 I want to talk about a Ben Shapiro video, and this is going viral on Twitter because it is truly disgusting, but as gross and reprehensible as what Ben Shapiro is going to say in this clip that you're about to see, honestly, it's a relief to know that at most he's just ambivalent about queer deaths, because there are two types of conservative bigots in this country. There are the ones who don't really care about LGBTQ plus suicide rates, hence why when we cite statistics about suicidal ideation among LGBTQ plus youth, they just don't really feel compelled to change their opinion and it doesn't resonate. But there are others who genuinely want queer people to die. Now if you don't believe that there are people in that latter category where they genuinely want queer people to kill themselves, well just ask a queer person and they have plenty of anecdotes to share with you, but also let me point out this tweet from Alejandra who writes, I want everyone to see what they did to an LGBTQ plus senior housing project in Boston. This is the hate we're dealing with, whipped up by right wing influencers and politicians for profit and political gain. This is only getting worse, and as you can see, the message is very clear. They want F-slurs to die, and not only that, they want them to die slow and painful deaths, and they believe that this is justified because queers are supposedly corrupting all of society. So at least Ben Shapiro isn't in that category, at least seemingly. You can argue that indirectly, you know, his rhetoric and what he pushes, the policies that he pushes, lead to queer deaths. But what he's going to vocalize here really is that, yeah, even if, you know, hate against trans people leads to them wanting to commit suicide more often, oh well. This is always the threat that the left likes to bring, and it starts an academia that bleeds all the way down. The idea is that if you make an argument, based in fact, that you're going to cause somebody else to commit suicide. Now, in American law, and in law typically, the idea that you can cause someone else to commit suicide is pretty dicey territory, generally. And you actually have some pretty specific evidence saying that somebody is telling somebody to commit suicide in order to even attempt to hold them accountable for their commission of suicide because there's an intervening actor, namely the person who's committing the suicide. The generalized point the left tries to make is that if you say that a man is a man and a woman is a woman, a bunch of people who believe they are members of the opposite sex will be so despondent about the fact that biological reality exists and that you are saying it. Not even that it exists, that you're saying it, that they're going to go commit suicide. There's only one problem with this line of argument. It's complete nonsense. There's no statistical evidence to suggest that the wildly disparate suicidal ideation rate among LGBT people suddenly corrects itself to meet the cis norm, meaning people who know what sex they are and it is their biological sex, the heterosexual norm. The suicide rates, the suicidal ideation rates do not suddenly become equal if you live in an area that is highly tolerant of LGBT. They're still wildly disproportionate, which suggests that there are a bunch of other intervening factors, including serious comorbidities with regard to anxiety and depression that attend upon LGBT identity. We're not allowed to talk about any of that. The idea is supposed to be that it's because Josh Howley is mean that trans kids are now suicidal. That is not true. There's no evidence to that idea. And by the way, even were that true, it would not mean that it is now Josh Howley's job to lie. Truth matters in a society. If some people are unable to handle truth, and this causes them to be more mentally ill or more suicidal, that is not the fault of the truth, we're going to have to find some different solutions. The solution is not society-wide falsehoods. That is infuriating. But to be fair to Ben Shapiro, he did say that we should find other solutions, suggesting that he does in some way, shape or form, want to address trans suicide rates. Now he's likely just placating people. So, you know, we don't view him as that big of a piece of shit. But okay, I'll take him at his word there, right? But what he's saying here is callous and it's also counterfactual. See, I have facts and data and peer-reviewed studies on my side, whereas Ben Shapiro's conjecture is based off of his feelings. So he says here, there's no statistical evidence to suggest that the wildly disparate suicidal ideation rate among LGBT people suddenly corrects itself to meet the cis norm. If you live in an area that is highly tolerant of LGBT, they're still wildly disproportionate. Now, what he's doing here is he's just making that up, because environmental factors do indeed change the suicidal ideation rate among trans youth. And really it's two things, if I could simplify all of this, that will decrease the rate of suicidal ideation. It's freedom and it's environment. Now the first question is why do LGBTQ plus people have a higher rate of suicidal ideation compared to their cis peers? Now, as Madeline Carlisle of Time Explains, the risk is due in part to experiences with gender dysphoria, as well as the way that they are treated in society based on their identity, says Dr. Amy Green, the vice president of Research at the Trevor Project, who co-authored the study. Now, the study that they're referencing is a peer-reviewed study published in 2021 in the Journal of Adolescent Health, and we'll get to that in a second. But first, I want to go to a meta analysis conducted by the Trevor Project where they lay out risk factors for trans and LGBTQ plus youth more broadly. One risk factor includes minority stress. This includes anti-LGBTQ messaging which we see from shows like The Daily Wire, LGBTQ based physical harm, discrimination, housing instability and change attempts by parents. This means that if a child comes out as trans and their family refuses to accept them and they force them to live as a gender that they don't identify with, well that leads to increased suicidal ideation. A third of queer youth experience parental rejection. 36% report physical threats or harm. 52% of LGBTQ middle schoolers and high schoolers are bullied. Discrimination is another factor. 73% of LGBTQ youth experience discrimination at least once in their lives. Trans and non-binary youth who experience discrimination are twice as likely to attempt suicide. Now, there are other risk factors, but the point is that we know what the causal mechanisms are, right? We're not ignorant any longer. The studies have been conducted. They're peer-reviewed. The data is out there. We know what leads to an increased rate of suicidality among LGBTQ plus youth. Environmental factors do matter. And conversely, since we know what causes increased rate of suicidality among LGBTQ plus youth, we also know what reduces the rate of suicidality among LGBTQ plus youth. Among the plethora of key protective factors in the Trevor Projects meta-analysis include having at least one accepting adult which can reduce the rate of suicide attempts among LGBTQ young people by 40%. A 2021 peer-reviewed study by the Trevor Projects researchers published in Transgender Health found that transgender and non-binary youth who reported gender identity acceptance from adults and peers had significantly lower odds of attempting suicide in the past year. LGBTQ youth who felt high social support from their family reported attempting suicide at less than half the rate of those who felt low or moderate social support. LGBTQ youth who live in a community that is accepting of LGBTQ people reported much lower rates of attempting suicide than those who do not. And it's not just environmental factors that have to be considered. If we give trans people the freedom, keyword freedom, to live their lives in the way that they want to, that also is incredibly beneficial. A study in the Journal of Adolescent Health examines data collected in a Trevor Projects survey of over 34,000 LGBTQ youth between the ages of 13 and 24 across the US from October to December of 2020. Of the respondents, 12,000 identified as transgender or non-binary. The study found that young people receiving gender and hormone therapy reported a lower likelihood of experiencing depression and suicidal ideation compared to young people who wanted the treatment but were not able to access it. Notably, the study found that among young trans and non-binary people under 18, receiving gender and hormone therapy was associated with nearly 40% lower odds of having had a suicide attempt in the past year. So when Ben Shapiro says, well, you know, we have to find out what these factors are that's leading to an increased rate of suicidality among LGBTQ plus youth, we've already found it. All we have to do is treat trans people with respect and give them freedom and that will decrease the rate of suicidality. But Ben Shapiro refuses to accept that because, you know, feelings over facts if you're Ben Shapiro and he's not willing to look at the data. Now he also says here, the idea is supposed to be that it is because Josh Hawley, referring to a viral video between Josh Hawley and Kara Bridges, a law professor, that if Josh Hawley is mean trans kids are going to become suicidal. In other words, if they see transphobia, it will make them suicidal. Ben Shapiro contends, this is not true. He says, there's no evidence to that idea. That's just completely wrong. And by the way, even if that were true, it would not mean that it is Josh Hawley's job to lie. Truth matters in a society. If some people are unable to handle truth and this causes them to be more mentally ill or more suicidal, that is not the fault of the truth. We're going to have to find some different solutions. The solution is not society-wide falsehoods. When it comes to society-wide delusions, well, our side, the transaffirming side, we actually have data and statistics and science to back up what we're saying. But when it comes to religion, there's absolutely no scientific evidence to confirm that any God from any religion exists. None whatsoever. But yet, we afford religious people the freedom and respect that transphobes like Ben Shapiro don't allow trans people to have. All that we're asking to make it very simple is to respect trans people and let them have the freedom to live their lives in the way that they want to. And Ben Shapiro says, no. But yet, we're expected to give them respect for their society-wide delusions of religion and pretend as if there's evidence for a God that doesn't exist. I mean, look, we can have a disagreement. This is part of living in a pluralistic society. I'm an antitheist. I hate religion. But I would always defend your right, your freedom to be religious. But Ben Shapiro is saying, I'm not going to afford you that same luxury. I don't believe that trans people should have the freedom to live their lives in the way that they want to. I think that we should ban parents or ban gender-affirming care for youth and perhaps investigate trans-affirming parents who seek out gender-affirming care that's medically necessary for their children and treat them like their child abusers. That's what Ben Shapiro is, in essence, saying here. He's also saying, I'm not even going to respect them. So if you tell me that your name is this, I'm gonna dead name you. If you tell me that these are your preferred pronouns, I'm not going to use them. So I'm not going to respect you. I'm not even going to offer you freedom. But you better damn well give me freedom for my religion. I mean, this is the difference between conservatives and the left. We have respect. We're pro-freedom. We have data and scientific research, peer-reviewed studies on our side, whereas people like Ben Shapiro have hate and they refuse to allow people they disagree with the luxury to live their lives in the way that they want to. Again, I just want to make this very, very clear. Not to sound like a broken record. Trans and non-binary people are asking for a very, very small thing. Just respect them and give them the freedom to live their lives. If they tell you that their preferred pronouns are she, her, he, him, they, them, just respect it. You know, sometimes you're gonna make a mistake and slip up, that's fine. Correct yourself. As long as you're not going out of your way to purposefully misgender them or dead name them and be an asshole, most people will be understanding. They're just asking for you to try to be respectful. Support their freedom to live their lives. But somebody who Ben Shapiro hired on his network, Jordan Peterson, doesn't even know if trans adults should be given the freedom to live their lives as the gender that they want. And these are people who talk about freedom of speech. Gender expression is a form of freedom of speech. You telling me that, you know, just because somebody is born a certain way, they're not allowed to wear dresses and paint their nails and have longer hair. I mean, this is the essence of freedom, to deny someone gender expression is to deny them their freedom of speech, their freedom in general. It's to deny their humanity. They refuse to even treat other people with respect, refuse to give them the freedom that they expect for things that we disagree with. You see, if I support trans people, according to Ben Shapiro, we're just buying into their delusions. But you better support my fucking Sky Ferry and my beliefs there and give me the freedom to support that. I mean, you don't see leftist trying to ban fucking religions. That would be absurd. I would fight against that. But yet they're trying to ban gender-affirming care for trans youth, ban gender-affirming care for adults in some instances. If you're Matt Walsh or Jordan Peterson, two people on the Daily Wire network. So it's insane. Republicans are authoritarian. People like Ben Shapiro are authoritarian and believe them when they tell you that they don't support freedom. This is Ben Shapiro saying, I don't support freedom. I don't even support basic respect for fellow Americans. That really is embarrassing. He should feel bad about that, but he doesn't because he's hateful. He's ignorant. So he thinks that if there are people who are inferior to him in society, then it's justified to treat them with no respect, no humanity, not recognize their basic dignity. Well, I disagree. And this is why we can never come to an agreement. There's gonna be no reconciliation. We have to defeat you because I don't wanna live in a world where people are denied the freedom, where we don't even treat trans people with basic respect and human dignity. Fuck that. I'm gonna fight you at every step of the way so long as you are going to impose your theocratic beliefs on everyone else.