Thread by @DrScottHadland

Here's how many teens may attempt suicide in Florida each year because of its new #DontSayGay law:

Nearly 4,000.

I did some math. Please retweet & share widely the terrible potential impact of this anti-LGBTQ policy. 🧵 1/

Some background: FL signed into law a bill last week keeping teachers from talking to K-3 kids about developmentally-appropriate LGBTQ-related issues entirely, and restricting discussions in older kids, forcing families like mine to live in the shadows. 2/ washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/…

The law is purposefully written vaguely. It will create a chilling effect and leave teachers uncertain as to what they can and can't talk about. This will leave teachers afraid to talk about anything LGBTQ-related. 3/

Yes, I've read it & you can too: flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2…

Lawmakers say the law protects kids from being 'groomed' (a really gross term, BTW) into becoming LGBTQ by teachers who talk about developmentally appropriate but I assert the onus is on them to show this is even happening.

Meanwhile, let me show the harms of the law. 4/

A 2021 study by Aivadyan showed that LGBTQ teens in states w/ inclusive policies (including in schools) were 9% less likely to attempt suicide.

i.e., 10% more attempted suicide in states with less inclusive policies, which Florida has just become. 5/ pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34427167/

There are approximately 1.2 million teens 14-18 in Florida.

12.5% identify as LGBTQ (ref below).

That's 150,000 LGBTQ teens in the state. 6/
cdc.gov/healthyyouth/d…

The latest data from the CDC suggest 26.3% of these LGBTQ youth might've attempted suicide in the 1st half of 2021.

That's 39,450 teens.

And #DontSayGay could increase this by 10%, i.e., 3,945 teens attempting suicide that otherwise wouldn't have. 7/ cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/7…

Data from a full year (rather than just the 6-month period in these CDC data) would be even higher, esp in the Covid era. Here are some pre-Covid data from Florida showing an attempted suicide rate of 23% (i.e., still very, very high). 8/ floridahealth.gov/statistics-and…

Let me reiterate: 4,000 teens might be expected to attempt suicide as Florida's #DontSayGay bill shifts the state to a less tolerant environment for LGBTQ kids. 9/

This is a back-of-the-envelope calculation, to be sure. Very rough estimate. There are built-in assumptions.

I've shown my calculations based on available data & the onus is now on FL & other state lawmakers to show what harm they believe they are preventing with such laws. 10/

And to be VERY clear, there are NOT data to support the idea that youth become LGBTQ because teachers somehow 'coax' them into becoming this way. I'm a pediatrician who cares for 100s of LGBTQ youth -- I've never seen this happen. Not once. 11/

Suicide is a leading cause of death in teens.

What on earth are we doing passing laws that could increase the # of suicide attempts by 1000s each year?

...all in the name of solving some largely non-existent problem that politicians are hawking to their constituents? 12/12