Transgender individuals claim to have a gender identity that differs from the sex they were assigned at birth.  But the population size of transgender individuals in the United States is not well-known, in part because official records, including the US Census, do not include data on gender identity.

According to Reuters about 0.5% of all U.S. adults, some 1.3 million people, and about 1.4%, or 300,000, of youth between 13- and 17-years-old identify as transgender.  Meanwhile, Pew Research seems to asseverate this finding advising that the share of U.S. adults who are transgender is particularly high among adults younger than 25 (3.1%.).

The Williams Institute at UCLA (the new benchmark authority for the left) tells us the percentage and number of adults who identify as transgender in the U.S. has remained steady over time.  However, the institute’s estimates of the number of youths who identify as transgender has doubled from their previous estimate noting that nearly one in five people (20%) between the ages of 13-17 identify as transgender.

So why the disparity due to age.  “Experts” tell us that young people increasingly have the language and social acceptance to explore their gender identities, whereas older adults feel more constrained.  But regardless of reasons, the numbers vary widely from study to study, age group to age group, and from state to state which raises significant questions about the role of peer influence and the political climate of the community.

You can draw your own conclusions about the percentage of people that are either are transgender or claim to be transgender, but it should be obvious the issue is  like more ideological than scientific and fraught with speculation.

Nonetheless, the woke left insists on making all sorts of accommodations for people who claim to be transgender and thus are are entitled to play by different rules than the rest of us.  As a society it’s our obligation to strive for fairness to everyone, not just transgenders, so let’s look at another example where a significant minority is different but who are not accommodated by the woke left, i.e., left-handedness versus right-handedness.

We all know the vast majority of mechanical devices are made to accommodate right-handed people.  So, while roughly 10% percent of the population is left-handed, society in general does not accommodate southpaws.  Of course, there are exceptions, as there are exceptions to everything in life, but for the most part, the world is made for right-handed people and somehow civilizations have managed to thrive despite such discrimination.  As a practical matter then, those with a dominant left hand are forced to accept the rules of a right-handed world – and interestingly, they have been doing so without complaint for centuries.

So, let’s take this a step further; with 10% of the population being left-handed, it’s a pretty safe bet that 10% of the people in Wyoming (a red state) should also be left-handed, just as 10% of the people living in California (a blue state) should be left-handed too.  But if so, why is the incidence of transgenderism higher in liberal leaning communities than in conservative communities and higher in young people than in older people?  A good question that has no definitive scientific answer.

The bottom line is that similar to the climate debate, an individual’s position on both topics appears to be predicated more on ideology than on verifiable scientific evidence.

Quote of the day: “We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that stupid people won’t be offended.” —Unknown

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