MSNBC host Chris Hayes unpacked new data on the actual numbers of transgender people and contrasted it with the outsize outrage and lies about the community.
On Thursday’s “All in with Chris Hayes,” Chris began with the bombardment of anti-trans campaign ads last fall.
“You could not watch a single NFL football game all election season without seeing a barrage of ads about the ‘scourge’ of trans people and their alleged domination of American culture,” Hayes said.
WATCH: Right-wing culture wars distort the reality of the demographics of the transgender population in America. But here’s the truth. @chrislhayes.bsky.social
— All In with Chris Hayes (@allinwithchris.bsky.social) January 9, 2025 at 7:14 AM
Hayes noted the ads “played up fear of trans women playing sports and trans youth seeking medical procedures, with their parents’ consent, obviously. Or simply seeking to use a public restroom in privacy and dignity.”
It’s worth asking, Hayes said, “What is the scale of the issue we are talking about? Why are we talking about it?”
Hayes noted that politicians don’t have an answer, showing a clip from MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle’s interview in 2021, asking then-Governor Jim Justice (now Senator-elect from West Virginia) to “name one example of a transgender child trying to get an advantage?” in his state’s school sports. Justice had signed a bill into law banning transgender youth from sports.
“I can’t really tell you one,” Justice confessed.
“This Republican moral panic has given most Americans a wildly incorrect notion of the scale of trans life in America,” Hayes continued, pointing to a YouGov poll that wildly overestimated the number of transgender people.
Estimate proportion of transgender people in the U.S. population? 21%. Actual proportion? 0.6%.
(screengrab link: https://today.yougov.com/politics/articles/41556-americans-misestimate-small-subgroups-population
Hayes dug in on falsehoods that don’t square with facts.
“‘Oh but (trans women) are taking over women’s and girls sports!’ Another just… lie. As the head of the NCAA told the Senate last month.”
This is the trans athletic scare that has half the nation in a tizzy. It’s manufactured fear, playing off of ignorance and bigotry.
— George Takei (@georgetakei.bsky.social) December 19, 2024 at 9:38 AM
Senator Dick Durban asked: “How many athletes in the United States in NCAA schools?”
NCAA President Charlie Baker responded: “510,000.”
Durban: “How many are transgender?”
Baker: “Less than ten.”
Durban: “Less than ten, out of 510,000?”
Baker: “Yes.”
Hayes did more math: “In other words, less than .0002 of a percent of college athletes are trans.”
Then explored another big lie.
“‘But thousands of American children are being brainwashed and inundated with puberty blockers!’ Also – just not true.”
A new analysis of private insurance claims data finds less than 0.1% of youth accessed puberty blockers or hormones for gender transition. This small group has garnered a huge amount of attention from Republican lawmakers in recent years.
A new peer-reviewed study released this week in JAMA Pediatrics looked at more than five million health insurance claims for adolescents.
The study found that fewer than 1,000 youth accessed puberty blockers. Fewer than 2,000 accessed hormones.
“In other words, less than one-tenth of one percent of teenagers with private insurance in the United States are transgender and receive gender-related medicine,” Hayes explained.
“It’s a very, very small number of people that has managed to eat up all of the oxygen in our political discourse over the last few months,” the study author told NPR.
Hayes concluded with a few truth bombs:
“Here’s what is true: there are far, far fewer transgender people than the far right wants you to think there are.”
“They want you to think the numbers are inflated because they need the fuel of real actual human beings to be fed into the engine of their cynical culture wars…. (inflicting) more damage to a deeper truth.”
“No matter their numbers, every transgender person is as worthy as anyone else of dignity, and respect, and equal rights under the law.”
“All in with Chris Hayes” airs weeknights at 8p ET on MSNBC.
