re: Trump admin to remove LGBTQ option for a national suicide hotline.

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These are people who all of a sudden decided in the last 5 minutes that the gender binary, which has been the standard for the human race for 100,000 years, just wasn’t good enough for them. It’s because we’ve glamorized this crap and protected them,

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I actually think this is true for the vast majority of them. That does not discount the fact that they are at a much higher risk for suicide.

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Gender dysphoria is a mental illness in almost every form.

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Being trans or anything in that spectrum is not enough for gender dysphoric disorder. See the bold and underlined part. Many many are. Not all.

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marked incongruence between one’s experienced/expressed gender and natal gender of at least 6 months in duration, as manifested by at least two of the following:
A.
A marked incongruence between one’s experienced/expressed gender and primary and/or secondary sex characteristics (or in young adolescents, the anticipated secondary sex characteristics)

B.
A strong desire to be rid of one’s primary and/or secondary sex characteristics because of a marked incongruence with one’s experienced/expressed gender (or in young adolescents, a desire to prevent the development of the anticipated secondary sex characteristics)

C.
A strong desire for the primary and/or secondary sex characteristics of the other gender

D.
A strong desire to be of the other gender (or some alternative gender different from one’s designated gender)

E.
A strong desire to be treated as the other gender (or some alternative gender different from one’s designated gender)

F.
A strong conviction that one has the typical feelings and reactions of the other gender (or some alternative gender different from one’s designated gender)

The condition is associated with clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning. Specify if:
A.
The condition exists with a disorder of sex development.

B.
The condition is post-transitional, in that the individual has transitioned to full-time living in the desired gender (with or without legalization of gender change) and has undergone (or is preparing to have) at least one sex-related medical procedure or treatment regimen—namely, regular sex hormone treatment or gender reassignment surgery confirming the desired gender (e.g., penectomy, vaginoplasty in natal males; mastectomy or phalloplasty in natal females).

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if LGBTQ+ was so normal why would they need a suicide hotline since its a normal thing?

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So whenever the left screams "more gun control" after a mass shooting, the default position of the right is to focus on mental health. Seeing as most tranz people suffer from some type of mental disorder, this just seems like a dick move.

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Yep

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Why should tax dollars be used for a suicide hotline? Let churches or private donors do that. I don't care if you kill yourself.

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Government only exists to punish us and we wouldn’t have it any other way

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I am stating that the ideology and internal and external experiences puts them at a much much greater risk for mental illness and suicide. Those experiences are unique to that population. It is a fact that that population is at a much greater risk.

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Do you think affirming this ideology increases or decreases the suicide rate? And do you think this branch of the suicide hotline was “gender affirming”?

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Do you think affirming this ideology increases or decreases the suicide rate? And do you think this branch of the suicide hotline was “gender affirming”?

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I think working with the person to accept their ideology (whatever it is at that moment) as part of a comprehensive treatment approach, targeting their psychological distress is more likely to decrease suicide ideation in a person. The second paragraph implies the reasons why. Of course, each approach would have to be individualized. But being “accepting“ is an integral part.

I can say this with certainty. The majority of children and teenagers who are experiencing gender related concerns, including being trans or whatever, eventually work through that and most “return” to their biological gender. Accepting them as they are is helpful in that. Related to that, research is clear with regards to “common factors of effective psychotherapy“. These are the Rogerian factors of being empathic, accepting, nonjudgmental, etc. These are best predictors of therapeutic success, regardless of the theoretical orientation. Not being accepting would be detrimental to psychological therapies. I am not equating being accepting with grooming, shaping, or encouraging behaviors or a certain ideology. I am against that. One can be accepting without doing that. Trained counselors and therapists should be able to handle that.

With regards to the second question, I don’t know. I think that most counselors, even those who don’t specialize in LGBTQ, would accept the person as they are. Some might call that affirming. Personally, I wouldn’t. I think most counselors will work with the person “where they are“ at that point in time. That being said there are some LGBTQ counselors who do more than encourage it. As stated, I do not agree with that.

Thank you for asking those questions. It actually helped me process some of my thoughts on all of this.

Accepting someone is not affirming. Affirming care is telling them that their belief they are the opposite sex is real and true. That happiness they are seeking rarely comes by pretending to be the opposite sex and can tragically lead to suicide.

They’re are far too many “gender affirming” therapists and I hope that isn’t part of the suicide hotline training.

ETA: I just saw your edit. I think we’re basically saying the same thing using different words

Either way, we need to stop gender reassignment surgery and hormone therapy on children. More than most would simply grow out of it.

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Accepting someone is not affirming. Affirming care is telling them that their belief they are the opposite sex is real and true. That happiness they are seeking rarely comes by pretending to be the opposite sex and can tragically lead to suicide. They’re are far too many “gender affirming” therapists and I hope that isn’t part of the suicide hotline training

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I get what you’re saying. And I agree that there are many therapists who specialize in “LGBTQ” and they are doing exactly what you are saying or implying. I don’t agree with that approach. Being “accepting“ WITHOUT grooming, shaping, and reinforcing that belief(s) is helpful. Anything else is likely detrimental.

That’s why I don’t agree with a lot of the school stuff. You can just be accepting without going overboard. Anything else is so harmful to kids, many of whom are internally navigating through sexuality issues already. On the other hand, telling or giving someone the message that “you’re just confused, this will pass…you are abnormal”, although it may be true, is also detrimental.

Funny story. I remember going to some play with my family and I was probably 13 years old. A lot of the actors were in tights. We were like right up front, third or fourth row. I noticed a bulge in one of the males. I could not not look at it. For like two weeks I was wondering if I was gay because of that. I was sort of freaked out. I can only imagine if I was at a super liberal school that stuff overboard with LGBTQ stuff, what that would’ve done to me. I would’ve been more than confused and in psychological distress for much longer than two weeks..