The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has quietly deleted reports tracking the mental health of transgender youth in Utah from its webpage, the Salt Lake Tribune reports. HHS did not delete reports using the same datasets to evaluate the mental health of cisgender youth who were straight, gay, bisexual, and unsure in the state.
The “Utah Student Health and Risk Prevention” (SHARP) survey asks students to answer questions about their health and well-being. In 2023, 51,890 students took the voluntary survey in grades six, eight, 10, and 12. Of those students who responded to the question asking if they were transgender, 729, or 1.4 percent, responded affirmatively, although children in grade six were not asked about their gender identity.
The compiled datasets were evaluated and available in “Transgender Student Profile Report[s]” on the Utah Office of Substance Use and Mental Health on February 2, but disappeared by March 4, the Tribune reports.
“Your willingness to participate has helped families and communities throughout the state in many different ways,” the SHARP website says of the survey. “The knowledge we’ve gained from the SHARP survey is invaluable – because it tells us where to look for problems and solutions.”
The data had also been deleted from the website of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), until a federal judge ordered the data to be restored online. The CDC now issues the following disclaimer on its website.
“Per a court order, HHS is required to restore this website as of 11:59 p.m. ET, February 11, 2025,” the site notes. “Any information on this page promoting gender ideology is extremely inaccurate and disconnected from the immutable biological reality that there are two sexes, male and female. The Trump Administration rejects gender ideology and condemns the harms it causes to children, by promoting their chemical and surgical mutilation, and to women, by depriving them of their dignity, safety, well-being, and opportunities. This page does not reflect biological reality and therefore the Administration and this Department rejects it.”
The compiled data showed warning signs for transgender children, with roughly 60 percent saying they had contemplated death by suicide in the previous year, while nearly 25 percent reported they had attempted to die by suicide.
Ilan Meyer, a distinguished senior scholar at the Williams Institute at UCLA, which studies gender and sexual identity issues and policies, cautioned that the climate for the well-being and mental health of transgender children will not get better by denying their existence.
“Whatever it is that LGBT youth are going through is continuing, and just not knowing something doesn’t really address the underlying problem,” Meyer, of the Williams Institute, told the Tribune. “By not knowing, you’re not going to be able to address it at all. And maybe that’s the point.”
If you or someone you know needs mental health resources and support, please call, text, or chat with the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline or visit 988lifeline.org for 24/7 access to free and confidential services. Trans Lifeline, designed for transgender or gender-nonconforming people, can be reached at (877) 565-8860. The lifeline also provides resources to help with other crises, such as domestic violence situations. The Trevor Project Lifeline, for LGBTQ+ youth (ages 24 and younger), can be reached at (866) 488-7386. Users can also access chat services at TheTrevorProject.org/Help or text START to 678678.
