait until an individual is mature enough to make their own decisions before other adults make permanent, serious physical changes to them.”
He then addressed the argument among trans activists that if a child is not “affirmed” in their transgender claim, that they will kill themselves. He pointed out that the data in the study does not bear that out.
“The counter to my position would be that if we don’t make the changes when they’re a minor, they may never reach adulthood due to suicide. However, that counterargument does not hold water if mortality is essentially unchanged, which it is,” Musk wrote.
“[By the way], I regard cisgender as a slur,” he added.
In another post a few minutes later, Musk commented on an article reporting over half of mothers with boys who have identity disorders had been diagnosed with depression or Borderline Personality Disorder, writing, “Munchausen by proxy.”
“Gender affirming care” lacks evidence and basis in medicine, according to a study by U.K. nonprofit Sex Matters.
“The ‘gender-affirming’ model of care for teenagers is based on evidence that falls apart under examination,” the group says. “There is strong evidence that this medical pathway causes physical harm. It can lead to infertility and loss of future sexual function; among multiple side effects, bone health suffers.”
Sex Matters says those side effects may be acceptable if there were significant mental health benefits attached, but found that those benefits do not exist.
“Perhaps there are some teenagers for whom the cost-benefit analysis works out – but we have no evidence to tell us which ones, or under what circumstances,” the group writes. “We do know that the physical impacts are significant, and the mental-health improvements minimal.”
About 20 percent of Generation Z is likely to identify on the “LGBTQQIP2SAA” spectrum, and “LGBTQIA+” identification overall has become much more common in the United States in the past decade, according to 2022 polling by Gallup. Over five percent of Americans from 18 to 30-years-old identify as “transgender” or “nonbinary,” according a Pew Research Center survey published in June.
The number of diagnoses of “gender dysphoria” of children between the ages of 6–17 in the United States has surged over recent years, from 15,172 in 2017 to 24,847 in 2020, to 42,167 in 2021, according to data published by Reuters. In 2017, there were 1,905 children in the same age range, 6–17, undergoing hormone therapy, spiking to 4,231 in 2021.
Despite dubious data surrounding the practice of “gender-affirming care,” especially for adolescents, the United States is the “most permissive country” for child sex change operations and gender “transition” drug treatments compared with any European country, according to a study by Do No Harm. Doctors who recently spoke to Breitbart News, requesting their identities be concealed for fear of backlash, said there is a “perverse” monetary incentive structure built around pushing “transgender” drugs and surgeries on kids. The United States sex-reassignment surgery market was valued at almost two billion dollars in 2021 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 11.23 percent until 2030, according to a market report by Grand View Research.