Trans identification fell at universities proving it was a trend
Robby Starbuck said:
“They measured this at university and they found that the identification at some of these universities of being transgender or non binary fell by almost 0.5, okay, in 1 year. That tells you there's a social contagion.”
A measurable numerical drop in a single year sounds like hard data, and the inference that a genuine innate identity would not fluctuate with social trends is intuitively appealing.
No source is given for that figure, which means there is no way to check the universities, the survey instrument, the sample size, or the year involved. But even setting that aside, a one-year shift in self-reported identification tells you very little on its own. When political rhetoric about trans people becomes more hostile, some students stop disclosing an identity they hold privately, and that produces a measurable drop in survey numbers. A genuine, stable identity being suppressed by a frightening climate looks identical on a spreadsheet to one that was never real, and using the first as proof of the second is a conclusion the data simply cannot carry. The person who pays for that reasoning is the trans student who reads it and wonders whether who they are is just a trend they should grow out of.
Trans students who may internalise the message that their identity is a passing phase, discouraging them from seeking support.