Fact Check: Do Transgender People Have 42 Percent Attempted Suicide Rate?

It is an academically researched fact that the rate of suicidal actions among transgender people, as well as LGBTQ+ individuals more broadly, is far higher than the wider population, particularly among young people.

While some studies suggest cases of suicide or suicide attempts among transgender people are linked to feelings of unhappiness with their physical appearance, others have indicated the rise in young people exhibiting gender dysphoria might be in part a product of wider mental health issues.

The issue has come to light again as many states have introduced legislation to limit gender-affirming health care for young people identifying as transgender. Proponents say they are doing so over concerns that minors are being harmed by gender-affirming procedures, while opponents say they are limiting transgender rights and worsening the mental health of those who feel they are trapped in the wrong body.

While debating one such bill in Georgia, which became law on March 23, one 18-year-old transgender man warned that "transgender kids will die." Carden Summers, a state senator who sponsored the bill, told Axios he did not believe it would increase suicides among transgender children, adding: "I hope and pray that's not the case."

The Claim

"Transgender people have a 42 percent attempted suicide rate," Steven Crowder, a conservative commentator, wrote on March 28, in a tweet that has been viewed more than 385,000 times and received more than 7,500 likes. "American slaves & Jews in concentration camps didn't commit suicide at 19x more than the general population."

According to a 2004 study, the estimated suicide rate among those in Nazi concentration camps was 25,000 per 100,000 people per year—or about 25 percent. That would be over 1,854 times higher than the 13.48 per 100,000 suicides in the U.S. in 2020, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data.

Academics have noted instances of suicide among slaves brought to America, but they have not been able to make any strong assessments of the suicide rate among slaves as there is limited evidence. From that evidence, though, some have suggested it was very rare and seen as an act of rebellion.

The Facts

While there are statistics akin to the one stated by Crowder, it is not clear research has shown that there is a 42 percent attempted suicide rate among transgender people.

A 2020 academic study with a sample size of 372 respondents found that 40 percent of transgender people had attempted suicide. It found that interpersonal microaggressions and emotional neglect by family members were the leading contributors to the attempts.

Similarly, in 2016, the National Transgender Discrimination Survey found that 41 percent of 6,450 respondents said they had previously attempted suicide. By comparison, the CDC found that in 2020, 0.36 percent of the population had attempted suicide.

According to a 2022 survey by The Trevor Project, an LGBTQ+ suicide prevention organization, nearly 1 in 5 young people who identified as transgender or non-binary have attempted suicide.

Meanwhile, a 2018 study of more than 120,000 children age 11 to 19 found that 41.8 percent of non-binary adolescents—those who do not identify as definitively male or female—had attempted suicide.

It might be that Crowder misconstrued various news reports in May 2021 which stated that 42 percent of LGBTQ+ youth had seriously considered attempting suicide in the year prior, based on that year's survey by The Trevor Project, compared to 3.68 percent nationwide. It found that 20 percent of transgender and non-binary youths had attempted suicide.

Newsweek reached out to Crowder's media company via email for comment.

However, according to the latest survey by the organization, the number of LGBTQ+ youths who had seriously considered suicide had risen to 45 percent. It noted that 14 percent of the same group had attempted suicide.

There appear to be no clear figures of the suicide rate among transgender people at a national level. As the National LGBT Health Education Center notes in a 2018 report, "actual suicide rates among LGBTQ people are not known because sexual orientation and gender identity are not reported in death records."

Newsweek reached out to The Trevor Project for further details via email on Thursday.

The Ruling

Needs Context. While there is no reliable measure of the suicide rate among transgender individuals, recorded rates of attempted suicides among transgender and non-binary people in recent years are similar but not identical with Crowder's claim.

The only statistic that appears to directly align with his claim is that 42 percent of non-binary adolescents had attempted suicide, but this would conflate non-binary youths with transgender people of any age.

FACT CHECK BY NEWSWEEK