TL;DR
- A new peer-reviewed study shows suicidality drops when trans youth receive hormone therapy.
- Researchers followed 432 patients ages 12–20 over nearly two years.
- Results were consistent across age, sex, and treatment length.
- Every major medical organization backs hormone therapy as safe, effective, and necessary.
- The findings directly contradict anti-trans laws restricting care.
The numbers don’t lie — and they never have.
A new study published in The Journal of Pediatrics confirms what trans people, doctors, and advocates have been saying for years: gender-affirming hormone therapy saves lives.
Researchers tracked 432 transgender and gender-diverse patients ages 12 to 20 over nearly two years and found that suicidality significantly declined after patients began hormone therapy. The results held steady regardless of age, sex assigned at birth, or how long patients received treatment.
In clinical terms, the findings were “clinically meaningful.” In real life? They’re the difference between despair and survival.
Hormone therapy — commonly referred to as HRT — allows trans people to take estrogen or testosterone so their physical traits better align with their gender identity. For adolescents, access comes only after extensive evaluation, therapy, and medical oversight. Contrary to political fearmongering, no one is handing hormones to kids without care, consent, and caution.
The study’s conclusion was blunt: timely access to hormone therapy improves mental health outcomes for trans youth. Full stop.
And it aligns perfectly with decades of research and medical consensus. The American Medical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, and World Health Organization all agree that gender-affirming care is evidence-based and medically necessary — for minors and adults alike.
Yet despite this mountain of proof, politicians across the U.S. continue to push bans on the very care proven to reduce suicide risk. These laws don’t protect children. They endanger them.
Additional research backs this up. A December report from The Trevor Project found that trans and nonbinary youth whose names and pronouns are respected were 31% less likely to attempt suicide. Among those whose identities were never respected? Nearly one in four attempted suicide in a single year.
For the LGBTQ+ community — especially trans youth — these findings are more than academic. They’re ammunition in a fight for survival. Every new study exposes the cruelty of anti-trans policies and the hypocrisy of leaders who claim concern for kids while stripping away their healthcare.
The message couldn’t be clearer: affirmation saves lives. Denial kills.
And no amount of political spin will ever outweigh the truth written in the data — or in the lives of trans kids who are still here because they were allowed to be themselves.