A lovely set of lies circulating among the transphobes
Let’s examine the claims
Claim 1: “76% of trans people come from middle class homes”
This one is relatively straightforward to check. According to the Pew Research Center this is the breakdown of US middle tier income by family size and income
Choosing an ‘average’ household size of 3 people (3.14 technically, based on US Census data), middle class starts at $41864 per year.
That puts approximately 60% of the US population in general in the middle class income tier or above.
How does that compare with transgender people?
For that, we can turn to the National Transgender Discrimination Survey
Doing some quick math, we get 52% of transgender people’s households are middle class income or higher. That is 8 points LOWER than the general population.
Ok…So NOT “76%”, not even as high as the general population at *60%* — only FIFTY-TWO percent.
That counts as a lie then.
Moving along…
Claim 2: “83% of trans people in the US are white”
We find the data around that in the “Race and Ethnicity of Adults Who Identify as Transgender in the United States, Oct 2016” report from the UCLA Williams Institute.
’White, non-Hispanic’ people are 55% of the transgender population — vs 66% of the general population. As the US counts ‘White’, transgender people are generally LESS likely to be ‘White’ than the general population is.
So that is lie #2
Onward
Claim 3: “68% of trans people were born as male”
Checking the 2015 US Transgender Survey, we see the following:
“More than half (57%) of respondents had female on their original birth certificate, and 43% had male on their original birth certificate.”
So the claim that “68% of trans people were born male” is lie #3 then
Forward
Claim 4: “Over half of all women who transition to men end up going back to being women.”
Let’s check the literature
Journal of Sexual Medicine 2018 Apr; 15(4):582–590
Inside Matters. On Law, Ethics and Religion, EPath 2019 (April 2019)
Detransition rates in a national UK Gender Identity Clinic
The actual detransition rate is on the order of ONE HALF OF ONE PERCENT.
That isn’t just a lie. It is a Trump level made up someone’s in imagination Big Lie Number #4.
Which leaves the final claim:
Claim 5: “Over 90% of trans people who are chosen to represent the trans community in public are MtF”
Well, we MAY have found something that is not a complete falsehood. It isn’t a complete truth, either. The press has ALWAYS found trans women to be the ‘headline story’. But not because of favourability: They are trotted out as “The Bogey Monster in The Bathroom. The Predators Looking To Attack The Womenfolk and Children!”
And honestly, most transgender women would rather NOT be in the public eye. It is actively dangerous to their safety: It is not a PRIVILEGE, but a HAZARD. But I will be generous here and give this claim a ‘half-truth’ rating.
Final Count
Out of the five claims, we have four absolute falsehoods, and one half-truth.
I wonder why people attacking trans rights feel the need to use lists of demonstrable lies to generate hate propaganda about trans people.
I “wonder”
Update:
I did the background research to find out where this whole thing started. It turns out to be a 4channer ‘edgelord’ on Reddit who loved to hang out in all kinds of racist groups that have been since quarantined or even banned by Reddit. Their account was suspended by Reddit not too long after they dangled this lovely bit of propaganda meme-bait in front of a ‘gender critical’ Reddit group.
