True or false. Autism, “trans lobby”… more and more false information targets transidentity

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This is an excerpt that is circulating a lot on social networks, viewed more than two million times on X. Professor Didier Raoult is interviewed, in mid-September, by Éric Morillot, a journalist who worked for TV Libertés, a far-right channel, in his show Les Incorrectibles. The professor, controversial since the Covid-19 pandemic, is asked what he thinks of the “wokeism”a term used, mainly by their detractors, to pejoratively designate those who fight against racist, sexist or homophobic discrimination.

Didier Raoult then asserts that, “If you look, in transgender [les personnes en désaccord avec le genre qui leur a été donné à la naissance]you have between 40% and 50% of autistic people”. Except that it’s false, it’s not possible to say that like that, without any nuance.

Didier Raoult’s estimate is found in two studies. The latest was published in March (in English). It sought to assess the presence of autism spectrum disorders in transgender or non-binary minors, in a clinic specializing in autism. It concluded that, in its panel, “nearly half of trans youth have been diagnosed with autism”.

Except that this study, although very serious, cannot be cited as absolute proof that half of trans people are autistic, firstly because it only talks about minors aged 5 to 18, and especially because it involved a sample that was far too small to be representative: around forty trans children and around sixty cisgender children (in accordance with the gender they were given at birth).

The other study, published in 2019, again involved minors who consulted the gender clinic in Tavistock, England. Half of these children also had personality traits that could make them autistic. This figure was included in a report for the English anti-trans association Transgender Trend, often cited by people who want to slow down the care of transgender minors. But here again, the sample was not representative and, above all, it only involved children who consulted the clinic, but not all of them went through a gender transition process and not all of them defined themselves as trans or non-binary at the end of their consultations.

Several other studies have looked at the topic in recent years, and they have all encountered the same problem of finding a sample size large enough to be representative. This is difficult because there are few trans people.

However, other studies have much lower estimates than the 50% mentioned by Didier Raoult. One of them, dating from 2010 (in English), also concerning minors in a clinic specializing in gender identity, found that nearly 8% of children and adolescents admitted to this clinic had autistic disorders. Other work published in 2022 concluded that 11% of trans people would be autistic.

None of these estimates are definitive and cannot be taken at face value because of the sample size issues mentioned, but also because they all ran into the same major problem, namely the difficulty of defining autism precisely in order to assess it. All the studies have different definitions, so that none of them are talking about exactly the same thing. Some include only diagnoses of severe autism, others, much broader, include personality traits that are often also present in cases of autism. However, it is possible to be hypersensitive, hyperactive or to have difficulties in socializing, without necessarily being autistic.

Ultimately, all that can be said is that there is a prevalence of autism among trans people. According to the most comprehensive study, with the largest sample and the greatest representativeness, published in 2020 in Naturethere is between three and six times more autism among trans people than among cisgender people, depending on the criteria that are observed. The study does not explain this prevalence and never says that there is a causal link between the two. It is a coexistence of autism and trans identity.

What is important to clarify is that all of these studies were conducted with the aim of better supporting trans people and autistic people. Interviewed by The Transmitter a journal specializing in neuroscience aimed at professionals, researchers who have published work on the link between autism and transgender identity denounce the instrumentalization of their findings by political figures. They believe that their research is misused when it is used to promulgate laws that prevent gender transitions and that diminish the rights of trans people.

Using the estimate of 50% autism among trans people in such an unqualified way, and then talking about a “fashion”, term used by Didier Raoult, recalls to what extent the trans community is the target of disinformation. More broadly, disinformation targeting the LGBT community is “one of the most present and constant in the European Union”according to a report by the European Digital Media Observatory published last year. “False information on this subject is becoming increasingly insidious, with unfounded statements that often incite hatred against minorities, laws and institutions.”the report continues. While this may sometimes be due to a certain lack of awareness, it is mainly due to homophobia and transphobia.

The observatory notes that false information about a pseudo-LGBT lobby, and in particular a pseudo-trans lobby, which would like to convert children, in particular by intervening in schools, is widespread in Europe. In France, it was particularly relayed by Éric Zemmour, Reconquête! candidate in the last presidential election. False information is also circulating about the care of trans minors, with political figures denouncing operations at all costs, when this is not the case, as noted in several in-depth articles by Mediapart on this subject (here and here). Or even on trans sportswomen who would be favored over cisgender sportswomen, when this is not the case either, as True or False has already explained.

This also recalls the case of these two women convicted at the beginning of September for defamation against Brigitte Macron, because they claimed that the First Lady was a transgender woman. This story is not just a news story. These women did what is called “transvestigation”as reported by Conspiracy Watch, which fights against disinformation. A practice that consists of saying that powerful women are trans people, by searching through their past photos, zooming in and judging their physique. Former American First Lady Michelle Obama, American gymnast Simone Biles, singer Lady Gaga have also been accused. The only goal of the operation is to discredit them. It is a practice that is both transphobic and misogynistic.


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