92nd ACFAS Congress - Colloquium 626: ‘Transition and detransition among young people: understanding and uniting in the face of misinformation and division’.

Summary:
The trans and transsexual communities are often portrayed as having divergent, if not completely opposing, medical interests. While trans people benefit from access to gender transition care, it is the barriers to care that benefit trans people. In this presentation, Florence Ashley will suggest that, on the contrary, the interests of trans and non-trans people are aligned when it comes to access to gender transition care, since barriers to care do not prevent regret and can even be detrimental to non-trans people. In doing so, the presentation opens up to the vision of a trans/trans alliance that places emphasis on autonomy, gender self-determination, and the diversity of gender pathways.

Biography:
Florence Ashley is an assistant professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Alberta and at the John Dossetor Health Ethics Centre. In 2019-2020, they was the first openly trans-female clerk of the Supreme Court of Canada. Florence is the author of two books on trans issues and numerous academic articles, including articles on detransition written in collaboration with trans and trans-detrans researchers.

Abstract

Data from hotlines for LGBTQ2+ young people in the United States at the time of Trump's election and inauguration show an explosion in the use of services directly linked to the political context. THEM.us reported an increase of almost 200% in calls to the Trevor Project in the 2 days preceding the election on 5 November, and 700% the day after. But what about on our side of the border?
Are US executive orders and divisive rhetoric influencing calls for help and the plight of trans and non-binary young people in Quebec and Canada? Is the current social climate jeopardising their mental health and daily lives?
This paper explores the impact of the socio-political climate on the mental health of young trans and non-binary people through statistics from the Interligne helpline, anonymous reports of discrimination and violence via the ALIX platform, and the results of a recent Canada-wide study on the mental health of 2ELGBTQIA+ people conducted by Léger for Interligne.
We will analyse trends in requests for help and their links with anti-trans discourse and restrictions on affirmative care. By shedding light on these data, we hope to raise awareness of the concrete impact of political debates on young people from New Brunswick and suggest courses of action to better support them.

Biography

Mathé-Manuel Daigneault (He/They) is a transmasc neuroqueer working in service coordination at Interligne, having previously collaborated with several other sexual and gender diversity organisations over the last decade. He holds a bachelor's degree in Animation and Cultural Research and a short post-graduate programme in EDI management in the workplace. He is also a research professional at the Université de Sherbrooke's Laboratoire inclusif de recherche et développement, a role that enables him to hone his skills in statistical analysis and social science research. His research interests include the realities and representation of trans and neuroqueer people, as well as EDI initiatives.

Summary

Although many countries have passed laws protecting the rights of trans and non-binary (NTB) people, some have seen a rise of the political right, with repressive policies and anti-trans protests. In Canada, despite legislative and social progress, access to gender-affirming care (GAC) varies from province to province, creating a climate of uncertainty because legal protections are not always guaranteed. SMAGs, such as puberty blockers and hormone therapy, are essential to the psychological and physical well-being of young people, reducing gender dysphoria and improving their quality of life. How does the socio-political context between 2022 and 2024 influence or not the well-being of young TNBs and their access to SMAGs? This presentation is part of the Grandir Trans project, an international longitudinal study of SMAG, focusing on changes in care pathways and their impact on the well-being of young Canadian newcomers aged 11 to 17. The data show that access to SMAG and the legal transition have improved the general well-being of young people, by reducing gender dysphoria. Despite setbacks in some provinces, families remain confident that support is available, even in the face of sometimes negative information from politicians, bills and the media.

Biography

Naomie-Jade Ladry, a doctoral candidate in applied human sciences, is a graduate of the Master of Science in Administration - Management of International Development and Humanitarian Action and the Graduate Microprogramme in Gender Studies at Université Laval. Her interests lie in gender equality issues, in particular intersectional feminist perspectives and issues surrounding gender diversity. Naomie-Jade Ladry works as a research assistant on the Grandir Trans project.

Summary
GRIS-Montréal is an organisation that has been demystifying sexual orientation (since 1994) and gender identity (since 2019) in schools. Interventions answer students' questions, with LGBTQ+ volunteers sharing their personal experiences. Since 2021, GRIS workers have observed an increase in hate speech and closed attitudes towards sexual and gender diversity among the students they meet. This impression is confirmed by its survey questionnaires, which show a recent significant decline in young people's sense of comfort with these realities. This paper is based on data from questionnaires (n= 35,705) completed by secondary school pupils during 1,512 interventions carried out between 2018-2023, in a variety of regions of Quebec. The questionnaires probed young people's level of comfort with a series of statements on sexual orientation and gender identity. Among the hypotheses that could account for this decline in young people's feelings of comfort are the structure of social media, which exacerbates the presence of echo chambers; the neoliberal journalistic ecosystem, which accentuates disinformation processes; and the proven effectiveness of moral panics around LGBTQ+ people in distracting from real social issues and rallying diverse fringes of the population around shared, often national, values.

Biographies

Amélie Charbonneau (She) has been a research fellow at GRIS-Montréal since 2013. With a background in social work, feminist studies and communications, she particularly enjoys documenting young people's perceptions and representations of people of sexual and gender diversity.

Alexis Graindorge (He/They) is a queer sociolinguist and research professional at GRIS-Montréal, where he contributed to the latest report on the rise of unease towards queer realities, published in January 2025. She is particularly interested in issues of linguistic norms, representations and attitudes, and attaches great value to the accessibility of research and the sharing of knowledge.

Summary

Surveys of young trans people reveal a predominance of individuals assigned female at birth (i.e. transmasculine persons) compared with individuals assigned male at birth (i.e. transfeminine persons), a phenomenon that remains unexplained. This study examines whether this transmasculine predominance in adolescence can be linked to macro-social factors, such as LGBT policies, by analysing data from the United States and Europe. We used the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey (N = 27,715 trans individuals), the 2019 European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) survey (N = 118,945 cis LGB individuals and 18,608 trans individuals). Policy scores were obtained from the Movement Advancement Project (US) and the ILGA-Europe Rainbow Index (Europe). Our results reveal a consistent predominance of transmasculine adolescents, with later identity sharing for transfeminine youth in all 50 US states (2015) and 30 European countries (in 2019). While differences in age of identity declaration are not correlated with gender politics in the US, they are significantly correlated with LGBT politics in Europe. The predominance of transmasculine adolescents is closely linked to the greater difficulties encountered by transfeminine adolescents in sharing their identity.


Biography

Claire Vandendriessche is the association coordinator for Trajectoires Jeunes Trans, a French platform for coordinating the health care of trans minors and their families in the Paris region, a health mediator for these groups and a researcher into their health issues. She is also co-president of Réseau Santé Trans, a French association of trans health professionals and users of the health system.