The suicide of a 14-year-old trans boy in small-town middle America leaves a community grappling with questions about the nature of gender. There are 1.4 million transgender adults living in the United States, a staggering 41 percent of which have reported attempting suicide at least once in their lifetime. The second episode of Thread the Needle explores the question—what do we need to understand about gender and how it influences our sense of self in order to better support this vulnerable population?

In this episode, we’ll explore commonly asked questions including:

#1: Is gender something that’s taught, or is it an innate part of our identity?

#2: Can gender dysphoria be a phase?

#3: At what age should parents teach their kids what transgender and nonbinary mean?

#4: When is the right time to consider putting kids on hormones, treatments that can have irreversible effects?

#5: Why is the suicide rate so high for people who are transgender?

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