References to the 41% are very often coded ways to wish suicide on trans people. “I hope you join the 41%” is a common example of encouraging trans people to kill themselves without incurring consequences from social media moderators.
The suicide rate statistics are also used to argue that parents are being coerced into transitioning their children. Often this argument is used to signpost parents towards conversion therapists and being trans is described as being a phase or mental illness that a child can be helped through.
There are a number of papers and surveys that have shown a high suicidality rate in trans people. In 2015 Williams Institute Survey: Suicidality in transgender adults showed that 51% of trans youth had attempted suicide.
In regard to suicide attempts, 40.4 percent reported attempting suicide at some point in their lifetimes.
The academic paper “Transgender Adolescent Suicide Behavior” indicated a significant disparity in suicidality of trans individuals when compared to the rest of the population.
Citation
Russell B. Toomey, Amy K. Syvertsen, Maura Shramko; Transgender Adolescent Suicide Behavior. Pediatrics October 2018; 142 (4): e20174218. 10.1542/peds.2017-4218
https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2017-4218
RESULTS:
Nearly 14% of adolescents reported a previous suicide attempt; disparities by gender identity in suicide attempts were found. Female to male adolescents reported the highest rate of attempted suicide (50.8%), followed by adolescents who identified as not exclusively male or female (41.8%), male to female adolescents (29.9%), questioning adolescents (27.9%), female adolescents (17.6%), and male adolescents (9.8%). Identifying as nonheterosexual exacerbated the risk for all adolescents except for those who did not exclusively identify as male or female (ie, nonbinary). For transgender adolescents, no other sociodemographic characteristic was associated with suicide attempts.
CONCLUSIONS:
Suicide prevention efforts can be enhanced by attending to variability within transgender populations, particularly the heightened risk for female to male and nonbinary transgender adolescents.
Examples
Wishing trans people to commit suicide
These are direct quotes from social media
I wish "trans people themselves" stopped at 41%
Its always trans day as yall say it. So why not u too follow trans people and join the 41
Soulless npcs. Puppets of the establishment. Will probably go trans and join the 41 club, or od in a tub.
Wish he would do the other thing trans people are well known for and join the 41%!
Arguing against accessing healthcare
This should instead spur providers to offer effective psychological health evaluation and treatment for both young people and their families, and the least invasive intervention possible.
“If you don't let me do this, I'll kill myself,” they hear from their child. The threat of suicide is then reinforced by members of the transgender industry: