Musk: "I Will Lobby To Criminalize Doctors" Providing Lifesaving Care To Trans Youth

Elon Musk proclaimed that he would lobby to criminalize doctors providing it to trans youth. He then shared Matt Walsh's "What Is A Woman" on the 2nd day of Pride Month.

As Pride Month began, Elon Musk stated his intention to lobby for the criminalization of gender-affirming healthcare for transgender minors - a move that is unequivocally harmful and contradicts all major medical organizations in the United States and standards of care. This type of care has been associated with a reduction of suicidal ideation and depression in this population by as much as 73%, according to several studies. Musk's stance emerged following Twitter's decision to limit the exposure of Matt Walsh's anti-transgender documentary, "What Is A Woman."

In addition to advocating against the life-saving care transgender youth need, Musk supported the exclusion of the transgender community from LGBTQ+ Pride events. He relied on dubious suicide statistics for transgender youth, neglecting the wealth of research that contradicts his assertions. Furthermore, Musk took issue with Twitter's decision to limit the reach of Walsh's documentary and overruled his company’s decision, proceeding to retweet the video himself.

Given these alarming actions, it seems likely that any revenue flowing to Musk could be channeled, in part, to efforts advocating for the imprisonment of the healthcare providers and therapists who are vital in supporting and caring for transgender youth. This is an alarming prospect for the many who believe in the importance of affirming transgender identities and safeguarding the rights and mental health of transgender youth.

You can see Musk’s tweet declaring he will lobby against this care, cited by far-right psychologist Jordan Peterson, followed by Musk agreeing that doctors and therapists should be imprisoned without parole:

Elon Musk declaring he will lobby to criminalize doctors and therapists providing gender affirming care.

Gender affirming care for transgender youth is lifesaving and has proven to lower their suicide rates by 73% according to a landmark study in 2022 published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. There are several other studies that have found similar positive impacts of gender affirming care, such as a study in the Journal of Adolescent Health showing a reduction of 40% over the last year. A recent report published by the Louisiana Department of Health studying Louisiana Medicaid recipients stated that regret rates for gender affirming care were less than 1% and that the care significantly improved the mental health and suicidality of trans youth. The science is so overwhelmingly in favor of gender affirming care that the University of Cornell published a listing of over 50 articles that prove the positive impact of this care.

Elon Musk has often tweeted misinformation on this topic by inaccurately citing a single study, a Swedish study released in 2011, to claim that “gender affirming care increases suicidality.” He did so again last night amidst the chaos. The Swedish study he references, however, has been widely misused and misinterpreted because it looks at transgender people in the 70s and 80s when gender affirming care was next to impossible to receive, and when medical and social discrimination was extremely high. Even still, that study did not compare trans people who were allowed to get gender affirming care with trans people who were not - rather, it compared transgender people to the general population.

The misuse of this study of decades old data has been so widely prevalent that the author of the study has forcefully come out against Musk’s misinformation:

“The conclusion that cross-sex hormone treatment increases suicide rate is completely wrong,” Cecilia Dhejne, author of the study, said in an interview.

Elon Musk proceeded to share and reply to anti-trans memes and responded in agreement with some of the people who are most responsible for the 530 anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ+ bills around the United States. He appeared to express support of the Target boycott due to Target displaying LGBTQ+ merchandise during Pride month in its stores. He also appeared to claim that the Trust & Safety Director Ella Irwin was fired for throttling the video. He proceeded to share a meme from a fringe anti-trans LGB group stating that trans and queer people should be excluded from LGBTQ+ Pride:

Elon Musk agreeing with the exclusion of trans people from Pride.

In light of these developments, Twitter's standing as a safe platform for LGBTQ+ individuals is likely to continue to deteriorate. Similarly, spending on Elon Musk's products and cars indirectly contributes to groups seeking to undermine healthcare for transgender youth. Musk's decision to launch an anti-transgender tirade at the onset of Pride Month will appear deeply offensive to the many Americans who care about equal rights for the LGBTQ+ community. While Musk has not been shy about expressing his anti-trans sentiments in the past, his pronouncements over the past day represent an unprecedented and alarming escalation in his rhetoric.