On February 27, 2024, during the program “Anatomy of Liberalism” of the pro-government TV channel PosTV, journalist Giorgi Akhvlediani spoke about gender minorities, in particular transgenders, claiming that “transgenderism is a curable mental illness, there is no biological sex change, and the society that the world’s billionaire families want to create should be comprised of transgenders.” The host of the program also says that the best way to degenerate society is “mass transgenderization” and “American LGBT lobbyists” have not come up with anything better than that. To support his claims, Akhvlediani uses the research of the American psychiatrist, Paul McHugh.
Giorgi Akhvlediani: “He [Paul McHugh] has devoted six books and at least 125 articles to the argument that transgenderism is a mental disorder that can be treated, and that gender reassignment is only self-deception because it is biologically impossible. The results of Dr. McHugh’s latest research should be disturbing to apologists of “transgenderism”, to say the least. Research shows that the suicide rate among transgender people who have undergone gender reassignment surgery is 20 times higher than the suicide rate among non-transgender people. The same important statistics were revealed regarding children. It has been found that 70-80% of children who express transgender desires at the transition age spontaneously lose all interest in gender reassignment over time.
Giorgi Akhvlediani disseminates information in a manipulative manner: 1) He talks about the article published in the media by Paul McHugh in 2014 and does not say anything about the scientist’s opponents. The information given in “Anatomy of Liberalism” is not shared among scientific circles; 2) A small-scale study conducted in Sweden says that the suicide rate is higher among transgender people who have undergone sex reassignment surgery compared to the general population, but does not conclude that the increased risk is caused by the surgery itself; In addition, according to research, only 1% of transgender people who have undergone sex reassignment surgery regret the decision. 3) In Europe, gender reassignment surgery is considered the final stage of transition and is done only as a result of long-term evaluation, and the lower limit of surgery is usually 18 years.
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How credible are Paul McHugh’s opinions?
Paul McHugh is a professor of psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and for many years was chief psychiatrist at Johns Hopkins Hospital. In his writings, McHugh calls transgenderism a mental illness and says it can be cured, and sexual orientation is, to some extent, a choice. He also opposes gender reassignment surgery. Paul McHugh’s views on gender issues are often opposed by both scientific circles and human rights activists. For example, in 2017, the Human Rights Campaign Foundation created a website aimed at “debunking the Junk Science of Paul McHugh.” HRC also reports on the incident, when nearly 600 LGBT+ health experts at Vanderbilt University published a letter condemning McHugh’s stance on gender. It should be noted that McHugh’s views on sex and gender have been criticized by his colleagues at Johns Hopkins University. According to them, one of Paul McHugh’s papers cites scientific evidence, although it is not a comprehensive review, and it has not been published in the scientific literature, where it would have undergone rigorous review before publication.
In the program, Giorgi Akhvlediani refers to the article of Paul McHugh published in the media, which does not present scientific research. In an article published in the Wall Street Journal in 2014, the professor repeats his ideas once again.
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What does the research conducted in Sweden prove?
The claim voiced in “Anatomy of Liberalism” that the suicide rate among transgender people is 20 times higher than the suicide rate among other people is based on a 2011 study by the University of Sweden. Paul McHugh also cites this study in his article. 324 transgender people took part in the study of the “Royal Institute of Sweden”. According to the study, the incidence of suicide among transgender people is higher than in the general population, although the study does not conclude that the increased risk of suicide is directly caused by gender reassignment. The study notes that mental illness is generally more common among transgender people, and that gender reassignment, although it alleviates gender dysphoria, is not enough, and that mental illness needs to be identified and treated, both before and after sex reassignment surgery.
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What have we learned from other studies about changes in the mental health of transgender people?
There are a number of studies available in open sources that show that gender reassignment surgery is not directly related to the deterioration of the mental health of transgender people. For example, psychiatrists from Yale and the Royal Swedish Institute studied more than 2,000 Swedes with gender dysphoria between 2005 and 2015 and found that hormonal or surgical treatment actually improved their mental health. Psychiatrists also indicate that there is minimal difference between the severity of mental health of people who have undergone sex reassignment surgery and those who have not. It should be noted that according to the World Health Organization, there are on average more than 700,000 suicide cases in the world. There is no unified world statistics on suicide among transgender people and it is conducted independently by countries. The Trevor Project, an American non-profit organization dedicated to the prevention of suicide among LGBTQI+ people, published a study in 2021, according to which transgender and non-binary youth who changed their pronouns or gender markers on official documents had a relatively low rate of suicide attempts.
As for transgender people who underwent gender reassignment surgery as adults, only about 1% regret their decision. Statistics published in 2021 include 27 studies and observations of 7,928 transgender people.
It should also be noted that, for instance in Europe, the lower limit for gender reassignment surgery is usually 18 years. In several European Union member states, the decision to perform gender reassignment surgery is determined by the sexual maturity of the applicant. As for hormonal therapy, the age limit for its initiation is generally determined by 16-18 years, although there is an individual approach in minors, surgical intervention is usually considered as the final stage in gender transition and occurs only after long-term evaluation and consultations.
Giorgi Akhvlediani repeats the term “transgenderism” several times, which is widely used to insult the minority group. The American Psychological Association defines transgenderism as an “umbrella term” for people whose gender identity, gender expression, and behavior do not match their biological sex.
The program “Anatomy of Liberalism”, which is broadcast by the TV company PosTV, often voices misleading information, which was verified by the “Myth Detector” in the past. For more details, see:
