{"cache":{"posts_f30bc_ff15e":{"__typename":"RootQueryToPostConnection","nodes":[{"__typename":"Post","id":"cG9zdDoyOTY1Mg==","categories_3cd3e_bf21a":{"__typename":"PostToCategoryConnection","edges":[{"__typename":"PostToCategoryConnectionEdge","node":{"__typename":"Category","id":"dGVybTo5","name":"News","uri":"/category/news","seo":{"__typename":"TaxonomySEO","title":"News Archives - 23andMe Blog","opengraphTitle":"News Archives","metaDesc":"23andMe News are blog post where our research or innovative products have pushed new boundaries that are worth sharing and make news.","opengraphDescription":"23andMe News are blog post where our research or innovative products have pushed new boundaries that are worth sharing and make news.","fullHead":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n"},"slug":"news"}}]},"uri":"/articles/gender-affirming-health-care","content_b28e9_bf21a":"

23andMe supports the idea that we humans should celebrate our differences, not criminalize them.

That’s why we are writing to draw attention to recent legislative efforts across the US that essentially bar transgender youth from gender-affirming treatment. These kinds of laws have grave consequences to children and their families. 23andMe is also among more than 200 major companies to have signed a Human Rights Campaign and Freedom for All Americans statement opposing anti-LGBTQ+ legislation.

Gender Affirming Health Care

As we stated last year, gender-affirming health care for transgender people, including trans youth, is supported by most mainstream medical associations. Gender-affirming health care is literally life-saving for many trans kids. Studies by the American Academy of Pediatrics, Cornell University, and other institutions have found that pubertal suppression treatment for trans youth was associated with lower odds of suicidal thoughts.

Despite this overwhelming scientific support, many states are specifically attempting to criminalize health care for transgender youth. As of today, 15 states have introduced legislation targeting gender-affirming care; ignoring the evidence, gender-affirming treatments for trans children are being treated as felonies and child abuse.

Access to Care

Unfortunately, this is not a hypothetical political move, but a very real and terrifying reality for trans kids who are lucky enough to have supportive families. Investigations have already begun. Despite following best practices in medicine, some gender-affirming clinics are shutting down due to media pressure. Some bills even attempt to ban families from traveling in order to maintain their trans child’s access to medical care.

Even bills that don’t directly target gender-affirming medicine can have an effect on trans health. Recent legislation could forcibly out LGBTQ+ children, make children with gay or trans parents unable to discuss their families in school, and trans children unable to have their name and pronouns respected. This is despite many studies showing that simply using a trans youth’s chosen name and respecting their pronouns significantly reduces their risk of depression and suicide.

Trust the Science

The science is clear. Having supportive family members is associated with better mental and physical health in trans youth. Trans adolescents who receive gender affirmation are often more able to tend to other things, such as academic success, relationship building, and future-oriented planning. Trans kids and their parents and doctors know what’s best for them.

At 23andMe, science is at the heart of what we do, but this isn’t just about the facts, it’s also about people. Trying to legislate away the existence of trans people is not possible. They are part of humanity and have always been. We will continue our work to support and understand each other. Join us as we stand with our employees, customers, friends, and family who are transgender or have trans kids.If you’d like to learn more about the value of gender-affirming care for transgender youth, listen to parents of trans kids and read this policy statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics. You can also find out more about the status of state legislation to prohibit affirming care from the UCLA School of Law Williams Institute and how to contact your representatives.

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Editor’s Note: This post was updated 1/5/2022 with video comments from some of our customers.

We’ve made some important updates to give customers greater control over tailoring their product experience so it more accurately reflects their gender.

23andMe now allows customers to distinguish between their sex assigned at birth and their gender. This allows all customers, but especially our transgender and/or non-binary customers, to have their gender accurately reflected in relevant product features, during their interactions with other customers they choose to make connections with, and if they choose to participate in DNA Relatives.

Current customers can take advantage of these updates by adding their gender and preferred relationship labels in their Account Settings.

Why have we made these changes? $\"\"$

As part of our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, we are continually improving our product to reflect the diversity of all of our customers. This particular update was in response to customers who want their 23andMe profiles to more accurately reflect their gender. Not only that, but it’s the right thing to do. Our trans and non-binary customers have every right to see themselves reflected accurately in their 23andMe experience. And we want them to be able to participate in all of the features 23andMe offers safely and as their full, authentic selves.

What has changed?

After consulting our 23andMe LGBTQ+ Employee Resource Group and a focus group of transgender customers, 23andMe has added the option for customers to provide their gender (including a non-binary option), in addition to their birth sex, during account registration and in their Account Settings.

If a customer chooses to opt in to research, their gender may be included, but it is always de-identified from their genetic information. Additionally, if they indicate their gender is not the same as their birth sex, they will receive additional messaging about their health reports.

Customers can also now decide if they would like to have masculine, feminine, or gender-neutral relationship labels (e.g., brother, sister, or sibling) shown to their connections and DNA relatives (if they choose to opt into these features).

23andMe will continue to use a customer’s birth sex as a part of our laboratory quality control steps. This is because if someone’s self-reported sex doesn’t match what we’ve determined from our analysis of their DNA, we want to make sure there wasn’t an error in processing. We will also continue to use a customer’s birth sex to help us deliver or interpret results for certain health, wellness, and traits topics.

All of this information can be changed at any time in a user’s Account Settings.

We hope these changes will start to make our product more inclusive for our transgender and non-binary customers. As more research becomes available, for example on how hormone replacement therapy may affect risk estimates, we hope to keep improving our product so that it is more relevant for these customers. We also know we have more work to do (for example, for our intersex customers) to make sure everyone has the opportunity to access, understand, and benefit from the human genome.

More reading:

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By Jey McCreight, PhD, Science Communication Sr. Program Manager

Pride month is a chance to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community, which is important here at 23andMe where part of our job is understanding and celebrating human diversity. But we should not forget that Pride started as a protest for LGBTQ+ rights, and despite the progress we have made, there is still work ahead.

The last year during this pandemic has been a stressful time for all of us, but even more so for transgender people, especially during the last six months as cultural conversations have shifted to put trans rights at risk. In fact, 2021 has already become the worst year in recent history for anti-LGBTQ legislation in the US. There have been more than 250 anti-LGBTQ bills introduced in state legislatures, and seventeen of those have already been enacted into law. These bills disproportionately target transgender people, especially youth. This year is also on track to become the most violent, fatal year for the trans and gender non-conforming community.

Why are we bringing this up? Because these attacks and this legislation have real implications for the health and wellbeing for trans people. For us here at 23andMe, where science is at our core, it’s particularly painful to see some of these legislative efforts pushed under the rallying cry of “trust the science.” As a health company, we feel compelled to speak up about what the science actually says.

People who fear or distrust trans people often use “biology” as a justification for attacking this community. But the reality is that the biology of sex and gender is more complicated than a simple binary. The science shows us that sex itself is not binary, but rather bimodal, with a range of diversity between the categories of male or female. Scientific research also supports the existence of trans and non-binary gender identities as a natural part of human diversity that have existed throughout history.

But it is not enough to simply say “trans people exist.” Science also shows that trans people who are accepted and affirmed have better health outcomes and quality of life.

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Supporting Social Transition

Terms

Non-binary is an umbrella term to describe gender identities that cannot be described as entirely “male” or “female” (e.g. agender, androgyne, genderfluid, genderqueer, and more.)

Some non-binary people consider themselves to be transgender, while others do not.

The most well-established treatment protocol for gender dysphoria is social transition, which involves adopting a new name, using different pronouns, changing hair and clothing, and using public spaces associated with one’s gender identity. For trans youth in particular, studies have shown that having supportive family members is associated with better mental and physical health. Trans adolescents who receive gender affirmation have better academic success, relationship building, and future-orientated planning. Simply using a trans youth’s chosen name and respecting their pronouns significantly reduces their risk of depression and suicide.

Social transition also includes allowing trans individuals to play on sports teams that match their gender identity. Despite the wave of legislation attempting to ban trans youth from participating in sports, there is no scientific evidence that trans girls have inherent advantages over cis girls in sports that justify blanket bans.

Bathroom Access

Medical experts also support allowing trans people to use bathrooms and other single-sex spaces that are in accordance with one’s gender identity. Laws that seek to force trans individuals to use a restroom that does not correspond with their gender identity increases the risk for trans people to experience harassment and violent assault. Trans people often avoid public restrooms because of fear of confrontation or worse, which can lead to higher rates of dehydration, kidney issues, and urinary tract infections.

Gender-affirming health care

The American Medical Association supports gender-affirming health care, such as hormones and surgery, as receiving such care has been shown to dramatically reduce rates of suicide attempts, depression and anxiety, and substance abuse. Studies by the American Academy of Pediatrics, Cornell University, and other institutions have found that pubertal suppression treatment for trans youth was associated with lower odds of suicidal thoughts. Despite most mainstream medical associations opposing legislation that limits gender affirming medical care for trans youth, this health care has already been banned in the state of Arkansas.

Medical Opinion

The following medical associations oppose legislation that limits gender-affirming medical care for trans youth:

• American Medical Association

• American College of Physicians

• American Academy of Family Physicians

• American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists

• American Osteopathic Association

• American Psychiatric Association

• American Academy of Pediatrics

• American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

• The Endocrine Society

• The Pediatric Endocrine Society

• World Professional Association for Transgender Health

• US Professional Association for Trangender Health.

Mental health

To be clear, there is no evidence that increased risk for mental illness among trans people is due to being transgender. The American Psychological Association and American Psychiatric Association have both firmly stated that this increased risk stems from stigma, social rejection, discrimination, and limited availability of gender-affirming health care services.

What 23andMe is Doing in Product

To put it succinctly, there is no debate among the medical and scientific communities when it comes to accepting and affirming the gender identities of trans people.

This is why we have spent the last year working to improve our product experience for trans and non-binary customers. This has included research on best practices recommended by LGBTQ organizations, conducting focus groups with trans customers, and consulting trans employees. When these improvements go live later this year, customers will be able to input both their sex assigned at birth and their gender during kit registration and will be able to select the relationship labels (e.g. father, uncle, brother) that best reflect their gender identity, including gender-neutral options. The option to use gender-neutral pronouns is also available to cisgender customers who may want their gender anonymous for privacy reasons.

This is only the first step in an overall commitment to improving our offerings for trans customers. As more research becomes available, for example on how hormone replacement therapy may affect risk estimates, we hope to keep improving our reports so they are more relevant for trans customers.

A Personal Conclusion

It’s easy to read a blog post on a company site and think it’s some detached statement. But I myself am a non-binary trans person. I’m hesitant to say this because I worry that some readers will no longer trust the scientific content of this post, despite my Ph.D. or my role leading 23andMe’s Science Communication program.

That fear of turning most of society against me is why I, like so many other trans people, stayed in the closet for so long. I was terrified that coming out would ruin my career, lose my family and friends, and put me at risk of violence. That fear directly came from the media I watched growing up, which cast trans people as monsters to be feared, pitied, or ridiculed.

But a cultural shift is clearly happening. I finally found resources and language to describe how I’ve always felt, and to realize there were other people out there like me. I met trans people in real life and saw more role models in the media that showed me that, frankly, there is nothing wrong with being trans.

I feel lucky to work at a place where I felt comfortable enough to publicly transition without losing my job or the respect of my colleagues. Being able to have that job security, which most trans people do not, enabled me to finally be myself completely openly, including to my closest family and friends.

Do coworkers and family still occasionally mess up my pronouns? Yes. But overall I’ve been privileged by how supportive everyone has been. I can tell they’re making an effort to do better and to learn why affirming my gender matters so much to me because they care about my health and happiness. That willingness to learn sets them apart from transphobes who refuse to listen to scientists, doctors, and most importantly, trans people themselves.

But not every trans person is as privileged as I am. Many think trans people only care about pronouns, but from legislative attacks to literal violent attacks, it is a dangerous time to be trans. Trans people of color in particular are disproportionately affected by violence, discrimination, and lack of health care. Trans youth are already having life-saving gender-affirming health care made illegal, despite medical consensus supporting that care. I wish I would have had the support and science to not go through the wrong puberty, and it breaks my heart to watch kids have that taken away.

The least I can do from my position of privilege is to speak up. Regardless of what science says, everyone should still treat trans people with respect because it’s just the right thing to do. But if you want to claim you “trust the science” in order to attack trans people, then sorry – the science says that trans rights are human rights.

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gender identity

Trust the Science: Support Gender-Affirming Health Care for Trans Kids

Making 23andMe More Inclusive for All Genders

Trust the Science by Supporting Trans Health Care

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